In Greece again (and a fruit tart)

Even though this beautiful berry and crème pâtissière tart on pâte sucrée was made last week in the Netherlands, I’m writing this from a different place. I’m in Greece!

We arrived a few days ago and we are reveling in the warm hot weather, the friendly faces, the good food and the beauty of our surroundings. Yes, Athens is beautiful, especially this time of year.

It is very much summer at the moment in Greece, with temperatures at 35 degrees Celsius, but when we left the Netherlands, there was a thunderstorm and we couldn’t walk one meter without getting soaked to the bone.

That is all behind us at the moment and we’re looking forward to starting our summer vacation. Part of it will be spent in Athens and the rest in an undisclosed location. I’ll share photos and stories at some point.

In the meantime, I didn’t want to leave this recipe for a sweet tart in my files all lonely and unshared. It is delicious, colorful and sinful—don’t let the innocent-looking berries on top fool you, the calories in this are a lot—, a tart worthy of a celebration, any type of celebration really, even the “I had a rough day at work and managed not to freak out” kind of celebration.

The pâte sucrée is buttery and crisp like a biscuit and a tiny bit harder than the common version, but only so that it creates a nice contrast to the creamy, smooth, rich crème pâtissière. The crème is also slightly different from the common pastry cream, as it contains more eggs that make it somewhat stronger. The addition of whipped cream though, lightens it and makes it more creamy and airy.

The fresh fruits, devoid of any icing sugar or apricot glaze, give not only freshness and lightness to the tart, but also a slight sharpness and liveliness to it. The more fruit the better. Try to use different kinds.

I used blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, red currants and strawberry-grapes. I was so surprised to find these at the market in The Hague, they’re a hybrid, and they taste just like their name implies; grape flavor with a hint of strawberry sweetness.

I hope you enjoy making this tart as much as I did and more so when you eat it!

Crème Pâtissière and Fresh Berry Tart

Crème pâtissière (pastry cream) is a rich, creamy, smooth and thick custard made with eggs, milk, sugar and corn flour, and can have flavorings like vanilla, various liqueurs, coffee, etc. It is used as a filling for tarts, éclairs, choux and many more.

Pâte sucrée (sweet pastry crust) is a sweet and rich pastry with a crisp, biscuit-like texture. It is made with flour, butter, icing sugar and eggs, and it’s used as the base for sweet tarts whose filling don’t need baking.

You don’t have to use a variety of fruits on top of the tart, but you can go with just one. You can also use any type of fruits you like as long as they are not too wet. For example, strawberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, nectarines, figs, grapes will work beautifully in this tart.

Yield: 6-8 pieces

Ingredients

for the pâte sucrée (pastry)
250 g all-purpose flour, sieved
100 g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing the pan
100 g icing sugar, sieved
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the scraped seeds from 1 fresh vanilla bean
3 egg yolks plus 1 egg yolk, from large eggs
1 Tbsp whole fresh milk

for the crème pâtissière (cream)
500 ml whole fresh milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the scraped seeds from 1 fresh vanilla bean
7 egg yolks, from medium-sized eggs
125 g caster sugar
60 g corn flour
150 ml cream, full fat (35%)

Fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, red currants, seedless grapes

Special equipment: fine sieve, large food processor, rolling pin, plastic wrap, fluted tart pan (22 cm in diameter) with removable bottom, baking paper, baking weights or dried beans, pastry brush, wire whisk, hand-held electric mixer


Preparation

for the pâte sucrée
• with a food processor
In a large food processor, add the flour, butter, icing sugar, salt and vanilla bean paste or seeds and process, tilting and gently shaking the bowl until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs or almond meal. Then add 3 egg yolks and process until just combined and you have a very crumbly dough that barely holds together.

• by hand
In a large bowl, add the flour, icing sugar, salt and vanilla bean paste or seeds and stir with a spatula. Add the cubed cold butter and, using two knives, a pastry cutter/blender or your fingertips, cut it into the flour, until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs or almond meal. Then make a well in the middle, add 3 egg yolks and mix with your hands, working quickly, until just combined and you have a very crumbly dough that barely holds together. Don’t knead the dough.

Empty the pastry dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap (do not knead it because you will activate the gluten in the flour which will make the pastry tough and it will shrink during baking), form a disk, cover it and place it in the refrigerator to chill, for about 1 hour.

Lightly grease the bottom and sides of your tart pan.

Remove the pastry dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and discard the plastic wrap and place dough between two large sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 0.3 cm, taking care to keep the dough neat and tear-free.
Remove the top sheet of baking paper, slide your hand underneath the bottom baking paper and carefully and gently invert the dough onto the tart pan, allowing it to fall little-by-little onto the pan base. Remove the baking paper from the top and carefully and gently again line the pan with the pastry, pushing it into the curved sides of the pan. If it tears, don’t fret; just use the overhanging dough to cover those tears. Using the back of a knife, cut the excess dough that's hanging around the edges of the pan.
Place the tart pan in the refrigerator and chill the dough for about 20 minutes.

Note: In case you have left-over dough, you can keep it in the freezer, wrapped in cling film or in a ziploc bag, for up to a month. Thaw it and use it to make smaller tarts or biscuits.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.

Take the tart pan out of the refrigerator and prick the base of the dough with a fork all around. Line the bottom and sides of the dough with a large enough piece of baking paper and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Place the pan on a baking sheet and on the middle rack of the oven and bake the pastry for 15-17 minutes.
In the meantime, in a small bowl, add 1 egg yolk and the milk (1 Tbsp) and mix well with a fork.
Take the pan out of the oven, remove the baking paper along with the pie weights and check that the base is slightly golden. Brush pastry well with the egg yolk-milk mixture and return pastry to the oven, without the baking sheet this time. Bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the dough is golden.

Note: The glazing of the pastry “seals” it somehow, and it prevents it from getting soggy and soft when the filling is added.

Remove tart pan from the oven, place onto a wire rack to cool completely and then remove the pastry from the pan.

for the crème pâtissière
While the pastry dough is resting, start making the crème pâtissière, which will also need time to cool in the refrigerator before using.

In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan add 400 ml of the milk, the vanilla paste or seeds and a 1 Tbsp of the sugar, and bring to the boil over medium-high heat.

Note: By adding sugar to the milk it prevents it from catching and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

In the meantime, in a medium-sized bowl, add the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar and whisk with a wire whisk until you have a smooth mixture. Add the corn flour and the remaining 100 ml of the milk and whisk to combine.

Gradually whisk milk mixture into the egg mixture (don’t worry about curdling, it won’t as the egg mixture has corn flour in it) until combined well. Empty this mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisking continuously, wait until the cream begins to bubble and then remove it from the heat. Transfer the cream to a clean bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap adheres to the surface of the cream, which will prevent it from forming a skin.
Place the crème pâtissière in the refrigerator for an hour or until it has cooled.

Note: You can make the crème pâtissière a day in advance.

When the cream crème pâtissière has cooled, whip the cream with a hand-held electric mixer until soft peaks form.
Whisk the crème pâtissière with a wire whisk to loosen it, but if you find that it has become too stiff to whisk by hand, switch to a hand-held electric mixer.
Fold the whipped cream into the crème pâtissière using a spatula.

Assemble the tart
Fill the tart shell with the crème pâtissière mixture. Arrange the assorted fruits on top and serve.
Alternatively, you can fill the tart shell with the cream mixture and place it in the fridge until you want to serve it. Add the fruits on top just before serving.

You can keep the tart in the refrigerator, uncovered (or lightly covered with a piece of plastic wrap) for 2 days.

Chicken with tomatoes and olives

Remember the other day I was telling you that one of my gas-rings is broken and I can’t cook anything larger than a fried egg? Well, the landlord realized that I’ve had enough misery to last me a lifetime in this kitchen and he decided to change the whole stove top making me incredibly happy.

I need to tell you something about me though. It’s a bit embarrassing but hey, who cares. Whenever I buy or get something brand spanking new, whether it’s new shoes, a new mixer or in this case, a new gas stove, I can’t use them straight away. I feel like I’m going to taint them if I use them or that I’m going to break them in an instant, and I simply want to sit and admire my new things for a little while before I finally decide to use them.

So, as we speak, my shiny new gas stove is all clean and almost untouched as I have only used it to boil water for pasta, οh, and make Greek coffee on the small gas ring. I know, I’m weird.

Ιn the meantime, while I’m admiring my new acquisition, I have been using my oven and some pretty delicious food has been enjoyed. Like this roast chicken dish with whole fresh tomatoes, black olives, thyme, oregano, garlic, lemon, olive oil; the usual suspects in Greek cooking.

Incredible flavors of succulent tender chicken, sweet tomatoes that once you cut them open a sweet aromatic puddle of heavenly juices forms on your plate and all you want to do is dunk your bread into them.

The garlic is soft and sweet with an earthy quality that matches that of the thyme and oregano. The olives are slightly briny and balance out the rest of the flavors with their mild acidity. The crispy skin of the chicken and almost charred and caramelized skin of the tomatoes offer an interesting variety of textures.

Such a great balance of flavors, a truly summery dish worthy of this time of year when tomatoes are so plump and soft. Because summer is not over yet. Thankfully!

As for my gas stove, I have the sneaking suspicion it’s going to be used properly tomorrow. I’m craving a dish that requires lots of pots and pans and it’s going to be good.

Marinated Roast Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives, Lemon and Herbs

I used Kalamata olives but any good quality black olives will do. Also, choose tomatoes that are ripe (not overripe) and plump. I used vine-ripened tomatoes (Greek: τσαμπί / Dutch: trostomaten) but I suspect any type of tomato that’s juicy yet firm will be perfect.

I usually serve this dish with lots of bread and feta cheese, sometimes with a green salad or if we’re really hungry, with a simple rice or sautéed/baked potatoes.

Yield: 2-4 main-course servings

Ingredients
1 chicken, about 1,200 g, cut into 6-8 pieces*
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
Juice of 1 lemon
4 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
4 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp Greek dried oregano
4 fresh large thyme sprigs, leaves picked
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

4 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into half or quartered if too big
15 Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

*I always cut the chicken into six pieces; legs, wings and breasts. You can also cut it into eight pieces, separating the legs into thighs and drumsticks, but I prefer not to because they remain juicier.

Special equipment: large barking tray, plastic wrap or plastic bag appropriate for storing food


Preparation
In a large glass bowl, add the lemon zest and juice, the garlic, 4 Tbsp olive oil, the dried oregano, the fresh thyme leaves, a little salt and a good sprinkling of black pepper and mix with a spoon. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and coat them well with the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or, alternatively, place the chicken pieces with the marinade in a plastic bag suitable for storing food and seal it. Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 45 minutes, or up to 2 hours. If you choose to marinate the chicken for more than 1 hour, place it in the refrigerator. Take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you put it in the oven, to allow it to come to room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 190-200 degrees Celsius / 375-390 Fahrenheit.
In another bowl, add the tomatoes, the olives, 1 Tbsp olive oil, a little salt and black pepper and toss.

Place the marinated chicken in a roasting tray large enough to fit all the pieces in one layer, drizzle the marinade on top and add the tomatoes and olives between the chicken pieces.

Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and roast the chicken for about 50 minutes, until it takes on a golden brown color and the skin becomes crispy and caramelized, and the tomatoes have softened and have produced plenty of juices. Also, if you insert a knife or skewer on the thickest part of the chicken pieces, the juices should run clear and not be reddish in color. Don't cook for longer because the chicken will dry out and become tough.

Serve in dishes along with the delicious juices from the pan. They are perfect for dunking your bread in.

Raspberry sorbet popsicles

To keep things interesting in today’s food world, you need to combine twenty different ingredients that are sometimes rare and often expensive in a single plate of food. This is true for savory and sweet dishes, and it even applies to popsicles.

The simple and unadorned ice pops that we grew up with, those icy desserts on a stick found in every periptero (Greek kiosk) in Greece, have now become edible art. Creams, sauces, pulps, juices, alcohol, biscuits, whole fruits, powders, sprinkles, everything you can imagine can go in and onto them.

Many are tempting, others not so much, but what ultimately matters when we put something into our mouth, is its flavor. How something tastes is the only thing that’s of importance to me when it comes to any type of food. Especially a fruit sorbet.

And this raspberry sorbet is nothing but delicious. The flavor of the raspberries is so vibrant, so pristine, only enhanced by the sugar syrup and the lemon juice that’s added. And that color, that almost fuchsia color, you can’t fake that no matter how hard you try.

So go, make these, enjoy them!

Raspberry Sorbet Popsicles

I always use fresh raspberries for this sorbet, but frozen (and completely thawed) berries should work just as well. Raspberries are sweet but also sharp, making this sorbet not too sweet.

Not all raspberries are the same, some are sweeter than others so once you’ve made your sorbet mixture, give it a taste to check if it’s too sour. If it is, add more of the sugar syrup (you’ll make 250 ml and the recipe calls for 200 ml so you’ll have some extra if needed).

I used these popsicle molds but any other type will do. Vodka shot glasses work miracles and that’s what I’ve used before in these cherry sorbet ice pops and these mango sorbet ice pops.

Yield: 9 popsicles (90 ml each)

Ingredients

for the sugar syrup
250 ml water
110 g caster sugar

for the sorbet
400 g fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
200 ml sugar syrup

Special equipment: small saucepan with lid, blender or food processor, fine sieve, popsicle molds or vodka shot glasses, wooden sticks


Preparation

for the sugar syrup
In a small saucepan, add the water and sugar and place over medium heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved and turn heat up to medium-high. Once the syrup comes to the boil, turn heat down to medium and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Then take the pan off the heat, put the lid on and allow syrup to cool completely before adding it to the sorbet.

for the sorbet
In a blender or a food processor, add the raspberries, the lemon juice and the sugar syrup. Blend until smooth and pass through a fine sieve to get rid of the raspberry seeds. Careful though, don’t throw away even a drop of that precious raspberry pulp!
Give the sorbet mixture a taste to see if it needs more sugar syrup in case it is sour, or a little more lemon juice in case it is too sweet, although I doubt it will be too sweet.

Empty the mixture into the popsicle molds or shot glasses, filling them by 3/4, and place in the freezer. Once the sorbet begins to set, add the wooden sticks. Leave the sorbet popsicles in the freezer for 3-4 hours or until completely set.

Alternatively, you can pour it into an ice cream machine and then in a suitable container and into your freezer, thus making simply a sorbet and not pospicles.

Taking out the popsicles from the molds or shot glasses is a piece of cake as long as the sorbet has set properly. Run the sides of the mold/shot glass under cold running water and holding the wooden popsicle stick with your hand, pull the popsicle out. You’ll probably feel some resistance at first, but it will eventually come out.

You can keep the sorbet in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Spaghetti alle vongole

I think I’ve had enough of my little expat kitchen. I don’t mean this one here of course, but my actual little expat kitchen, the room in my apartment that is small, bursting at the seams with things I have accumulated over the years, the kitchen that drives me crazy because I need.more.space. If anyone but me dares to take even a single plate out of one of my cupboards, they’ll most certainly end up with a dozen other plates on their heads. You need to be dexterous and somewhat of a magician to handle the overcrowded chaos that is my kitchen.

Also, we rent our apartment, and in most cases here in the Netherlands, big city apartments have small, nay, tiny kitchens that most of the time come with the electrical appliances, which is not a good thing. No one who rents buys the major appliances, which means that you get stuck with some that may be old, dysfunctional and, well, impractical. Such is the case with mine.

The oven is too small, too old and heats in patches. The refrigerator is small, with a rickety shelf (that’s kind of my fault) and a tiny freezer. The gas stove is, you guessed it, small, and for the last couple of weeks the bigger gas ring is not working (that’s not my fault). I may have some fancy pots and pans but I can’t use them.

This situation has taken away my will to cook. For this and various other reasons, we have been thinking of moving for a long time now, but it’s not that easy because I can’t find an apartment with a kitchen that I like. Yes, it’s come to this, the kitchen is the only room in a house that matters to me.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this for a looong time, so let’s get down to what’s important here. The food. I only needed the two gas rings in my kitchen that work for this, so I put them to good use and made a fantastic spaghetti alle vongole, that classic Italian, or Neapolitan to be exact, dish that truly is breathtakingly delicious in its simplicity.

The most important ingredient is of course the vongole (clams), and you need to buy them fresh, don’t use canned or bottled ones, unless you want to ruin the dish. The sweet, supple vongole, with that fresh, intense aroma of the sea is what this dish is all about. As for the rest of the ingredients, you most probably already have them in your kitchen; spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, white wine, dried red chilli flakes, fresh parsley.

As soon as we sat on the table, I couldn’t stop devouring the plump, briny flesh of the bivalves, swiftly twirling the spaghetti around my fork, slurping on any stray strand that had the audacity to resist getting into my mouth, dunking my bread into the aromatic sauce with the light acidity from the white wine, with the chili that tingled my palate and the garlic, present but not overpowering.

This ultimate taste of summer, just before its unofficial end, was exactly what I needed and it made me realize that I may not have the kitchen of my dreams, but what I create in it can be, at times, dreamy.

Spaghetti alle Vongole in bianco (Spaghetti with Clams in a white sauce)

The Italians prepare this dish in two ways: a) in rosso, meaning in a red (tomato) sauce and b) in bianco, meaning in a white sauce without tomato. I prefer the second version of the dish as in my opinion, tomatoes overpower the flavor of the little mollusks.
By the way, the broth-like juices are essential in the dish, so make sure to have some bread to soak them all up.

This dish is easy but also a bit tricky. The spaghetti need to be cooked al dente, the vongole should be just cooked and not overcooked otherwise they’ll become rubbery, and the bringing together of the two needs good timing. Also, the correct cleaning of the vongole is important (in the recipe I explain in detail how to do it).

Oh and something else, spaghetti alle vongole is never topped off with cheese. If you insist on adding cheese, I will turn a blind eye, but don't let any Italians see you.

Yield: 4 main-course servings

Ingredients
1 kg fresh, live vongole (palourdes / small clams)
400 g spaghetti (I used De Cecco no12)
4 plus 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for finishing the dish
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
250 ml dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
A handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Special equipment: large bowl, large and deep frying pan with lid


Preparation

Cleaning the vongole
Vongole should be alive when you buy them. You can store them in the fridge for 1 day before you use them. Place them inside a bowl while they’re still inside the net (they’re usually sold wrapped in small nets) and you can loosely cover them with a plastic bag. Just make sure you make holes in the bag for the air to circulate.

When you want to prepare them for cooking, you need to clean them. The vongole have sand inside and if not purged, the dish will be sandy and grainy. For the vongole to purge the sand, they need to be put in salted water for a few hours. The vongole will open up, take in the clean water from one side and purge the sand from the other.

Remove them from the net (or any other packaging), rinse them well under cold running water, checking if their shells are clean. If not, rub them with your hands or a soft brush to remove any dirt. Transfer them to a large bowl, add enough water to cover them and add 3-4 Tbsp salt. Stir them around with your hands and cover the bowl with a dark-colored tea towel (the vongole open when it’s dark) and leave the bowl in your kitchen, somewhere shady, not in direct sunlight. Leave them like that to purge the sand for 3 to 5 hours, depending how much time you have, and then remove each vongole from the bowl. You’ll notice that the water is now dirty. Discard any vongola that has a broken shell and keep the ones that are tightly closed. If you find any that are open, tap them gently and if they close after a few seconds, keep them, otherwise discard them because they’re dead. Place the vongole in a clean bowl until ready to use, which should be soon.

Cook the spaghetti
Boil the spaghetti in salted boiling water until cooked al dente (to the tooth) or to your liking, stirring often so they don’t stick to one another.

Cook the vongole
While the spaghetti is cooking, in a large frying pan add 4 Tbsp of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the garlic and the chilli flakes and sauté for 1 minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. It will become very bitter if you do. Add the wine, turn heat on to high and once the wine begins to bubble, add the vongole, stir well and put on the lid. Boil/steam the vongole for about 3 minutes until their shells have just opened, shaking the pan from time to time. Do not overcook them as they’ll become rubbery and lose their flavor. Remove pan from the heat and ideally at this point the spaghetti should be ready. Strain them and add them to your vongole, add some black pepper and 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and mix well. Give it a taste to see if it needs any salt. The vongole have that natural salty quality from the sea, so most probably you won't have to add any salt.

Serve immediately into bowls, sprinkle with some extra black pepper, parsley and a little olive oil to finish.
In case you find any vongole that haven’t opened, discard them.

Enjoy with some bread and white wine. Pinot Grigio is an excellent choice.

Chocolate sorbet

It’s been since March that I’ve posted a recipe including chocolate, but don’t let that fool you. I’ve been eating chocolate this whole time, I was just being a little selfish and keeping the recipes to myself.

I hinted recently about a sorbet I’ve been making since early May, and this week, when I made it again, I took some photographs so that I could share it with you.

It’s full on chocolate without the distraction of eggs or cream or milk. It’s reminiscent of the chocolate mousse by Hervé This, yet it’s a David Lebovitz concoction (I so love his recipes).

It’s a sorbet made with water, sugar, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, a pinch of salt to bring out the chocolate flavor even more and a dash of vanilla extract for good measure.

It’s easy to make, foolproof one could say, and the result is a smooth, silky sorbet with a deep, pure taste of chocolate. Slightly bitter, enough to remind you that what you have used is indeed really good chocolate with a high content of cocoa solids, not too sweet, not too heavy.

Served with fresh berries—I used blackberries and raspberries this time—that balance out the richness of the chocolate with their slightly sharp kick, is perfect for someone who, much like me, is totally and utterly addicted to the dark temptress.

To those of you who are not satisfied with only one chocolate icy treat, allow me to remind you of this dark chocolate ice cream, this white chocolate ice cream with caramel-Kahlua sauce and this chocolate semifreddo.

Dark Chocolate Sorbet
Ever-so-slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Use good quality chocolate and cocoa powder as it will make all the difference in the flavor and texture of the sorbet. Also, use a chocolate whose flavor you enjoy as that will be the prominent flavor.
I used chocolate with 72% cocoa solids but I suppose anywhere between 60%-70% would be fine.

Yield: about 1 liter

Ingredients
200 g caster sugar
80 g good quality Dutch-processed cocoa powder
Pinch of sea salt
560 ml water
175 g good quality dark chocolate, 60%-70% cocoa solids, cut into small pieces
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Special equipment: immersion blender (or regular blender), ice cream machine (optional yet preferable)


Preparation
In a large saucepan, add the sugar, cocoa, salt and 380 ml of the water and whisk over medium-high heat. Bring to the boil while whisking continuously and once it comes to the boil, allow it to boil for 45 seconds while still beating non-stop.

Take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract and the rest of the water (180 ml) and whisk to incorporate.
Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture for 15-20 seconds. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer the mixture to a regular blender, blend it and then return it to the bowl.

Place the bowl with the sorbet mixture in the refrigerator to chill, covered with plastic warp. Once it chills thoroughly, take it out of the fridge, whisk it well and add it to your ice cream machine. Churn the sorbet according to the manufacturer’s instructions, empty it into a container suitable for the freezer and place in the freezer for a couple of hours or until the sorbet is firm enough to serve.

Alternatively, if you don't have an ice cream machine, empty the sorbet mixture into a container suitable for the freezer. Place the mixture in the freezer, take it out after 40 minutes and whisk it very well. You can also use a blender, or even an immersion blender. Continue doing the same thing every half hour, until it's too thick and frozen to beat or whisk. The whole process will take 2 to 3 hours, depending on how strong your freezer is.

Take it out of the freezer about 15 minutes before serving to soften.

You can keep the sorbet in your freezer for a week.