Roast Lemon Olive Oil Sorbet

If using a freezer-bowl ice cream maker place the freezer bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours before you intend to use it. If using a compressor ice cream maker go to the next step.

Preheat your oven to 300°F.

Measure and weigh your water. Keep note of its weight and make sure you reach 1 quart in volume.

Measure out and mise en place your granulated sugar, citric acid, olive oil and salt. If using stabilizers mise en place them as well.

Clean, wash and dry the lemons. Wrap each lemon individually in a foil papillote. Place the stainless steel rack into the quarter sheet. Place the lemons in their papillotes on top of the stainless steel rack. Either after it’s in the oven or before you place them in the oven, cover the bottom of the pan with water to prevent the sugars in the lemon from scorching.

Roast the lemons for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. Around the hour mark the lemons become very fragrant. Keep an eye on them and if you see scorching on any of the papillotes pull them out. Scorched sugar will increase bitterness and you want to prevent this. Remove the lemons from the oven.

After removing the lemons from the oven, allow the lemons to cool in their papillotes until they are cool enough for you to work with them. Next, half each lemon and carefully remove the pith and seeds from the lemon peel with a spoon, back of a butter knife or small offset spatula. Scrape hard enough to remove all pith but try your best not to rip the lemon skin. Discard all pith and seeds; it is too bitter to be used in any capacity.

Mince the lemon skin very finely, measure 30 grams of the same and set it to the side.

Into a high-speed blender add the roast lemon zest, granulated sugar, citric acid, olive oil, salt, stabilizers and enough water to cover the same. Do not add all your water during this step because you want the roast lemon zest to have as much contact with the blender blades as possible. Blend this until the lemon zest has broken down into very small bits and all ingredients are well combined.

Into a mixing bowl with high sides or 4 quart cambro, add the contents of the blender and the remaining amount of tap water and blend them until well combined. Place the sorbet into the refrigerator and allow it to cure overnight or at least 8-12 hours.

Next, measure out 3 or 4 cups of the sorbet base, first ensuring that the amount you separate was well mixed. I churned the sorbet in 4 cup batches consistent with the capacity of my compressor ice cream maker. If using a compressor ice cream maker, I encourage you to do an optional 20 minute pre-freeze of the bowl for a quicker churn. Regardless of whether you pre-freeze the bowl or use a freezer-bowl ice cream maker, churn the ice cream until it reaches 23°F. Do not rely on a set time for churning. Rely on the extraction temperature.

When the sorbet finishes churning, quickly extract it and put it into the coldest part of your freezer for at least 6-8 hours before serving.

Enjoy the sorbet with chantilly cream, Osetra caviar and a drizzle of the same olive oil you used to make the sorbet. The sorbet also pairs well with berries and ube.