Ice Cream Machine!

So, my new ice cream machine attachment for the ol' stand mixer is basically the balls.  Check it:

That's Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet, easy as could be.  After my trip to the farmer's market, I came home with many a stalk of delightfully, excellently pink rhubarb.  All the people that I excitedly shook the hearty bundle at were wary of my "red celery" and were (to my confusion) just not as pleased as I was to find it for sale.  Then I realized that I didn't even know what to do with it... 

First, I made Rhubarb Soda, which is lovely (could be even better with champagne, just saying).  It was sweet and tart, almost like a pink lemonade, very nice.  Still, its tangy pink essence was incomplete without its sweet life-mate: strawberries.  Ask Grandma, she'll agree with me.  It was too hot to bake a pie, so I got my mitts on some frozen strawberries down at the supermarket and set to concocting a new late spring staple.  Heads up: the time it takes to chill the mix in the end really makes a difference in your final texture.  I learned the hard way, you shouldn't have to.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet

5 fatty stalks of the reddest rhubarb you can find, cut up into uniform chunks (doesn't need to 

be pretty)

2 cups of sugar

3 cups of water

1 pint of frozen strawberries, thawed, liquid reserved.  Please use unsweetened if you can find them.  I could only find strawbs with sugar added, so I cut out about 1/4 c. of the sugar

Zest of one plump lime

Pinch of salt

1. Pile the water, sugar, lime zest, reserved liquid from frozen strawberries, and rhubarb in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until the sugar dissolves.
2. Let the mixture come to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.
3. Toss in the pinch of salt.
4. Cook for, like, ten minutes or so or until the rhubarb is a really unappealing brown mash, but the cooking liquid is bright pink
5. Strain, chill until cold to the touch (about 6 hours in the fridge)
6. Run it through your ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.  About halfway through the churn cycle, add your strawberry chunks.

Voilà!  That was fun, wasn't it?  Special thanks to Culinate where I found the recipe for Rhubarb Soda that inspired the sorbet.

Next time, proper ice cream!  I'm working on a Gingersnap flavor ...