Lemon ice cream (Sorbetto al limone, a popular Italian refreshment)

The sorbetto is a kind of ice-cream which doesn’t contain milk and is usually made of water, sugar and fruit juice. You usually have a sorbetto al limone (lemon sorbetto) after your meal to favour your digestion or on a hot summer afternoon with friends or family.

Ingredients (4 servings)

4 lemons

1 egg white

250 g of sugar

1 small liqueur glass of vodka 

Preparation

Wash the lemons and peel away the yellow part of the lemon zest. Heat 25 ml of water and the sugar in a casserole, mix well and remove from fire when the mixture is boiling. Add the yellow lemon zest and leave the syrup to rest until it cools down completely.

In the mean time squeeze the lemon juice and sieve it. Remove the zest from the syrup, add the lemon juice and the vodka. Whip the egg white and add it to the mixture.

If you use an ice-cream machine, add the egg white halfway through the ice-cream preparation.

Otherwise, the egg white will tend to remain on the surface. To get it well amalgamated with the rest, use a blender or keep stirring the mixture every now and then after you have put it into the freezer.

Pour the mixture into a freezer container and leave for 2-3 hours. If the egg white hasn’t amalgamated well with the mixture, stir every 15-20 minutes to get a white and smooth ice cream.