Basil-Lime Sorbet Shooters

This weekend Jacob and I made a spontaneous trip to Montreal. While we were there, we indulged in some delicious macarons at a darling little boutique called Point G! I became inspired by one flavor that Jacob had selected- lime basilic or lime-basil. I began plotting my recipe and execution. Would there be pulp? Would it be smooth? How would I create a positive balance between the basil and lime flavors? Well, after some meticulous planning, I decided to go about it the following way.

Since lime juice from the grocery store is so unbelievably expensive, and also gross, I decided to purchase a 2lb bag of fresh limes and juice them myself. The plan quickly turned into: make Jacob juice the limes while I pretend to do math and figure out the science-y parts. I wanted to infuse the lime juice with the basil, but knew it would be impossible to do so without the acidity cooking the basil. Instead, I chose to infuse the sugar. People do it with orange zest all the time- why not herbs? I cut the basil into small pieces and used my mortar and pestle to grind the two together. Once the pieces were muddled a bit, I used my hands to rub the sugar and leaves together. I covered the mixture with some plastic and let it sit overnight.

I have always had great difficulty using fresh-squeezed citrus juices in my sorbets. They are quite watery and therefore require a lot more sugar (or alcohol) in order to keep them from freezing too hard. I attempted to remedy this by adding a little more sugar to the recipe which was not much of a problem considering how tart lime juice is. While I was not quite satisfied with the flavor or results of this experiment on it's, we did find a good use- Basil-Lime Sorbet Shooters! They taste like tiny margaritas, and are great on a warm day!

Basil-Lime Sorbet

1 1/3c.        fresh squeezed lime juice (2lb of limes)
1/3c. + 2T  sugar
1T              chopped fresh basil
1/3c.          water
1 pinch      salt
1t.              tequila (optional)



With a mortar and pestle or food processor, mix together 1/3c. of sugar and 1T chopped basil. Cover with plastic and leave unrefrigerated for 8 hours. In a small saucepan over low heat, dissolve basil-sugar mixture and the remaining 2T of sugar in 1/3c. water. Once sugar has completely dissolved, add to lime juice and strain. Add tequila (optional) and salt and chill. Churn mixture until desired consistency. Allow to freeze overnight.

Shooters
2 small scoops of sorbet
2oz      seltzer
1oz   tequila
sugar for the rim

Dip the rim of a small glass in some sugar. Add seltzer and tequila. Place 2 small scoops of sorbet in the glass, and fill the rest of the way with water. Serve immediately!