I brought my camera tonight because it seemed like it was going to be an evening worth photographing.  It was, but I was so busy eating brie with raspberry-chipotle sauce and chatting with friends that I just didn’t get around to it.  You’ll just have to imagine a living room set up in Susie’s front yard, bottles of wine and plates of summer grain salads, a small bouquet of flowers in the middle of a plaid wool blanket, and the deep intense red of what I’m calling Foragers’ Sorbet, made from back yard berries and mint that keeps creeping into our garden.

Foragers’ Sorbet
Adapted from The Houndstooth Gourmet

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup wild raspberries (or regular berries, of course, but wild is what we have on hand)
A handful of wild mint, rinsed and sliced into a chiffonade
Juice of one half lemon

In a medium saucepan, whisk together water and sugar until dissolved.  Add the raspberries, mint, and lemon juice and simmer for about 5 minutes, whisking and crushing the berries as you see fit.  Remove from heat and pour through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer, then chill for 30 minutes or until cooled completely.  I like to just set the strainer over a large glass measuring cup, pour the mixture through, and then set the whole thing in the fridge to continue to drip and chill.

Process in your ice cream maker for about 25 minutes, or until you can see it getting thick in the center.  Pour into a freezer-safe container and chill for a few hours before serving.  Recipe should yield 2 cups of incredibly flavorful and velvety sorbet.