Lemon Frozen Yogurt

Lemon Frozen Yogurt

Lemon Frozen Yogurt

My family had a vacation home in Kusadasi, a coastal town on the Aegean. We used to spend our care-free summers there growing up. I have many fond memories of spending endless hours at the beach with friends, playing cards on our neighbor’s front porch during the hot, lazy hours of the afternoon and in most evenings taking the horse buggy to the open-air movie theater with the gang, buying salted sunflower seeds (not popcorn), watching mostly Turkish movies. My dear friend Nakiye who was born in the US, recently moved to Turkey was not yet as callous to the sob stories of these movies as the rest of us, so while our tears seldom and quietly went down our cheeks, she would be sobbing her heart out while mumbling to herself “these Turkish movies… these silly Turkish movies…” Back then, Kusadasi was a small charming fishing village, but since it is the nearest port to the famous ancient city of Ephesus, foreign and domestic tourists alike started to swarm the place. It is still a quiet town October through April, but in the summer its population grows almost 10 fold from 60K to over half a million.

The town faces west, thus the sun sets into the sea. One of the most beautiful, romantic sunsets you’ve ever seen in your life. Kusadasi is hot and dry during July and August. During the heat of the day, if you were to visit our neighbor, long time family friend and Nakiye’s mother Turkan teyze, you can count on her refreshing Lemon Frozen Yogurt on any given day.

Lemon zest makes this frozent yogurt very refreshing and light. It is very easy to make. You can either use regular yogurt or non-fat yogurt. It is excellent as fruit yogurt as it is as frozen yogurt. You can also serve it with mellon balls.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 lemons (zest of one, juice of 2 lemons)
• 3 cups of yogurt

Directions:
Scrub lemons with warm water, dry. Using a fine grater remove the peel of one lemon, set aside the zest to use. Squeeze the juice of two lemons. Place yogurt, sugar, lemon juice and zest of one lemon in a large bowl. With a mixer, blend all ingredients until smooth. Put the mixture in a freezer safe container. It will freeze overnight.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!