Pineapple Sorbet and Coconut Ice Cream

This weekend I made a Chinese feast for the girls. Despite being separated by up to 200 miles for the most part, every couple of months we get together for food and wine, and a good girly natter. Over time, these girls nights have evolved to have a culinary theme, the last time we met we enjoyed an amazing Caribbean meal made by Tara, for which I provided my Mango and Coconut Cheesecake. 

The last time we met, we were ticking off the themes that we had covered so far, and realised that we had somehow overlooked arguably the two main 'foreign' cuisines enjoyed in this country, that being Chinese and Indian. I decided to rectify this this month, as it was my turn to host, and set about planning for a Chinese banquet. 

Over the next few days/ weeks I will post the recipes that I used to create my feast. After a heavy and varied selection of dishes, I didn't want to go all out on a heavy dessert, and to be honest, there aren't many Chinese desserts anyway. I had already decided on making my own fortune cookies, but wanted to create something of a pallet cleanser after all the sticky Chinese food. I decided to make this Pineapple Sorbet and Coconut Ice Cream combo, as they are flavours that feature in Chinese dishes, and would be a nice, light, not overly sweet end to the meal. 

Coconut Ice Cream and Pineapple Sorbet

These are two separate recipes, however I would thoroughly recommend serving them together as I have here, the sweet sharpness of the Pineapple sorbet, with the hint of lemon, cuts through the rich creamy Coconut ice cream with a hint of vanilla, and are just heavenly together. Here's how I made them (sooo much easier than you'd think, especially the sorbet!) ...

For the Pineapple Sorbet...

Ingredients;

- 300 grams diced fresh pineapple

- juice of 1 lemon

- 4 tablespoons sugar

Place the pineapple in a large blender, and blend until fully liquidised. Add the lemon juice and sugar, and blitz again. 

Pour the mixture into a metal container, and place in the freezer for around 90 minutes. The mixture will start to set around the outside first. 

After 90 minutes, scoop the part set sorbet out of the metal container back into the blender. Blitz one more time to get an even texture to the sorbet, then pour out into a tupperware container. 

Place the lid on, and return to the freezer to set. It is best to make this the day before needed to ensure that it is set fully, however at a push you could make it in the morning for the same evening. 

Pineapple Sorbet

For the Coconut Ice Cream...

Ingredients;

- 250 ml semi-skimmed milk

- 300 ml double cream

- 400 ml coconut cream

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 6 egg yolks

- 175 grams caster sugar

- 80 grams dessicated coconut

Put the milk, cream, vanilla extract and coconut cream in a large heavy bottomed saucepan, and bring to the boil. Once the mixture has reached boiling point, remove from the heat, and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until light and creamy. Slowly pour over the hot cream mixture, whisking continuously. 

Once all of the ingredients are combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan, pouring through a sieve to strain out any lumps. 

Place the pan back over a low heat, and stir until the mixture starts to thicken slightly. Add the dessicated coconut and stir through. 

Pour the mixture into a metal container, cover, and set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, cover with foil and place in the freezer for around 90 minutes. The mixture will start to set around the outside first.

After 90 minutes, scoop the part set sorbet out of the metal container back into the blender. Blitz one more time to get an even texture to the sorbet, then pour out into a tupperware container.

Place the lid on, and return to the freezer to set. It is best to make this the day before needed to ensure that it is set fully.

Coconut Ice Cream