Melon Soup And Red Wine Granita Food

CANTALOUPE GRANITA

Steps:

• Using a sharp knife, cut melon in half lengthwise. Remove seeds with a spoon, and discard. Slice off and discard skin and pale-green flesh. Cut melon into large chunks.
• Place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and puree until smooth. Transfer to a nonreactive stainless steel bowl, and set aside.
• Combine sugar, lemon juice, and the water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture has thickened slightly. Remove from heat; let cool completely.
• Stir sugar syrup into melon puree; place in freezer, uncovered, until mixture is chunky, about 1 1/2 hours, whisking every 20 minutes to keep it from becoming too solid. To serve, divide among four shallow bowls.

MELON GRANITAS

Steps:

• In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat sugar with 2 tablespoons water, stirring occasionally, until dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes; set aside.
• Peel, seed, and coarsely chop melon. In a food processor, puree melon with sugar syrup until smooth (to yield about 6 cups); pour into a large, shallow dish.
• Freeze, stirring and breaking up crystals with a fork every 30 minutes, until entire mixture is frozen and crystallized, about 3 hours.

MELON OR WATERMELON GRANITA

Steps:

• Add sugar and lemon to melon or watermelon juice, to correct flavor. Add liqueur.
• Pour mixture into shallow hotel pans to a depth of approximately 1/4-inch. Place in freezer. (If you pour any deeper, ice crystals will not form properly).
• When you see a layer of ice on the surface, scrape to break it up and put pan back in freezer. Continue this process until completely frozen. Final product should look like sequins.

RED WINE GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine the frozen berries, sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Puree in a food processor and strain through a fine wire-mesh strainer, pressing the fruit with a wooden spoon to release the juices. Let cool. (Or place over an ice water bath to cool quickly.)
• Combine the syrup with the wine in a bowl. Pour into a 9-inch square metal pan. Freeze, scraping the mixture occasionally with a fork to create ice crystals, until firm, 4 to 6 hours. Spoon the granita into serving glasses and garnish with mint and fresh berries.

MELON SOUP

Steps:

• Place melon cubes, lemon juice, white sugar, honey, and a pinch of salt in a blender and puree for 1 minute. Then add the mint and yogurt and puree another 1 minute. While pureeing, add the grappa. Transfer the puree to a glass pitcher. Refrigerate. Serve with crostini bread sticks wrapped in prosciutto to enhance the soup's sweet flavors.

MELON SOUP

Steps:

• Cut ends off each cantaloupe and stand upright. Remove skin in strips working around melons. Halve melons and seed with spoon. Chunk melons and place pieces in food processor. You will work in 2 batches. Fill processor 3/4 full. Add 1 tablespoon sugar, the juice of 1/2 lime and about 3/4 cup spring water. Pulse grind them process soup until smooth. Adjust sugar to your taste and pour soup into 2 bowls, repeat process. Top each soup bowl with kiwi and raspberries and serve.

CHILLED WATERMELON SOUP

Steps:

• Put 5 cups of diced watermelon in a food processor or blender and blitz to a purée. Strain purée through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl. You should have about 4 cups purée. Season with salt and pepper and cayenne, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 2 tablespoons lime juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Chill bowl on ice or refrigerate.
• To serve, place remaining diced watermelon, honeydew melon and cucumber in a small mixing bowl. Toss with a little salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons lime juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Divide mixture evenly into chilled soup bowls.
• Ladle watermelon purée into each bowl. Sprinkle with chives, basil and mint. Add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper and flaky salt if desired. Pass lime wedges separately.

RED WINE GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine wine and fructose in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, and add the zests. Simmer for 2 minutes; strain, and transfer to a 9-inch Pyrex pie plate. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours.

MELON GRANITA

Steps:

• Peel, halve, and seed melons; cut into chunks and place in medium-sized bowl, reserving ½ cup of the melon chunks in another small container.
• To the reserved ½ cup of melon, add 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice; toss to coat; cover and refrigerate.
• To remaining larger bowl of melon, add sugar, remaining lemon juice, lemon zest, allspice, pepper (if using) and nutmeg; toss to mix; cover and marinate melon in refrigerator for 2-12 hours.
• Strain juices from larger bowl of melon chunks into a small saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat and cook 1 minute; remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
• Combine marinated melon chunks and reduced juices in a food processor or blender; puree until smooth; pour into a bowl, cover, and chill for 2 hours.
• Pour pureed and chilled mixture into ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer's directions; serve topped with reserved diced melon and fresh mint sprigs.
• NOTE: The name "granita" comes from a Spanish word meaning small grain or, by association, granular texture.

MELON GRANITA

Steps:

• Tip the sugar and 125ml/4fl oz water into a saucepan. Scrape in the vanilla seeds and put in the pod as well, then heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for 6-8 minutes to make a sugar syrup. Leave to cool and remove the vanilla pod.
• Halve the melons, scoop out and discard the seeds, then scoop the flesh onto a board and chop to a slush with a sharp knife (or you can do this in a food processor). Mix the sugar syrup and melon slush together with the lemon juice in a large shallow baking dish. Freeze uncovered for about 1 hour until crystals form around the edges. With a fork, stir the edges into the centre and mash well, then return to the freezer until crystals form again. Stir and refreeze as often as you can (say every half an hour or so) until the granita is frozen all over - this should take about 3 hours. Fork it up roughly when you serve it.