Woke up to an excessive heat advisory that calls for Summer Babe Sorbets from Lust for Leaf (Da Capo Press-Lifelong Books, June 2013) by Hot Knives Alex Brown and Evan George, a beer and fun loving vegetarian cookbook.

Summer Babe Sorbets

T_H_E_ _P_H_R_A_S_E_ _“E_A_S_Y_ _A_S_ _P_I_E_” _S_H_O_U_L_D_ _B_E_ _T_R_A_N_S_M_O_G_R_I_F_I_E_D_ _T_O_ _“simple as sorbet.” Compare the steps, ingredients, and brainpower for the following recipes to the litany of laminated dough a few pages down. And you barely have to turn on your stove to make these ripping desserts. Heads up vegans: you ought never again be burned by base imitations of Ben & Jerry’s. Call a spade a spade: frozen coconut milk is still sorbet (and these are better than all of them phonies).

Persian Cuke

Makes 1 quart

4 cups water
4 cups white sugar
6 Persian cucumbers

1. Make a simple syrup. Combine sugar and water in a medium-sized pot. Crank the heat and bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. After it hits a boil, turn it off.

2. Wash and roughly chop your cukes. Add half of them to a blender or food processor. Add just enough syrup to make the mixture move, and then puree till kingdom come. Repeat with the rest, then combine and mix the syrup with the puree in a container with a lid. Chill the mix down overnight (or until cold).

3. To use, pour the chilled mix over a fine mesh strainer and into a bowl, using a ladle or spatula
to press the liquid through. Process the strained mix in an ice cream maker of your choice.
Garnish with a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lemon.

Strawberry Hibiscus

Makes 1 quart

4 cups of water
4 cups of white sugar
2 tablespoons dried hibiscus
2 baskets of strawberries

1. Make a simple syrup. Combine sugar and water in a medium-sized pot. Crank the heat and bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. After it hits a boil, turn it off.

2. Add the hibiscus to simple syrup and stir to incorporate, letting it steep while you prep your berries.

3. De-stem and wash those berries. Halve them. Add half of them to a blender or food processor.
Add just enough syrup to make the mixture move, and then puree till kingdom come. Repeat with the rest, combine and mix the syrup with the puree in a container with a lid. Chill the mix down overnight (or until cold).

4. To use, pour the chilled mix over a fine mesh strainer and into a bowl, using a ladle or spatula to press the liquid through. Process the strained mix in an ice cream maker of your choice. Garnish with saba or a drizzle of olive oil.

Icey Hot

Makes 1 quart

6 poblano chiles
6 Anaheim chiles
4 cups water
4 cups white sugar

1. Burn the shit out of your chiles over an open flame. A grill is best, but your stove top works. Cook them until every inch of skin is black, rotating them often to evenly disperse the heat. As they finish blackening, toss them in a paper bag to cool.

2. Make a simple syrup. Combine sugar and water in a medium-sized pot. Crank the heat and bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. After it hits a boil, turn it off.

3. When the chiles are cool enough to handle, rub off the charred skins. Make a vertical incision on
each pepper and remove all the seeds and connective membranes (skip this if you want a spicier
sorbet). Add half of them to a blender or food processor with just enough syrup to make the mixture move, and then puree till kingdom come. Repeat with the rest, combine and mix the syrup with the puree in a container with a lid. Chill the mix down overnight (or until cold).

4. To use, pour the chilled mix over a fine mesh strainer and into a bowl, using a ladle or spatula to press the liquid through. Process the strained mix in an ice cream maker of your choice. Garnish with a shot of tequila or mezcal.

(* Recipes from 'Lust for Leaf Veggie Crowd-Pleasers to Fuel your Picnics, Potlucks and Ragers by Alex Brown and Evan George- Da Capo Press Lifelong Books, June 2013- all rights reserved)