Better late than never: chocolate orange sorbet

Today, in walking back from the farmers market, I noticed that one of the trees had begun to "green." You know what I'm talking about: when trees begin to pick up that pale yellow green color right before they begin leafing. Temperatures are inching up, the first crocuses showed up , snowdrops are blooming, and spring is almost here. And none too soon. It is about five weeks until the first rhubarb, then the ramps, dandelions, and other good stuff will be here. For now, though, we do with what we have, and quite well.

This is one of the desserts that I do a lot during the winter weather. Citrus, as I've explained ad nauseum to some of you, is at its peak now. And while Annalena is not a fan of chocolate, she likes this. In fact, EVERYONE seems to like this. I would say that it's up there, with strawberry and coffee ice creams, as the most requested one of my frozen desserts (sorry concord grape fans: probably out of the medals, but definitely in the top 10).

I thought about this one the other day because my friend Brad had expressed a wish that he could make it, but since he didn't have an ice cream maker....

Well, that's not true no more. So, Brad and Michael, now you can do it. You just need the recipe.

And I was sure that I had posted it. I was SO SURE that I spent half an hour searching the blog, using different search terms, to find it.

Nope. Call it GPS: general paralysis of the insane, or call it CRS: can't remember shit, whatever. But I didn't post it. Well, now I have . You need an ice cream maker, and to be honest, it's worth buying one, just to make this. There's no custard making involved. The hardest thing you'll do is squeeze citrus. Now, let's get to work.

To make about a quart and a half (you won't regret this), you need 1.5 cups of sugar, and 1.5 cups of a good quality cocoa. Don't buy Hersheys. Look around and get something GOOD. Generally a good chocolate maker will make a good cocoa. And, dare I say it? I mean PURE cocoa, which is unsweetened. You also need 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped up. I have made this with bittersweet chips to save time, and it works wonderfully. You also need 3 cups of water, and about 1.25-1.33 cups of fresh squeezed orange juice.

A few words on this juice. When I say fresh squeezed, I mean squeezed when you're making this . Buying "fresh squeezed" won't do. It's not, and it's not good enough. You can use whatever oranges you like: navels, cara caras, blood oranges (my preferred), or smaller ones like satsumas, tangerines, and so forth. A medium sized orange will give you a quarter cup or so of juice, so you'll need about 6 oranges to do this, but many more tangerines or satsumas. After you've squeezed enough for the juice, here we go.

Get a nice heavy sauce pan, and combine the sugar and cocoa, without liquid. Just stir them together. Now stir in the water, little by little. You'll get a thick, solid, ugly slurry. Keep whisking, and turn up the heat to medium, and cook for four minutes or so. Lower the heat, and add the chocolate and the orange juice. If you want, add a little grated peel. I find it distracting. It's up to you. When the chocolate has melted, you are done with cooking.

Was that hard? Nope, it was not. Let this chill, and when it's cold, use your ice cream maker, and get a quart and a half of a thick, wonderful sorbet that even the non-choclate eaters will enjoy.

I also want you to go back and look at the fat content in this: very little, huh? I defy you to tell that this is low fat. You can't.

So, Brad, Michael, and any other ice cream lover out there, get out your machines, get out your juicers, and GET BUSY!!!