Granita An Easy Dessert You Can Make At Home
The granita is a fancy between-course Italian ice that’s showing up in upscale eating establishments lately, but it’s also the simplest and lowest-fat frozen dessert that you can make at home.
Granitas combine sweetener, water or juice and flavorings of fruit purees. Anyone with a blender and a freezer can make one in three hours or less.
The ices are traditionally frozen in shallow baking pans. You occasionally scrape the pan’s sides and stir the slush with a fork to break up ice crystals as it hardens, thus giving the dessert its typical grainy texture.
The intense fruits of summer - honeydew melons, blueberries, nectarines - all lend themselves beautifully to granitas. Sparkling wine, cooled coffee, yogurt or spices like cinnamon can be added for interest. A splash of lemon or lime juice enhances the fruit.
Traditional granitas require on-and-off attention for the entire freezing time, but food writer Jack Bishop suggests a great shortcut in Cook’s magazine. To simplify the process, freeze the granita in an icecube tray. The frozen cubes can be briefly pulsed in the food processor to create the soft ice.
This shortcut works well as long as you’re careful not to over-puree; the danger is that you end up with an icy fruit soup instead.
If I am at home doing other things, I find the pan method safer. It yields a more reliable granita with a pleasantly even texture - no large lumps of ice or soupy pockets.
Some cooks simmer the fruit briefly to soften it and release its flavor, a must for granitas made with winter fruits such as pears and apples. But most summer fruits are already soft enough and cooking just dulls them.
You’ll need to adjust the amount of sweetener, vanilla and spices in the recipes that follow according to the ripeness of your fruit. The highest-quality fruit, at peak flavor, is best, of course. Spices and sugar can hide lack of flavor in a granita made with poor fruit.
Choose berries that are bright and very fragrant, peaches and nectarines that are soft and dripping with juice, melon that smells heavenly, and your granitas will be delicious every time.
Granitas made ahead of time will keep their quality if frozen for up to one week. Before serving, just let the pan of granita remain on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes, then use a sharp serving spoon to scrape large curls of the ice into dessert bowls.
Mango-Melon Granita
This simple fruit granita can be made with either mango or melon alone, but I like the unusual combination and the pale orange color that the two create together.
1 cup peeled and cubed mango
3 cups cubed cantaloupe
3/4 cup water
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, honey or other sweetener
1 tablespoon lime juice
Puree mango, melon and water in food processor or blender until very smooth. Strain puree through a fine sieve and discard pulp. Stir in sweetener and lime juice. Freeze in shallow pan, stirring every 30 minutes, until firm, about 3 hours. Spoon into dessert bowls and serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings.
Red Wine and Nectarine Granita
This granita uses red wine or nonalcoholic grape juice for a deep red color.
3 cups peeled and cubed nectarines
1/4 cup zinfandel or other dry red wine or nonalcoholic grape juice
3/4 cup sugar, honey or other sweetener
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Puree nectarines and wine in food processor or blender until very smooth. Strain puree through a fine sieve and discard pulp. Stir in sweetener and lemon juice. Freeze in shallow pan, stirring every 30 minutes, until firm, about 3 hours. Spoon into dessert bowls and serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings.
Three-Berry Granita
Use one or a variety of fresh or frozen berries for this granita; a sprig of fresh mint enhances the deep color of the ice. Because the berries’ sweetness varies, be sure to taste the granita before freezing it and add extra sugar if needed.
2 cups blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries
3/4 cup sugar, honey or other sweetener, or to taste
1 tablespoon lime juice
Sprigs of fresh mint
Puree berries in food processor or blender until very smooth. Strain puree through a fine sieve and discard seeds and pulp. Stir in sweetener and lime juice. Freeze in shallow pan, stirring every 30 minutes, until firm, about 3 hours. Spoon into dessert bowls and serve immediately. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
Banana-Yogurt Granita
Kids love this recipe, which tastes like the best banana ice cream - without the fat.
3 ripe bananas, cubed
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup sugar, honey or other sweetener
Dash ground nutmeg
Puree bananas, vanilla, yogurt, sweetener and nutmeg in food processor or blender until very smooth. Freeze in shallow pan, stirring every 30 minutes, until firm, about 3 hours. Spoon into dessert bowls and serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings.