Watermelon Raspberry Sorbet

Today I was strolling through a neighborhood farmer's market with my good friends Guestblogger Eric and Burt. We checked out the peak summer bounty of beans, beets, squash, eggplants, herbs and tomatoes. At this particular market there are great local vendors offering amazingly good, local food including eggplant Parmesan hoagies, herby falafels, and thirst-quenching Arnie Palmer's.

One of the vendors was selling watermelon popsicles and I felt quite satisfied with myself that I had made a similar frozen treat earlier this morning. Mine is currently in sorbet form and has the additional red richness of raspberries. This combination of fruity goodness could easily be made into popsicles if you have some molds, just omit the alcohol which keeps the sorbet from freezing solidly.

One might not think that watermelon and raspberries are a match but I've been on this recent kick of combining foods that are the same color and let me just say: so far, so good. I'm assuming there are all sorts of nasty combinations out there...peas and honeydew come to mind for instance. But let's focus on the harmony that is lemon and yellow squash (my last post) and today's red sorbet which was a refreshing, supertasty treat.

For one quart:

• 4 cups cubed watermelon
• 6 ounces raspberries
• 3/4 cup simple syrup*
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white rum (or vodka)

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the watermelon and raspberries. Puree until very smooth. Pour the puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Stir in the simple syrup and lemon juice. Refrigerate for one hour.

For Sorbet: Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process until quite slushy. With the machine running, add the rum or vodka until incorporated. Transfer to a quart-sized container and freeze. Allow to sit out for 20 minutes before serving.

For popsicles: Omit the rum or vodka. Pour into molds and freeze until solid.

* to make simple syrup, in a small saucepan combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for several minutes, remove from the heat and allow to come to room temperature. Transfer to a container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.