Watermelon Sorbet

We got a cute little watermelon in our Greenling box last week, and rather than cut it up and just eat the wedges, Cory urged me to make something with it. With the record temps here in Central Texas, there's nothing more refreshing on hot days like this than sorbet.

Obviously if you have a watermelon without seeds, this would be easier, but if you put chunks through a food mill, it will puree the watermelon and leave the seeds behind. Not many people have a food mill, but I've found it to be one of my most useful and used items in my kitchen.

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. water
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 whole watermelon (Mine was probably 5 lbs. Not too big.)
• Juice of 1 lime
• Zest of 1/2 lime
• 1 tsp. very cold citrus vodka (I had citrus vodka already from the lemonade I made, but you could really use any vodka for this. I think they make watermelon vodka; that would be good.)

Directions:

• Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved to make a simple syrup. My watermelon was quite sweet already, so I only used ~1/4 c. of simple syrup. If yours is less sweet, you may need more than 1/3 c. of simple syrup.
• Puree the watermelon, removing the seeds if necessary. Like I mentioned before, I recommend a food mill to do this, but if you don't have one, a food processor works too (you just need to remove all of the seeds beforehand).

• Add the lime juice, lime zest and simple syrup to the watermelon puree and chill for at least 2 hours.
• After the puree has chilled, add the vodka to the puree and freeze in the ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions.
• After it has frozen in the ice cream maker, remove the sorbet to a Tupperware and keep in the freezer for an hour before serving.

Verdict:
So light and refreshing! Our watermelon was so ripe and sweet, so the lime adds some much-needed acid to cut the sweetness. I always like to add just a touch of alcohol to sorbet. It prevents it from getting a bit too icy in the freezer. Don't add too much though; that'll prevent freezing and will taste more like it should be served with a paper umbrella.