Sgroppino

Take a deep breathe, relax your jaw, get ready to roll your Rs in exuberant Italian fashion and say joyfully with me ‘Sgroppino’! It’s a word, pronounced ‘zgrrrroppeeno’, that I delight in saying, although my pleasure is not purely linguistic, for it is a heavenly concoction, unlike anything else. For all that, it is ridiculously simple, requiring only three ingredients: lemon sorbet, vodka and Prosecco. The quality of the lemon sorbet is actually rather more important than the quality of the vodka and Prosecco: if you use one pumped with additives it can deleteriously affect the Sgroppino's texture; here in the UK, I go for the Remeo brand.

I could describe it to you as a dessert that you drink, or a summery after-dinner (or, indeed, pre-prandial) cocktail, but neither of these descriptions quite sums it up, for these three ingredients, when mixed together, create something altogether other: an icy froth that seems neither quite solid nor quite liquid. If you want to call it an alcoholic slushy, of course you may, but it doesn’t quite indicate its celestial texture!

This is something you will learn to freestyle happily – after all, weighing scoops of sorbet does feel a little ridiculous, for all that I did do so in order to hit upon the precisely right balance. It seemed more helpful, too, to give quantities for each glass of Sgroppino, since it’s easier to multiply than divide. And multiply you shall!

Take a deep breathe, relax your jaw, get ready to roll your Rs in exuberant Italian fashion and say joyfully with me ‘Sgroppino’! It’s a word, pronounced ‘zgrrrroppeeno’, that I delight in saying, although my pleasure is not purely linguistic, for it is a heavenly concoction, unlike anything else. For all that, it is ridiculously simple, requiring only three ingredients: lemon sorbet, vodka and Prosecco. The quality of the lemon sorbet is actually rather more important than the quality of the vodka and Prosecco: if you use one pumped with additives it can deleteriously affect the Sgroppino's texture; here in the UK, I go for the Remeo brand.

I could describe it to you as a dessert that you drink, or a summery after-dinner (or, indeed, pre-prandial) cocktail, but neither of these descriptions quite sums it up, for these three ingredients, when mixed together, create something altogether other: an icy froth that seems neither quite solid nor quite liquid. If you want to call it an alcoholic slushy, of course you may, but it doesn’t quite indicate its celestial texture!

This is something you will learn to freestyle happily – after all, weighing scoops of sorbet does feel a little ridiculous, for all that I did do so in order to hit upon the precisely right balance. It seemed more helpful, too, to give quantities for each glass of Sgroppino, since it’s easier to multiply than divide. And multiply you shall!