Mint Grapefruit Granita Food

SPARKLING GRAPEFRUIT GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine the sugar with 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a 9 x 13 x 2-inch rectangular (non-metal) baking dish. Stir in the grapefruit juice, Champagne, and fleur de sel.
• Carefully place the dish on a level surface in the freezer. Freeze for one hour, rake the granita with a large dinner fork, and return it to the freezer. Continue to rake the granita every 30 minutes, until it's firm and granular. This might take as long as 3 hours. Serve frozen in pretty bowls or stemmed glasses.

MINT-GRAPEFRUIT GRANITA

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring sugar, mint, and 1/2 cup water to a boil over medium-high, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, 3 to 5 minutes. In a blender, combine fruit juices and mint syrup and puree on high to combine, 30 seconds. Pour mixture into a nonreactive shallow 2-quart baking dish and freeze until solid, about 6 hours (or up to 3 days).
• With a fork, break granita into large chunks. Transfer to a food processor and pulse to form small crystals. Serve immediately, with mint leaves (or cover and freeze, up to 2 hours).

GRAPEFRUIT GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine the grapefruit juice, vodka and Simple Syrup in a bowl, then pour into a freezer-safe glass baking dish and pop in the freezer. Scrape with a fork every half hour until partially frozen and granular, about 3 hours. Serve in martini glasses and garnish with lemon zest. Eat with a spoon or a straw.
• Combine the sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Keep covered in the refrigerator up to 1 month.

GREEN APPLE-MINT GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine the sugar and 2 cups water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes; transfer to a blender and let cool completely.
• Add the mint to the blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into an 8-inch-square stainless-steel or glass baking dish. Finely grate the skin of the apple into the pan (you won't need the rest of the apple), then stir in the lime juice.
• Freeze until ice crystals begin forming around the edges, about 45 minutes. Use a fork to scrape the crystals toward the center of the pan, then continue freezing, scraping every 30 minutes, until frozen, about 4 hours.
• Avoid aluminum pans-they can react with the acidic ingredients and produce a metallic taste. Use stainless steel or glass instead.

GRAPEFRUIT-MINT GRANITE

Steps:

• Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil without stirring for 1 minute. Let cool. Refrigerate syrup until cold.
• Stir together the syrup, grapefruit juice, lemon zest, lemon juice and mint. Put in a shallow nonreactive pan and place in the freezer. Stir every 20 to 30 minutes until frozen throughout, about 3 hours. Scrape into glasses and serve garnished with mint sprigs.

RASPBERRY GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine water and sugar in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Chill syrup until cold.
• Meanwhile, mash 3 cups raspberries in medium bowl. Stir in lemon juice. Mix in sugar syrup. Pour mixture through strainer, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Pour mixture into shallow baking dish. Freeze until almost firm, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.
• Continue freezing granita until firm (do not stir), at least 3 hours or overnight. (Granita can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cover and keep frozen.)
• Using fork, scrape surface of granita to form crystals. Scoop crystals into glasses. Garnish with raspberries.