Almond Milk Granita Granita Di Mandorle Food

ALMOND-MILK GRANITA (GRANITA DI MANDORLE)

Steps:

• Blend together almond paste, sugar, and 1 1/2 cups water in a blender until smooth, foamy, and white. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into an 8-inch square baking pan, reserving any solids in sieve. Add remaining 1/2 cup water to solids in sieve and whisk over baking pan until most of water passes through (do not press on solids).
• Stir mixture, then freeze, stirring and crushing lumps with a fork every 30 minutes, until firm but not frozen hard, 2 to 3 hours. Scrape with a fork to lighten texture, crushing any lumps.

ALMOND GRANITA

Steps:

• In a blender, combine all ingredients and process to a puree. Strain into a stainless steel pan and freeze.
• To serve: scrape ice with fork and spoon and place about 4 ounces in a serving glass. Serve immediately.
• In a stockpot, bring milk to a slow boil. Stir in almond meal and whole almonds. Simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off heat, cover pan, and allow to infuse for 20 minutes.
• Uncover, and using an immersion blender, process to puree whole almonds. Strain through a fine strainer lined with a dampened cheesecloth. Stir in flavoring and sugar. Chill over bowl of ice.
• Yield: 2 quarts

FOCACCIA DI MANDORLE (ALMOND TORTE FROM TUSCANY)

Steps:

• Dough:.
• Mix all the dough ingredients and knead until smooth. Halve dough and form each half into a ball. Wrap them in cling film. Leave in the fridge for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F Roll out each dough between 2 pieces of lining paper until you get a circle of 11 inches. Shape the circle with your hands, so that you will get a smooth edge. There is no need to get a perfect circle. Bake 15 minutes or until cooked and golden. Let cool.
• Custard:.
• Put milk into a pan. Slice vanilla bean lengthwise. Scratch out black stuff inside vanilla bean with the blade of a knife and add it to the milk together with the sliced vanilla bean. Bring to a boil. Let cool.
• Using an electric mixer, mix yolks and sugar for 2 minutes. Add flour and mix until well combined.
• Remove vanilla bean from milk. Add yolk mixture.
• Stirring all the time, cook mixture on medium-low heat until thickened. The mixture mustn't boil.
• Let custard cool, stirring frequently to avoid building a skin on top.
• Now you've got two variations. The original recipe says to spread 1 biscuit with the cooled filling, to top it with the remaining biscuit, to dust it with the icing sugar and to sprinkle it with the toasted slivered almonds. As I feared that the slivered almonds would fall off that way when you cut it, I reserved a small amount of the filling and spread it on top of the second biscuit, topped it then with the almonds and finally dusted the foccacia di mandorle with icing sugar.

ALMOND GRANITA

Steps:

• Purée all ingredients with 1 1/4 cups water in a blender until smooth. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a 9x9x2" metal baking pan; strain, discarding solids. Freeze mixture for 1 hour. Stir, mashing any frozen parts with the back of a fork. Cover and freeze mixture until firm, about 2 hours. Using a fork, scrape granita vigorously to form icy flakes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover tightly with foil and keep frozen. Give it a quick scrape before serving.

ALMOND CREAM (CREMA DI MANDORLE)

Steps:

• Lightly grease a baking sheet; set aside.
• Melt butter in a small skillet over low heat. Add sugar; cook until golden brown, stirring constantly. Stir in almonds. Spread almond mixture on greased baking sheet; cool completely. Crush into crumbs.
• In a medium bowl, whip cream until stiff. Fold in brandy or liqueur. Reserve some of the crumbled almond mixture to sprinkle over the top of dessert. Fold remaining crumbs into whipped cream.
• Spoon into 4 to 6 dessert dishes. Sprinkle with reserved almond crumb mixture. Refrigerate until set.