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I currently live in Charlotte, NC and after spending 7 years as a personal chef and caterer, I am now happy to share my love of cooking with friends and family. My heart is in the kitchen, but my soul is in the stars!

And you thought Rosemary was just for chickens!

Will you please allow me one more summer-inspired rambling post before you tell me to move on to more seasonally appropriate topics?

I realize mid-September should be all about Fall, football, pumpkins and hoodies, but my land of goodness our temps are still in the 90s! I can't even think about snow boots and parkas without breaking out in a sweat! I promise you won't be sorry that I managed to squeeze this little goodie in just before things cool off.....

My friends and I hosted a cocktail and food pairing social for Goodeats and Meets! Charlotte earlier in the summer and during the menu planning stage we decided to make double duty of one of the cocktails by turning it into a palate cleanser.

Palate cleansers are commonly found in French cuisine and used to cleanse the mouth from lingering tastes and flavors of previous courses so that the next may be enjoyed with a fresh perspective. You'll find lemon, lime or mint sorbets on the list of traditional cleansers but since there are no hard and fast rules as to what should be used, sparkling water with citrus, a spring of fresh parsley or lightly brewed green, mint or black tea may also be served.

By the time I monkeyed around with the standard lime sorbet recipe that I had, I wound up with a lovely combination of rosemary infused lime sorbet with Cruzan Coconut Rum. It's not very often that I'm totally bowled over by one of my wingnut creations but this was THE. BOMB. We almost didn't have enough to serve to the 25 party guests because I kept sneaking off to the freezer for another quality control sample.

The end result was fresh, crisp, tropical and refreshing. In retrospect, I should have garnished it with toasted coconut and a fresh rosemary sprig but when you have hungry guests waiting, you do the best that you can. Keep in mind that alcohol will not freeze solid so don't feel compelled to add more as your sorbet will not freeze to proper consistency. Chilly temperatures or not, this goodness will be coming out of my ice cream maker again very, very soon.


Rosemary-Lime Sorbet with Cruzan Coconut Rum

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar
3 cups half-and-half
4 fresh rosemary spears, about 3" long
1/4 cup light corn syrup
Juice of 3 limes
1/3 cup Cruzan Coconut Rum
toasted coconut, for garnish

Preparation

1. Between two pieces of wax paper, lightly crush rosemary with a meat mallet (if you don't have a mallet, use a small saucepan, or the bottom of a glass. This will release the fragrant oils of the herb.

2.In a large saucepan, combine sugar, half-and-half, rosemary spears and corn syrup. Whisk lightly and bring to a boil, making sure mixture does not boil over, then strain into a bowl. Let cool, then chill in refrigerator. (If you want a more intense rosemary flavor, strain AFTER it is cool.) Remove from refrigerator and slowly whisk in lime juice and rum. If mixture shows signs of curdling, whisk harder or transfer to a blender.

3.Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions.

Serve garnished with toasted coconut.

Yields about 1 quart

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