Straddling seasons, with raspberry sorbet

A warning for what's to follow, ragazzi. This is an EXPENSIVE recipe. Annalena feels you should do it once a year, however, and enjoy it. It is easy. REALLY easy.

Raspberries, I guess, are one of the fruits we associate with the heat of summer. Many of you have memories of picking wild ones, from brambles that are covered with thorns, and enduring it because it was worth it. Guyman has such memories. Annalena, being a city girl, does not. She always bought her raspberries from the store, and did not ever have to actually pick them for herself.

Having spoken to those who do, however, and aware of the extreme perishability of these little guys, Annalena is willing to pay what they cost. Ultimately, she feels that there is value here: a small container of rapsberries may very well give you flavor that you would not find in an equally costly slice of cake, and raspberries are extremely good for you. They are. If, for example, you are in need of extra fiber (and we all are at some point or another, let us face it), raspberries are about as pleasant a way to get it as you will find.

Enough clinical stuff. "Straddling seasons" because, those who are in the "know" of these things, speak of summer and fall raspberries. Indeed, raspberries are the last of the berries to bid "farewell" to us every year. Guyman and I had them at our wedding ceremony, in mid October, and they were local. My untrained eye says that the ones in spring are lighter colored, as compared to darker, almost purple raspberries in the fall. If I were diligent, I would find out what the different varieites are. Alas, this time around, I was not.

So, once a year, I make a quart of raspberry sorbet. This is the recipe, and it is again from one of my favorite sources of things dessert like, Claudia Fleming's book "The Last Course." I am told it is a collector's item now, and my copy of it is worth 400.00. My my, I would think the stains I brought to it would make it more valuable, but probably not.

So, why do I keep on speaking of expensive. Here's why. To make this, you need SEVEN clam shells of raspberries. SEVEN. Now, I bought mine at different times from Lisa, my favorite berry farmer. The first batch were 4 for 10 dollars, the second batch, 3 for ten dollars. So, there's 20 dollars worth of fruit, right there. (If you know a farmer who has berries, s/he may have "seconds." You can buy these for less money, but you must use them right away. They are on their way to spoilage very quickly. If you buy them in this fashion, ask for two quarts worth).

Put your berries in a big bowl, with six tablespoons of sugar. This is about 1/3 of a cup. Stir them together. Don't worry about damaging them. You will be damaging them pretty thoroughly very quickly. Let them sit for about an hour, while you make a syrup of 1/2 cup of water, and 3/4 cup of more sugar.

Annalena feels you need all this sugar in the dessert, because raspberries are tart. If, however, you are inclined to want a tarter sorbet, simply use less.

After you have allowed the raspberries to sit, pour the syrup over them, and then move the whole mass to a blender.

Please make sure your lid is on the blender. Else, you risk turning your kitchen into a scene out of "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and who wants that?

Will it surprise you that you are now done with your cooking? You are, unless you want to really get fancy and strain out the seeds. If you do, you will need a filter/colander/food mill with REALLY TINY holes, and you will need to be very patient. You will also lose that much vaunted fiber. Your call. Annalena prefers a bit of grit with her dessert (as with her men). So, unfiltered (sort of like Annalena), you put this into your ice cream maker, and as the line goes "churn, churn, churn."

You will have a quart of intensely (VERY intensely) flavored, gorgeously red sorbet at the end. There is no fat in this, there are lots of antioxidants (remember, you didn't cook anything), and it is ridiculously refreshing.

Of course, you could spoil the whole "health food" fantasy about this dessert by eating it with ice cream, which we may very well do. I cannot think of a baked good with which this would go well, so either serve it on its own, put some whipped cream on it, layer it with ice cream, but for heaven's sakes children, make it once a year and savor it.

And a bit of "what's to come" with Annalena's kitchen. We will be revisiting a favorite soup: corn, corn corn soup. It's in here, but it's gotten neglected, and as our season ends, it's another one you should make once. We will be visiting a somewhat complicated dessert, the wonderful "gateau basque." And quite possibly, we shall be investigating paella. Now, on that one, let me hear from you: paella calls for a serious kitchen commitment, but it's worth it. Where are we on this, ragazzi? Shall we make it together? Thoughts?