Fresh Strawberries and Lemon Sorbet

Summer represents all the refreshing abundance of the fruit markets, including strawberries and lemons. They make fantastic simple dessert recipes, smoothies, and cold drinks. But at the Hotels Lucien Barriere Deauville, strawberries and lemons are made into a sweet “salad.” With the addition of a sweet macaroon and a lemon sorbet, the dish transforms into a great dessert that celebrates summer and summer fruits. The good thing about is that it can also be served during cocktails or as an appetizer.

The various components of lemon are utilized in this recipe. The zest, with its strong lemon-scented oils, is marinated in sugar. It is used as a garnish later, having been candied somehow during its marination in the sugar. The lemon juice is also mixed in with pectin to produce a lemony syrup. The strawberries are arranged on the plate together with the zest, sorbet, and lemon sauce. You’ll surely find that the combination of sweet and sour is one of the healthy recipes out there that is mellowed by the addition of sugar and macaroon pieces.

This dessert can be prepared in advance, one component after the other. The macaroons can be store-bought or homemade, depending on your preference. You can even replace it with other think cookies, like cat’s tongue, wafer, or sables. Just make sure to serve the whole plated dessert as cold and towards the end of the meal. The only thing that you will be doing aside from assembly is to cut the strawberries into pieces and scoop the sorbet on the plate.

Calling this dish a “salad” is somewhat appropriate (with the zest serving as the “greens” and the lemon syrup as the vinaigrette) only sweet and not savory as how salads are. Pair the strawberry lemon salad with a nice glass of dessert wine like Maury’s vins doux naturels. This is made from Grenache grape varieties. Extremely fruity for a wine, it complements well the sweetness of the strawberry, the bitterness of the lemon skins, and the sweet-sourness of the lemon sauce.

Ingredients

6 lemons

½ lb. strawberries

3 1/2 oz. sugar

1/3 lb. pectin

4 scoops lemon sorbet

8 macaroon pieces

1. Prepare the lemon peel. Using a zester or paring knife, remove the peel from the lemon in large pieces. Slice the pieces further into fine strips. In a pan, mix water and sugar then marinade the strips in this concoction. Set aside.

2. Prepare the lemon sauce. Squeeze the lemon to extract the juice. In a saucepan, mix a ratio of half lemon juice, 1 kilo of sugar and pectin as a binder. Boil the mixture while stirring constantly.

3. Prepare the strawberries. Cut the leaves off the strawberries the cut into quarters. Arrange three small heaps of them on a serving dish leaving a space at the center. Top each heap with some strips of lemon peel. Set a macaroon to lean on a side of each heap. Pour the heaps with some lemon syrup.

4. Assemble the dish. Spread some syrup at the center of the heaps then drop some scoop of lemon sorbet on it. Place a sprig of mint at the center to finish off.