Plum Granita Food

PLUM SORBET OR GRANITA

Steps:

• Combine the red wine, clove, peppercorns, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain into a bowl. Allow to cool. Blend the plums with the honey, corn syrup and wine syrup in a blender until smooth. Chill for 2 hours or overnight.
• If you are making granita, place a 9-by-11-inch baking dish in the freezer. You may omit the corn syrup and reduce the sugar if desired.
• Using an immersion blender, blend the plum mixture for 30 seconds. If making sorbet, freeze in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's directions. If making granita, scrape into the chilled baking dish and place back in the freezer. Set the timer for 30 minutes. Using a fork, scrape the ice crystals from the outside of the baking dish toward the center. Return to the freezer and set the timer for another 30 minutes. Continue to scrape the mixture with a fork every 30 minutes until you have a uniform frozen mixture. It should not be frozen solid. If you forget to scrape and the mixture does freeze like an ice cube, cut into chunks and use a food processor fitted with the steel blade to break it up. Transfer to a container and freeze. Allow to soften for 15 minutes in the refrigerator before serving.

CAMPARI & ORANGE GRANITA

Steps:

• First make the sugar syrup: Combine the sugar and water in small saucepan and boil over high heat until the sugar is dissolved.
• Pour the sugar syrup into a 10 x 13 x 2-inch ceramic dish and stir in the orange juice, Campari, and lemon juice. 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. Rake the granite every 30 minutes, until it's firm and granular. This should take a several hours. Serve frozen in pretty bowls or stemmed martini glasses.

PLUM GRANITA

Steps:

• Remove seeds from plum and place the plums with syrup in a blender or food processor puree the plums.
• Stir in the lemon juice and the vanilla puree the mixture,.
• Transfer the mixture to a freezer proof dish.
• Chill for eight hours or overnight.
• When your ready to serve scrape the granita with a fork to lighten the texture and serve it in chilled bowls.

PLUM GRANITA WITH SUMMER FRUIT

Steps:

• Combine water, sugar, allspice and cinnamon in heavy small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced to 3/4 cup, about 2 minutes. Cool syrup completely.
• Puree 1 1/2 pounds plums in processor. Press enough puree through sieve to measure 1 1/2 cups. Strain syrup into puree and blend well. Transfer mixture to 9x5x3-inch glass loaf dish. Freeze plum mixture until flaky crystals form, stirring every 30 minutes, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; keep frozen.)
• Spoon granita into 4 glass goblets. Top with peach, nectarine and plum slices and serve immediately.

PLUM-GINGER GRANITA

Steps:

• Pulse ginger in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer ginger to a large saucepan. Add plums, sugar, salt, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved and plums have broken down, about 15 minutes.
• Pour plum mixture through a fine sieve into a 9-by-13-inch shallow nonreactive dish; discard solids. Stir in vanilla. Chill in freezer until edges are frozen, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from freezer; scrape with fork tines, pulling from edges into center. Return to freezer. Repeat process every 30 minutes until mixture is the texture of shaved ice, about 4 1/2hours. Spoon into serving bowls, and garnish with plums.