Strawberry Basil Rhubarb Sorbet

This is the first year J and I have bought into a biweekly CSA share. If you aren't familiar with CSA shares, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It's a fabulous way for city folk and suburbanites to take advantage of fresh, in-season produce from local growers. Our particular CSA tries to deal with as many organic and sustainably-farmed growers as possible.

One of the things that drew me to the idea of the share in the first place was to try produce that for one reason another I've never tried or just didn't have access to. Our first bag included various types of lettuce, kale (hence the kale chips), sugar snap peas, garlic scapes, artisan bread, and the ubiquitous June combination of strawberries and rhubarb.

At that point, I'd never had rhubarb and my knowledge of it was limited to two things: a) the leaves were poisonous and b) it went with strawberries. I had grand plans to make a pie or a tart, but the strawberries were perfectly ripe when we had received them and wouldn't have lasted until I had the time to make a pie crust. So I thought 'sorbet'. At this point I had discovered via Google that rhubarb tasted tart - tart is always good in sorbet, if you ask me. Sweet from the strawberries, tart from the rhubarb, and then for flare, I decided to add some basil because our basil plant, Chumlee, needed pruning. (Yes, as in that Chumlee.)

The result was delightful. The texture was creamy, with a slight icy grit on the tongue. The taste was lightly sweet at first, followed by a refreshing tang of tartness and finishing with a light zip from the basil. It's super easy to make and would be a great follow up to a fresh summer meal or just as a cooling mid-afternoon snack on a hot day.

Strawberry Basil Rhubarb Sorbet
(Adapted from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop.")

5 or 6 rhubarb stalks, washed and chopped to 2" pieces
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
1 "pint" strawberries (about 2 cups), hulled and sliced
About 5 basil leaves (more or less to taste)
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1. In a non-reactive sauce pot, bring rhubarb, sugar and water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, or until the rhubarb is fork tender. Set aside to cool.
2. Place strawberries in a blender and puree. Add cooled rhubarb mixture, basil and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. You may want to strain the mixture through a sieve at this point to get rid of the stringy bits from the rhubarb, but you don't have to.
3. Pour mixture into a lidded container and allow to chill at least one hour.
4. Prepare mixture in your ice cream maker according to your makers instructions.