Even with Summer coming to an end, we’ve been getting some steaming hot weather in Brisbane this last week. I thought I would try to get one more summery dish in, as a bit of a farewell to the season.  I’ve been experimenting with desserts of the frozen nature, an wanted to share 2 in particular with you. Quick, have a go at these before the weather turns cool!  This passionfruit semifreddo was my January special.  It was so popular, I think I knocked it out about 3 times in 1 week! It is so light and subtle.  And it’s hard to go wrong with beautiful passionfruit.

On our week off in Byron, I went right into cooking mode. With loads of limes to enjoy from the lime tree in beautiful Newrybar, I didn’t want them to become just the garnish for Josh’s Coronas.   Jamie came to the rescue with a recipe for lemon sherbet in the pages of Jamie’s Italy. In contrast to the semifreddo, the sherbet was very sweet and sharp, and more refreshing.  I made 2 lots, one with just lemons, and one with a combination of lemons and limes. The lemon lime combo was the winner…and disappeared too quickly for me to get a photo, but here’s the lemon sherbet.

passionfruit semifreddo
enough for 6

6 egg yolks
180g castor sugar
14 passionfruit
juice of 1 lime
seeds of 1 vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
225gm double cream
115ml pouring cream

method

Whisk egg yolk in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Place sugar, passionfruit and vanilla seeds in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Simmer until the mixture becomes thick and syrupy.  Begin to whisk the yolks again, adding the syrup and lime juice until mixture is cold. In a separate bowl, combine the 2 creams and whisk until soft peaks form.  Fold in the passionfruit mixture and spoon into a lunchbox or cake tin lined with baking paper.  Freeze for at least 8hrs.  Turn out to serve as a semifreddo ‘loaf’ and serve in slices, or scoop out of the container.

xanadu lime & lemon sherbet
enough for 6

1 cup caster sugar
1 cup water
zest of 1 lime and 1 lemon
100ml freshly squeezed lime juice
150ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon mascarpone

method

Bring the water and caster sugar to the boil in a saucepan and then reduce to a simmer.  Remove after about 5 minutes, once syrupy and allow to cool for 15 minutes.  Add the juices and mascarpone and whisk until there are no lumps of mascarpone.  Taste for the right balance of lemony vs sugar and adjust.  Pour into a shallow dish and place in the freezer. After an hour, check to see if there are any frozen bits – use a fork to break it up.  Repeat every hour for the first 3 hours. Allow to freeze another hour or 2 and then it will be ready to scoop out.