Celery Aquavit Granita Food

CELERY APPLE GRANITA

Steps:

• Crush vitamin C tablet in a bowl with back of a spoon, then line a sieve with dampened flour sack cloth and set over bowl.
• Purée apples with 1/3 cup water in a food processor (do not use a blender) until almost smooth, then pour into cloth. Bunch up cloth around mixture and squeeze as much clear juice as possible through cloth (about 11/2 cups). Discard solids remaining in cloth. Rinse and wring out cloth, then return to sieve.
• Purée tarragon with remaining 1/3 cup water in processor until water is deep green, then add celery and purée until almost smooth. Pour into lined sieve and squeeze out juices (about 1 1/2 cups) into bowl with apple juice. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Freeze mixture in an 8-inch square baking dish, scraping and stirring with a fork every 30 minutes, until frozen, at least 3 hours. (It will be too hard to scrape once fully frozen.)

BLOODY MARY GRANITA

Steps:

• Whisk the tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, hot sauce, parsley, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon celery salt in a large bowl. Juice half of the lemon; add to the bowl along with the olive juice. Transfer 1 cup of the mixture to a bowl and stir in the vodka; cover and freeze until ready to serve (it will not solidify). Pour the remaining tomato juice mixture into a baking dish, cover and freeze at least 3 hours, stirring with a fork after 30 minutes to break up any ice crystals.
• When ready to serve, scrape the granita with a fork so that the texture is similar to crushed ice. Cut the remaining lemon half into 8 wedges. Thread 2 pieces celery, 2 olives and 2 lemon wedges onto 4 skewers, alternating the garnishes. Mix the paprika and remaining 1/2 teaspoon celery salt on a plate. Moisten the rim of 4 glasses with a damp paper towel and spin them in the seasoning to coat. Pour some of the vodka mixture into each glass and top with the granita; garnish with the skewers and serve with a straw and spoon.

CELERY GRATIN

Steps:

• Combine 1 bunch sliced celery, 1 teaspoon salt, and water to cover in a medium skillet. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium low and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed. Push the celery to one side of the skillet. Add 2 tablespoons each butter and flour and 1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg and pepper to the other side; cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Add 2 cups milk; cook, stirring all of the ingredients together, until creamy. Season with salt and pepper. Mix 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 3 tablespoons grated parmesan, 3 chopped scallions and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; sprinkle over the celery mixture and broil until golden.

APPLE CELERY GRANITA

Steps:

• Put crushed vitaminutes C and sugar in a 1-quart container that will fit under spout of juicer.
• Using juicer, juice apples and celery into container. Spoon off foam and stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Pour into an 8- to 9-inch square stainless-steel or glass baking pan and freeze until partially frozen, about 1 hour. Scrape and stir with a fork, crushing any lumps. Continue to freeze, scraping once or twice, until evenly frozen, about 2 hours more.
• Stir together wasabi and enough water to make a pourable sauce.
• Scrape granita to lighten, then serve sprinkled lightly with sea salt and drizzled lightly with oil and wasabi sauce.

CELERY AQUAVIT GRANITA

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and 1/2 cup water. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, and let the syrup cool.
• In a food processor puree the celery, add the cooled syrup, the Aquavit, lemon juice, cayenne to taste and salt to taste and blend mixture well.
• Transfer the mixture to a shallow metal pand and freeze it, stirring and crushing the lumps with a fork every 20 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours, or until it is firm but not frozen hard.
• Scrape the granita with a fork to lighten the texture and serve it in goblets.

CUCUMBER AQUAVIT GRANITA

Steps:

• Coarsely chop enough of cucumbers to measure 4 1/2 cups and purée in a blender with remaining ingredients in 2 batches until smooth. Pour into an 8- to 9-inch baking pan.
• Freeze, stirring and crushing lumps with a fork every hour, until evenly frozen, about 4 hours total. Scrape with a fork to lighten texture, crushing any lumps.
• Serve immediately or freeze, covered, up to 3 days (rescrape to lighten texture again if necessary).

OYSTERS WITH BLOODY MARY GRANITA

Steps:

• Line an 8-inch square nonreactive baking dish with plastic wrap. Puree tomatoes and juice, vodka, hot sauce, lemon juice, salt, peppers, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 cup water in a blender. Pour into prepared baking dish. Chill in freezer, scraping every 30 minutes with fork, until frozen, 2 to 3 hours.
• Shuck oysters, leaving them on the half shell. Arrange on a bed of crushed ice. Top each with 1 teaspoon granita, and serve immediately garnished with horseradish and celery leaves.