ScarlettConcord Grape Sorbet with Chocolate Grapes and Macaroon Leaves
March 9th 2007 02:55
Concord Grape Sorbet with Chocolate Grapes and Macaroon Leaves
About Sorbet
Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from iced fruit puree and other ingredients. The term “sherbet” is derived from the Turkish word for “sorbet”, serbat which in turn comes from Arabic.
Sorbet is a form of gelato that contains no milk, unlike ice cream. Sorbets may contain alcohol, which lowers the freezing temperature, resulting in a softer texture. Whereas ice cream has air whipped into it, sorbet has almost none, which makes for a dense and extremely flavourful product.
Sorbets are traditionally served between the starter course and main entrée (main course) in order to cleanse the palate. The French are responsible for this culinary tradition.
Folklore insists that Nero, the Roman Emperor, invented sorbet during the first century A.D. when he had runners along the Appian way pass buckets of snow hand over hand from the mountains to his banquet hall where it was then mixed with honey and wine. The Chinese have also made concoctions made from snow, juice, and fruit pulp for several thousand years.
Frozen desserts are believed to have been brought to France in 1533 by Catherine de Medici when she left Italy to marry Duke of Orleans, who later became Henry II of France. By the end of the 17th century, sorbet was served in the streets of Paris, and spread to England and the rest of Europe.
Sorbet is served as a non-fat (sometimes 3% fat) and vegan alternative to ice cream.
Agraz is a type of sorbet, usually associated with Spain, Iberia, the Maghreb, and North Africa. It is made from almonds, verjuice, and sugar. It has a strongly acidic flavour, because of the verjuice.
About almond paste
Almond paste and almond meal are made from ground sweet almonds, after the extraction of almond oil. It is similar to marzipan, but contains less sugar.
They are used in pastry and confectionery – in the manufacture of almond macaroons and other sweet pastries, in cake and pie filling. It’s one of main components of the Swedish traditional dessert semla.
Almond meal has recently become important in baking items for those on low carbohydrate diets. It adds a nice moist touch and a rich nutty taste to baked goods. Items baked with Almond meal tend to be “calorie dense”; lots of calories in a small package.
About Macaroon
Macaroons are a cookie or confection, or a cross between the two, depending on where they are made. The macaroon is a close cousin to the meringue.
The original macaroon is the cookie version, made with powdered almonds, which originated in Italy. The English word macaroon comes from the French macaron, from the word maccarone, regionally used in Italy to refer to maccherone (kind of pasta, with a hole and a larger diameter than bucatini) – because almond macaroon paste is the same colour as macaroni pasta.
Macaroon cookies (or “macaroon biscuits”) often use egg whites (usually whipped to stiff peaks), chocolate or dates as the binder of a food fabric, such as ground or powdered nuts, coconut, cocoa, potato starch, cornstarch, peanut butter, poppy seeds, toasted sesame seed paste, etc. Some recipes use wheat or other types of flour, but this is unusual and macaroons made with flour arguably are not true macaroons. Almost all recipes call for sugar, which caramelises and provides body and a smooth, moist texture to the macaroon. If the coconut or other fabric used is very sweet, however, the sugar may be omitted.
In Scotland, there are three types of macaroon. The macaroon biscuit, which is the cookie-type macaroon typical of Italy and France, and almost always almond-flavoured. The second type is a macaroon cookie/confection that is made with plain mashed coconut (or cold cooked potatoes), mixed with icing sugar to stiffen it, then dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. And there is the pure confection called “macaroon”, which is typically a fondant, nougat, meringue, or similar centre, coated or dipped in chocolate.
In North America, the coconut macaroon, commonly known as the Fraser Bell cookie is the best known variety. Commercially made coconut macaroons are generally dense, moist and sweet, and often dipped in chocolate. Homemade macaroons and varieties produced by smaller bakery outfits are commonly light and fluffy, as though they were a cross between macaroons, meringues and nougat.
In Asturias, Spain, there is a variety of macaroons made with hazelnuts and honey. They are called “carajitos”.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 6 servings
For the sorbet
2 pounds Concord grapes
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water
6 tablespoons sugar
For the chocolate grapes
6 oz almond paste
1 pound Concord grapes, stems removed
For the macaroon leaves
[I]3 oz almond paste
2 egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
1. To prepare the sorbet, in a large saucepan, combine grapes, 1 cup water, lemon juice, and 6 tablespoons sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Remove from heat and refrigerate overnight.
3. To prepare the chocolate grapes, in a medium saucepan, melt chocolate, stirring, over hot, not boiling, water until just melted; do not allow chocolate to become too hot.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Separate and thoroughly dry grapes.
6. Using a sharp, sturdy wooden pick, dip each grape into the melted chocolate, turning to coat well.
7. Drop coated grapes into neat clusters of about 8 grapes each on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
8. Refrigerate grapes until chocolate has hardened, overnight if possible.
9. To make macaroon leaves, in a small mixing bowl, combine almond paste and egg whites and blend until smooth.
10. Stir in sugar and flour and blend well.
11. Spread mixture very thinly onto a well-greased baking sheet and cut out into 6 leaf shapes. If you prefer, outline leaf shapes first on parchment paper and spread mixture over parchment
.
12. Use the tip of a sharp knife to outline veins on leaves.
13. Carefully remove the leaves from the parchment with a metal spatula.
14. Purée chilled sorbet mixture in a food processor or food mill.
15. Process in a sorbet or ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions and chill until ready to serve.
16. To serve, place grape clusters onto chilled individual dessert plates. Place two small scoops of sorbet on top of each cluster.
17. Arrange a macaroon leaf on one side of each plate.
**From “Outdoor Entertaining” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**
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