Black Currant Tea Fruit Soup

Summer has just arrived, but New York has already seen some very hot days. Chances are, we’ll see some more soon. When it’s really hot, even ice cream seems too rich to eat. When the temperature is 

over 90 degrees, I usually crave something really refreshing and light. And, needless to say, easy to prepare – turning the oven on is just not an option. I’m happy to say that this black currant tea-

flavored fruit soup fits the bill perfectly. With a black currant tea and lemon infused syrup as its base, the only other components are fresh fruit and sorbet. The beauty of this dessert is that you can 

change the flavor profile of the tea syrup and coordinate the fruit and sorbet to complement it. Pair a lychee or passion fruit tea syrup with exotic fruits and sorbet, or a raspberry or mint tea syrup with

fresh berries and a berry sorbet. You can make your own sorbet, or use store-bought – happily, there are myriad flavors of high-quality sorbet available in the supermarket these days.

Raspberry and Lemon-Mint Sorbet with Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

World Cup fever is raging. This became apparent to me yesterday as I was working in the kitchen and heard my husband yelling at the television “Come on! Come on!! What’s wrong with you??” England (referred to as ‘Team BP’ by the yeller) was playing the U.S., and our nation’s honor was on the line in the Boyle-Eggleston household, as it was in bars and homes all over the U.S.  

Happily, we tied, which, because of our lowly status in the team pecking order, was the equivalent of a win reminiscent of the Revolutionary War. As the sporting war raged, I was ensconced in my own world, calmly making sorbet, one of my favorite desserts. I fell in love with the refreshing tartness of lemon sorbet as a child. 

You couldn’t get it in the supermarket back then, but my father would take me to a place called Home Made, an ice cream shop in Northern N.J. that specialized in homemade ice cream and sorbets (though I think they called them ‘ices’ instead of ‘sorbets’). Home Made has been closed for over 20 years, but the memory of that simple, tart lemon sorbet is as fresh as ever. Fortunately, sorbet is one of the simplest desserts to make. Yes, it requires chilling and 

freezing, but the hands-on time in the kitchen is next to nothing, allowing you plenty of time to watch the next World cup match. Homemade cookies, such as my Pistachio Shortbread Cookies, 

are a natural accompaniment. The cookies, by the way, are also great with very finely chopped dried cherries added to the dough for some color and a pop of flavor. 

Go U.S.A!