I Needa Granita

Aside from feeding Lucky and squishing my rapidly softening lemons down into their salty juices, I haven't done much cooking today.  I spent most of the day editing recipes and formatting them for submission.  I usually make three or four dishes everyday and photograph them though so I can afford to take a mental health break now and again.

The lighting has been bad the last couple of days...a little too overcast for good picture quality. I was hoping today would be a bit brighter so I could retake the photos of the granita from yesterday but no such luck.  These photos are not quite as bright as I'd like them to be but they are ok for the blog.  I'll have to retake them for the cookbook photo though. 

This granita idea actually started with Stella (The Witchy Kitchen) and her Rosewater.  I had a bottle that I bought quite some time ago and never opened.  Since I was fresh out of Eye of Newt, I figured Rosewater would make a passable substitution!

I use my juicer just about everyday and sometimes the combinations of fruits and or veggies is particularly tasty.  Yesterday, I needed a quick sweet pick-me up so I chucked a couple of ripe kiwi and a big bundle of red globe grapes (seeds, stems and all) into the juicer.  The resulting juice was a little oddly colored but it was so delicious...tart, sweet and tangy all at the same time...lovely!  I got to thinking that this would make a marvelous granita so I added a bit of raw blue agave syurp and just a splash of rosewater.  WOW...what a flavor!  The agave is not so much for sweetness as it is for helping the granita to freeze "fluffy". 

I wish the light was better on the pictures so you could appreciate just how lovely and light this was but ah well...I'll have to make it again anyway so I'll get better photos next time.

Kiwi, Grape and Rosewater Granita

This is just so simple its not really even a recipe.  I do suggest using freshly juiced fruit as opposed to buying bottled juices though.  This tastes like pure, sweet fruit...NOT sugar!

I juiced 5 large kiwi and one huge bundle of red globe grapes (about half a pound of grapes) to make 2 1/2 cups of juice.  Add agave to your own taste.  I only used about 2 tablespoons.  Then I whisked in 3/4 of a teaspoon of rosewater.

Pour the mixture into a large glass casserole dish and place in the freezer.  You will want to take the granita out about every 35-45 minutes and scrape it with a fork to create the fluffy ice crystals that is charateristic of this dessert.  Stirring doesn't do the job!  Repeat as many times as needed until mixture is completely frozen and you have nice fluffy ice crystals.

Spoon into serving glasses and garnish with a slice of kiwi and a half grape.  Serve immediately.   There are four servings on the tray but I had enough granita for four more glasses.  I believe these are two ounce cordial glasses.