Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Week 3

Like everyone else, I am absolutely stuffed. Not only did we have an enormous Thanksgiving dinner, but I ended up at breakfast the next day at Craker's and Co, and then again lunch today at Texas Roadhouse. I love food, but whew. That's what my family and Brian's family do... we eat. I like that. Anyway, earlier in the week I took on the newest challenge for the Iron Chef Blogger Challenger (from here on out, in true TV show style, referred to as ICBC). Here's the report from this week's cooking adventure.

The background: Our ingredient was cranberries and the rule was that we couldn't make cranberry sauce. Fair enough. I love cranberries, and they do not get enough love this time of year, as there are only a few specialty cranberry things versus the sudden universe of specialty pumpkin things. When did pumpkin become so cool? I added the rule that I couldn't bake anything, since I'm trying to branch out. So, somehow I decided on attempting cranberry sorbet. Hey, it has been a warm November. Why not?

The prep: I pulled the recipe off of AllRecipes.com and was excited by how simple it seemed. I skimmed the recipe, noticed that it didn't need any weird/expensive ingredients and got giddy about trying my hand at sorbet. Cranberries were amazingly easy to find this time of year. I hit up Trader Joe's knowing that it would be a lot easier to find the specific frozen fruits and juices.

The main event: I was feeling cheap and didn't want to shell out for cherry juice, and I couldn't find lime juice, so I bought frozen cherries and fresh limes, thinking I could just squeeze the fruits to make their respective juices. Yes, I don't know why I thought I could squeeze juice out of cherries. It was Monday, ok? I ended up pulverizing the cherries in a blender and it worked. It took about three whole limes to make the 1/4 cup of lime juice, and I got a great workout for my wrist and hand muscles. I felt pretty proud of myself until I got to the line about putting everything into an ice cream maker and following the machine's directions. Oops, an ice cream maker is definitely not hiding anywhere in our kitchen. I had to Google "make sorbet without an ice cream maker" hoping there was a solution for those of us who do not make a loving batch of creamy homemade ice cream on a regular basis. The best option? Throw it all in a blender and freeze it.

The wrap-up: The sorbet turned out tangy and tasty, but it didn't have the smooth texture of those that come in a carton. It was more like a really froze Italian ice. But good! It also made me realize that sorbets are basically just frozen smoothies with a little extra smoothing out.

The final score: I'm still working my way through the giant Tupperware of sorbet-ish stuff. Cooking experience is a 3 out of 6 due to disappointment and lessons learned (read CLOSELY even when you're in a hurry to go to the store and need a recipe fast). I'd say 5 out of 6 on taste, this is definitely weaning me off the Laffy Taffy left over from Halloween.


From all this (minus the vitamins)...


...to this (draining the juice from the mush)...



... to this (lumpy, but tasty)!

Recipe:


Triple Berry Sorbet
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 (12 ounce) package frozen unsweetened raspberries
1 1/2 cups cherry juice
1/2 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate

1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. When the sugar is dissolved, stir in the cranberries, and cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add the raspberries, and simmer for 5 more minutes, until the raspberries have softened and the cranberries have popped.

2. Strain the mixture through a sieve or strainer, discard the pulp, and refrigerate the mixture for 2 hours. Mix in the cherry juice, lime juice, and orange juice concentrate, and pour the mixture into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to directions.(Or, put it all in a blender and blend until smooth. Put in a freezer-friendly container, stirring the mixture violently every hour or so, to try to cut down on ice crystals. After you get sick of this, freeze over night.)


From www.allrecipes.com