Cantaloupe sorbet with strawberry mint soup

Let me start out by saying that it’s my mums’ birthday today so: Happy Birthday mum!!! Unfortunately I can’t be with her on her birthday but I did book a ticket to Croatia (where they live part of the year, the rest they live in the Netherlands) for me and my son. I’m really looking forward to going to Croatia!! Here are some pictures so you know what I’m looking forward about...




As it is my mums’ birthday I had to post something today to celebrate. I’m sure she’ll love this refreshing summery dessert.



So here is another dessert...have been practicing a bit since I posted this dessert. In one of my practice rounds I made dessert that consisted of cantaloupe sorbet, ‘liquid’ truffle and mini butter cookies. It looked really great but unfortunately the taste-combination wasn’t well chosen. The sorbet didn’t go too well with the chocolate. In other words, not blogworthy…back to the drawing table!
Having plenty of cantaloupe sorbet left over to play with, I made the dessert you see in the picture: Cantaloupe sorbet in strawberry mint soup. A summery dessert that even fits the Eat Local Challenge launched by Jen of Life begins at 30. It’s a very refreshing (fat-free) dessert that would be great to serve after a heavy meal. The sweet fragrant taste of the cantaloupe contrasts well with the sweet and tart taste of the strawberries. And the mint in the strawberry soup gives it a little an extra bit of zing.

I had some difficulty making pictures. My camera stopped cooperating with me the moment I needed to make the shots. Not very convenient when working with sorbet! Saved the dessert by putting it in the freezer. After about 10 minutes my camera gave up nagging me. Just had to wait till the frost layer on the plate melted to wipe it away.

Cantaloupe sorbet (adapted from my ice cream makers manual)

150 g (5 ¼ oz) sugar
200 ml water (6 ¾ fl oz)
400 g (14 oz) cantaloupe flesh, diced
1 tbs lemon juice

Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir to allow the sugar to dissolve over low heat. When dissolved increase the heat and cook for 1 minute. Allow to cool.
Puree the cantaloupe in a blender and mix with the cold sugar syrup. Refrigerate the mixture.

Freezer method: Pour the mixture in a metal pan (eg cake pan) and put it in the freezer. Stir the mixture after an hour. Repeat this every half hour until the mixture is frozen. Freeze at least for 2 hours or more (depending on your freezer) before serving.

Ice cream machine maker method: Pour the mixture into a running ice cream machine. Follow manual for freezing time. Usually this is 20-30 minutes. Transfer to freezer for at least 2 hours or more (depending on your freezer) before serving.

Strawberry mint soup

1 ½ kg (3 ⅓ lb) strawberries
icing sugar, to taste
6 small mint leafs, chopped finely
6 x upper 4 mint leafs on a branch for decorating

Wash and hull the strawberries. Puree the strawberries in a blender. Strain the puree in a fairly fine sieve to get rid of the small seeds. You should have at least 900 ml (30 fl oz) left.
Pour 150 ml (5 fl oz) of the strawberry soup into each soup plate. Sprinkle with the chopped mint. Put 1 quenelle of cantaloupe sorbet in the middle of each plate of strawberry mint soup and decorate with mint leafs.

1 serving – 85 kcal
100 g cantaloupe sorbet – 95 kcal
100 g strawberry mint soup – 35 kcal

carbohydrate 20 g – protein 1 g - fat 0 g (saturated fat 0 g) - fibre 3 g (combination of the 2)