When I was a kid, I used to love to make the following recipe for watermelon bombe. A bombe is a frozen, domed-shaped dessert that combines different flavors of ice cream, sherbet or sorbet. This particular bombe is made of sherbet, but when you serve it, it looks surprisingly like a slice of watermelon. The mini chocolate chips help add to the illusion. On an extra hot day, the icy cool sherbet is a welcome treat. It’s lower in calories than either ice cream or sorbet, and it’s easy for an older child to put together all by himself. Just be sure to serve it and eat it quickly - especially on a hot day.

Watermelon Bombe

Ingredients:

• Lime sherbet
• Pineapple sherbet
• Raspberry sherbet
• Mini chocolate chips

Needed Items:

• Round mixing bowl
• Aluminum Foil
• Chilled dessert plates

Line the bowl with aluminum foil. Spoon slightly softened lime sherbet into bowl, making sure to fill it all the way to the rim of the bowl. Place the bowl in the freezer until the sherbet is frozen.

Repeat the process, using a thinner layer of the pineapple sherbet. Return to freezer.

Finally, fill in the rest of the bowl with the raspberry sherbet and freeze until firm. When you are ready to serve the “watermelon,” invert the bombe onto a chilled serving platter, remove the aluminum foil and slice the bombe like you would a watermelon. Place each slice on a chilled serving plate and decorate with mini chocolate chips for the watermelon seeds. Serve immediately!

This is one of the fastest and easiest dessert recipes around which will still make you look like a culinary genius. Just 5 minutes of prep time!

The Basic Recipe:

1. Cut a melon in half

2. Scoop out the seeds

3. Fill the melon “bowl” with a white dessert wine

4. Serve with a spoon

What sweet wine should you use? I would recommend an Austrian Beerenauslese or Eiswein (Ice Wine). You want to use something of quality, but there’s no need to spend a fortune on the dessert wine.

Here are a few more tips to make this recipe even better, or a bit fancier:

-Use a very ripe cantaloupe as the melon

-Chill the melon in the refrigerator for a few hours or more before making the dessert & serving

-Use a melon baller, and then put the perfectly shaped melon balls back into the cantaloupe shell and pour the dessert wine over.

-For smaller portions: cut the melon halves down into smaller “bowls”. Cut the extra melon into small pieces and place those into the bowl. This method also uses less dessert wine per serving.

-Use a melon-baller, and then put the melon balls into a fancy dish and serve that way.

-Another melon-baller idea: freeze the melon balls and then put them in either the rustic melon bowl or other serving dish.

-Serve your Melon KISS with some good vanilla ice cream on the side.

You can find many Austrian dessert wines by doing a simple search on Google, but here are some dessert wines that are great values that I would particularly recommend for this recipe:

Gsellmann & Gsellmann Beerenauslese 2001. It comes in a 500ml bottle, which is a bit more than the usual half-bottle size, so it will go further.

Gsellmann & Gsellmann Eiswein 2001. The Scheurebe grape used to make this Icewine might just be the perfect partner for the melon flavors.

Heiss Blaufränkisch Eiswein 2002. This is an Icewine made from the red Blaufränkisch grape. It’s a bit more expensive than the other wines mentioned, but a really interesting choice.

Weiss Grüner Veltliner Eiswein 1999. At just $18.99 for a half-bottle, this is one of the best-priced, good quality true Icewines available, period.

Enjoy!

By Shauna Hanus

Often times when you are at a gourmet restaurant enjoying a fine meal you will be served a delicious delicate dessert of flavored ice. This particular version is a sweet Italian lemon and orange flavored ice that has a surprising background flavor. The background nuances are enhanced by a hearty portion of Grand Marnier.

Orange and lemon ice an Italian dessert treat is a simple to make dessert that can be served in the heat of summer as a refreshing after lunch dessert or as an elegant ending to a scrumptious meal.

2 Cups cold water

½ Cup granulated sugar

1 tsp grated lemon rind

½ Cup fresh lemon juice

1 Cup fresh orange juice

6 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Boil the water, sugar and lemon rind for 5 minutes. Cool and add lemon and orange juice; mix well. Freeze for 1 ½ hours.

Remove from freezer and beat in 2 Tbs Grand Marnier. Return to the freezer until ready to serve.

To serve scoop into chilled wine glasses and float 1 Tbs of Grand Marnier on top.

For added sparkle try serving Orange and Lemon Ice in polished silver goblets. You can add a sprig of fresh peppermint to the edge of the glass. The green of the mint sprig will give a nice contrast to the ice.