In the Summer, nobody wants to spend a whole lot of time in a hot kitchen, and anything that's make-ahead, easy, can be served at room temperature, or made without a lot of fancy equipment is popular. This is why I'm featuring a granita recipe. Now, if you've never had one, granitas originally come from Sicily, but over the years they've worked their way up The Boot and all over Italy. They're usually made up of fruit, water/juice and sugar, though if the fruit you're using is Summer sweet, you might not need any sugar at all. It's a form of sorbet, or what's known as an Italian ice, but the true Sicilian granita always has a much grainier or coarser texture. It's a rustic ice. Delicious, and super easy to whip up. Nothing fancy here.
We've gone back to work again after being done with my chemo, and so a regular work day means cooking (which happens to be everyday) and needs to be fast and streamlined. Also, even though it won't be official for another couple of days, Summer has definitely come to Sonoma with hot hot temperatures that usually cools down at the end of the day. Because I've been eating a more or less vegan/vegetarian diet since last year (with a few protein breaks during treatment) as much as I love ice cream, I haven't been eating it. I'm not a big sweet eater, but when dessert calls, I like a treat as much as the next person and what could be a better treat than plain old fresh fruit turned into a granita. In this case I used pineapple since organic ones were on sale, but this recipe can be made with any fruit one chooses, fresh or frozen. Here in a couple of easy steps, it's all laid out.
Pineapple Granita
Here's What You Need:
1 whole pineapple1 13x12 glass baking dish
1 Tb sugar
Here's What You Do:
Cutting your pineapple. I have a pineapple corer but I usually do this old school.
Cut it in half lengthwise.
Take the core out and cut out pieces of meat.
Put the pineapple in a food processor or blender.
Grind it into a puree, add the sugar as this keeps it from freezing into a solid block of ice, and pour it into the baking dish.
Put the whole thing into your freezer.
Rake it with a fork every 30 minutes or so to break it into icy crystals. Do this until it's the texture you want, to scoop it into serving dishes.
Serve it up!
Icy, fresh, and delicious, this can be made so fast that it's a real keeper. I make all sorts of granitas during the summer months taking advantage of fresh fruit, but as I said one can easily use frozen fruit.
Coming up next, I'm roasting an eggplant over fire for a great side dish or dip, I'll show some cool, sustainable ways to entertain, and I finally knuckled under and bought a sous vide machine to see what all the hollering is about. The next step, Indian food meets Science! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
Wow.. this is so nice for hot days. Definitely, I want to try banana and mango for this. And Maybe add a few tablespoons of yogurt to serve with it. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never tried—or even heard of—this, but it sounds very inviting! I imagine the pineapple itself lends a nice texture just by itself.
ReplyDelete