An Ice Bowl is a thing of love and beauty. It is a striking centre piece to a family meal or for a celebratory occasion. Ice Bowls are surprisingly easy to make; just time consuming. Growing up my one Aunt used to make them for all us children as a birthday present. It was filled with ice-cream and the fun part was the toys frozen into the Ice Bowls. The boys had the funnest toys. Once you gobbled up the ice-cream you got to melt the Ice Bowl and free the toys. At the moment my Ice Bowls are filled with beautiful herbal flowers. Our summer has been one long heat wave. Frozen treats and long cold swims are the way to cope with the heat.
ICE-BOWL: You need two identically shaped bowls (preferably not glass) of two different sizes. You also need to pick your herbal flowers in stages over two to three days, as you are layering. Remember this is creativity and not perfection. The iced walls won't be perfectly even and the flowers may drift.
To get started fill water about an inch deep in your large bowl and arrange your flowers. This week I used pretty purple wild garlic flowers and vibrant yellow Jerusalem artichoke flowers with sprigs of flowering lemon verbena. I like a really thick base so that it doesn't melt or break too soon. Make sure it is stable and straight in the freezer. Then leave overnight to freeze.
On day two, with another batch of herbal flowers pop your smaller bowl into the large bowl. You'll need to put some kind of weight in the small bowl to keep it sitting on the frozen base. As you can see I use packets of lentils! To prevent everything floating to the top freeze your Ice Bowl in three layers (including the base is four) Pour in a little water and carefully arrange your flowers.
Then carefully balance the bowls in the freezer. You will probably need to prop something in between the bowls to keep them equidistant. I use frozen bananas. Each layer needs at least 8 hours to freeze. Repeat the process adding a little water and arranging the flowers.
Once your Ice Bowl is ready you can leave it out for a few minutes so that the bowls will pop off easily. Then return the Ice Bowl to the freezer to await the Sorbet! Like the Ice Bowl Sorbet is easy to make but time consuming. I begin preparations at the same time I begin the Ice Bowl. Preparations being; peeling, cutting and freezing 1kg of fruit.
SORBET: 1kg Mixed fruit (Mango, peaches and berries is amazing!) 1 cup water infused with herbs (I infused lemon verbena) 1/2 cup Maple Syrup or coconut blossom 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice Prepare and freeze the fruit. Chill the infused water once you have dissolved the maple syrup. Pop into a food processor and blend until smooth. Then add the salt and lemon juice and blend further. Taste. I add extra lemon for that additional zing. Pour into your Ice Bowl and freeze. Four hours should be sufficient but I prefer leaving it overnight.
There is always a reason to celebrate. And I love to spoil my family with a beautiful treat. Beautiful to behold and beautiful to eat. Here's to life and the beauty of loving! Bon Appetito!
