Recipes

July 19, 2023

Roasted grape and rosemary sorbet

Refreshing and elegant, there is something strangely grownup to this sorbet. Roasting the grapes intensifies the flavour as the sugars inside the grapes gently caramelizes giving it a deep, rich almost sticky finish, paired with the herbaceous freshness from the rosemary it can easily become somewhat of a guilty pleasure.

Makes: 1 litre

Preparation time: 20 minutes + freezing

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients for the sugar syrup

• 220g sugar

• 150 grams water

• 35 grams liquid glucose

Ingredients for the sorbet

• 900 grams grapes

• 1 sprig rosemary, roughly chopped

• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

• 150ml lemon juice

Instructions

1. Start by making the sugar syrup. Place the sugar water and glucose in a heavy based pot, and place on a medium heat. Once the mixture comes to a boil give it a gentle stir to combine all the ingredients and cook for 1 minute or until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture start to slightly change colour. Remove from the heat at once and set aside to cool completely.

2. Preheat the oven to 150°C and line an oven tray with greaseproof paper.

3. Wash the grapes well and allow to drip-dry. Remove the grapes from the stalks and place in a bowl together with the rosemary and brown sugar. Toss everything well and tip onto the lined baking tray. Spread the grapes out so that they are in a single lager and place in the oven to roast for 40 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down on the tray for about 10 minutes. Transfer the grapes together with any juices that might have been released during cooking to a food blender and blend to a puree. 

5. Pass the pureed grapes through a fine mesh sieve and discard the pits. You should be left with approximately 600 grams of puree.

6. Combine the grape puree, sugar syrup and lemon juice mix well and transfer to an ice-cream churner until to sorbet sets. Place in a freezer proof container with a lid and store in the freezer until ready to serve.

Chef’s tips

• When making the sugar syrup do not be tempted to stir the mixture too often as although the glucose acts as a stabilizer there might still be the risk of the mixture crystallizing.

• If you do not have an ice cream churner place the grape mixture directly into a freezer container. After 2 hours give the sorbet a good mix, this will help to reduce the amount of ice crystals forming. Repeat again after 1 hour and return to the freezer until the sorbet sets.

• Remove the sorbet from the freezer a couple of minutes before serving. 

• Plunging a spoon or ice cream scoop in hot water before scooping out the sorbet will result in a smoother ball to serve.