Pear riesling sorbet

I've just signed up for the Stanchart 2010 yesterday. Though I was trying hard to persuade the colleagues to join the 21k with me, the girls decided to sign up for the 10k instead, and so I'm kinda on my own. Well, like my sister (the pro that she is that had signed for the 42(!)k) said in reply to me whining about no one accompanying me, You're your own best pacer. Hope so! Just completed the Adidas Sundown 10k, there's the upcoming Nike Shape 10k in July, I'll be doing loads of running every week from now for training. That will hopefully help in my healthier lifestyle plans hey?

So anyway, a while ago, I was supposed to have dinner with one of my fave girlfriend in town, and everywhere was packed (it was a Friday, no surprise here). We decided on Cedele at Takashimaya cos it looked pretty empty. It was a really good decision I think. The food was pretty good, I had a burger and my friend had a pasta. The burger was super - juicy (I hate it when restaurants serve dried up patties and call that a burger) and moist and flavourful, paired with a lovely soft foccacia. I enjoyed every single bite of my burger. When we walked by the desserts display to get to our seats, I knew that I was definitely going to get dessert after dinner. We were deciding among the cheesecakes and cakes, when I saw the icecream counter. Boy. We were instantly sold.

Pear Riesling Sorbet

With flavours like - Pear riesling sorbet. Earl grey with fig. Blueberry cheesecake. Caramel sea salt (with almonds). Do I really need to say more? We were torn among these four flavours that the nice icecream girl let us tried, and throwing all good caution to the bin, we decided on getting all four flavours. *gasp*

Our ultimate favourite was the sorbet, followed by the earl grey, then caramel, then blueberry. We were savouring our bowl of sin slowly and guiltily. Sadly, the time came when spoon in hand we scooped, and there was no more sorbet. Awww.

Riesling wine + New Zealand Sugar pears = Pear Riesling Sorbet

Inspired by the yummy sorbet I've tried, I was very motivated to try my hand at making some myself. So first step: consult Google, my best friend. Google was very helpful indeed, and after some time digging through the webpages, I found a simple recipe. After a trip to the grocery store to get a bottle of wine and some sweet pears that were in season, I was all set.

As usual, my itchy hands got in the way when I was making the sorbet. I added a bit more wine than required (more alcohol makes people happy yes?), added a healthy dash of cinnamon (ah, so typical) and just a small pinch of powdered ginger. The sorbet took forever to set up. When I make the usual custard based icecreams, I get an icecream like texture after two-three hours (without icecream maker). With the sorbet, it took me five hours to realise I'll never get a similar texture and I ended up pouring the bowl of slush into a container and stuck it back into the freezer. After a couple more hours, I took it out and used the scooper. A circular shape formed, albeit a waterier version of the normal icecream. I placed the scoop of sorbet in a small cup and picked up my spoon.

Mmmmmmm. Although it doesn't taste like the Cedele's version, it's still a pretty good rendition of a sorbet. Sis liked it too, but she suggested that I leave a few pear bits in there for texture if I make it again (I strained and pureed as the recipe stated). Yums. I wonder if I should invest in an icecream maker... ;)

And so the countdown begins. It's already June. Thank heavens. Another ten or so more days and the IT fair will be in town. Shucks. This means I gotta make my decision. Fast. :(

Pear riesling sorbet (adapted from here)
2 cups pear puree
1 cup sugar syrup
1/2 cup riesling
2 tbsp lemon juice

Combine everything in a large bowl and stir till evenly mixed. Refrigerate till cold. Churn in ice cream maker and store in freezer.

Pear puree
very ripe pears
lemon juice
water

Peel and core pears, cut into chunks and place in a saucepan. Add a few tablespoons of water and a squeeze of lemon juice. Cook, covered, over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Once pears begin to liquefy, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Puree in a blender (in batches if needed) and strain mixture.

Sugar syrup

2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Combine above, bring to a boil. Set aside to cool.