I already sang the praises in my previous recipe post on coffee granita about the wonders of granita. I won’t repeat that – it would be over kill on, hopefully, a point already well proved.
This particular granita recipe is perhaps my favourite one at the moment. I first discovered it a year ago from a newspaper article quoting the recipe, which I later adapted. I cooked it for a group of boys as the climax to an Indian feast. I flatter myself that afterwards I could, quite comfortably, have had at least 3 marriage proposals in the bag.
All you mojito lovers out there – this is essentially your favourite cocktail in dessert form. Sweet, extremely tartly sharp, fresh with mint and argh so so warm with rum – it is good. Perfect for after a heavy meal; after you eat it you’ll feel like you simply dined on salads! It is just that fresh! Great for a summer dessert too or even as a mid afternoon treat. I hope you like as much as I do.
Note – I upped the dosage of lime juice and rum from the original recipe to make it extra punchy. If you want it less so, leave. If you want it more, right on but you probably don’t need it.
This particular granita recipe is perhaps my favourite one at the moment. I first discovered it a year ago from a newspaper article quoting the recipe, which I later adapted. I cooked it for a group of boys as the climax to an Indian feast. I flatter myself that afterwards I could, quite comfortably, have had at least 3 marriage proposals in the bag.
All you mojito lovers out there – this is essentially your favourite cocktail in dessert form. Sweet, extremely tartly sharp, fresh with mint and argh so so warm with rum – it is good. Perfect for after a heavy meal; after you eat it you’ll feel like you simply dined on salads! It is just that fresh! Great for a summer dessert too or even as a mid afternoon treat. I hope you like as much as I do.
Note – I upped the dosage of lime juice and rum from the original recipe to make it extra punchy. If you want it less so, leave. If you want it more, right on but you probably don’t need it.
Recipe
Ingredients (Serves 6):
635ml water (2.5 cups)
100g white sugar
zest of 2 limes
40g fresh mint leaves
juice of around 8 limes – but get a few extra so that you can add more, according to taste
5 tablespoons of white rum
Method:
1. Place the water and sugar and lime zest into a saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and add all of the mint leaves, bar 5 leaves, and leave to infuse, covered, for 8 minutes.
2. Leave, uncovered, until cooled.
3. Strain into a baking dish/lasagne type tray. Squeeze the mint leaves to make sure that you get out all those precious juices.
4. Stir in the lime juice and rum. Finely chop the remaining mint leaves and stir in too. Taste. Add more lime or rum if required.
5. Place into the freezer and leave for around 30 minutes. Then take a fork and scrape away the forming ice crystals from the edges and break up any larger pieces forming in the middle. Leave for another 30 minutes and repeat. Repeat this until it is all frozen and until you have broken it all up into light, dry and fluffy ice crystals which are intensely flavoured. Approx. 5 hours.
Note – Don’t worry if you can’t be there every 30 minutes – it just means that you’ll have to do some extra strenuous scraping later. I have left it overnight before with no scraping. It emerged as an entire frozen block, but with a LOT of elbow grease and a bit of wastage I managed to turn it into serviceable granita. Try to be there regularly but if it comes to a choice between doing the granita and not doing the granita because you can’t be there constantly, definitely do it.
6. Serve. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Ingredients (Serves 6):
635ml water (2.5 cups)
100g white sugar
zest of 2 limes
40g fresh mint leaves
juice of around 8 limes – but get a few extra so that you can add more, according to taste
5 tablespoons of white rum
Method:
1. Place the water and sugar and lime zest into a saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and add all of the mint leaves, bar 5 leaves, and leave to infuse, covered, for 8 minutes.
2. Leave, uncovered, until cooled.
3. Strain into a baking dish/lasagne type tray. Squeeze the mint leaves to make sure that you get out all those precious juices.
4. Stir in the lime juice and rum. Finely chop the remaining mint leaves and stir in too. Taste. Add more lime or rum if required.
5. Place into the freezer and leave for around 30 minutes. Then take a fork and scrape away the forming ice crystals from the edges and break up any larger pieces forming in the middle. Leave for another 30 minutes and repeat. Repeat this until it is all frozen and until you have broken it all up into light, dry and fluffy ice crystals which are intensely flavoured. Approx. 5 hours.
Note – Don’t worry if you can’t be there every 30 minutes – it just means that you’ll have to do some extra strenuous scraping later. I have left it overnight before with no scraping. It emerged as an entire frozen block, but with a LOT of elbow grease and a bit of wastage I managed to turn it into serviceable granita. Try to be there regularly but if it comes to a choice between doing the granita and not doing the granita because you can’t be there constantly, definitely do it.
6. Serve. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Infused sugar, water and lime zest
Plus rum, lime juice and mint
beginning to freeze….
mmmm
