Wine Honeydew And Tarragon Granita Food

HONEYDEW GRANITA

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cool., Pulse honeydew, sugar syrup and wine in batches in a food processor until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Transfer to an 8-in. square dish. Freeze 1 hour. Stir with a fork. Freeze, stirring every 30 minutes, until frozen, 2-3 hours longer. Stir again with a fork just before serving.

HONEYDEW AND MINT GRANITA

Steps:

• Bring the sugar and 3/4 cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the mint, pressing with a wooden spoon to submerge. Let cool completely, then remove the mint with a slotted spoon and discard.
• Combine the mint syrup, honeydew and lime juice in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a 7-by-11-inch or 8-inch square metal baking dish.
• Freeze the honeydew-mint mixture until ice crystals begin to form around the edges, about 45 minutes. Scrape the crystals toward the center of the pan with a fork, breaking apart any large chunks. Continue freezing, scraping every 30 minutes or so, until all of the granita has been scraped into flakes, 3 to 4 hours. Spoon into chilled bowls and top with mint leaves.

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.

STRAWBERRY AND MASCARPONE GRANITA

Steps:

• Place the water, 1/2 sugar, and mint in a small pan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar. Let simmer over low heat to steep the mint. Then strain the mint from the simple syrup. Discard the mint.
• In a food processor combine 2 cups of strawberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Run the machine to puree the strawberries. Add the mascarpone cheese, lemon juice, and salt. Run the machine until the mascarpone cheese is fully incorporated. Add the mint simple syrup and run the machine to combine. Place the strawberry mixture in an 8 by 8-inch glass dish and place the dish in the freezer. The mixture will take about 4 hours to freeze.
• To serve, use a fork to scrape the granita. Spoon the mixture into chilled bowls. Top with the finely chopped strawberries. Serve immediately.

APPLE TARRAGON GRANITA

Steps:

• Place the sugar and tarragon in a food processor or blender and pulse until the tarragon is finely ground and the sugar is green. Transfer the tarragon sugar to a medium bowl; add the apple juice and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring it occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.
• Pour the mixture into a 9-inch-square nonreactive metal baking pan and place it in the freezer. Stir the mixture, pulling a fork back and forth through it, every 45 minutes or so for 4 hours, or until frozen. The mixture will become a fluffy, icy concoction.
• To serve the granita, spoon it into chilled dishes.

HONEY-DEW AND SAKE GRANITA

Steps:

• To make the granita:
• In a small saucepan combine the sugar and 3-1/2 cups water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring. In a blender purée the ginger with the syrup, the wine, and the food coloring, chill the mixture until is cold, and stir it. Transfer the mixture to 2 metal ice-cube trays without the dividers or to a shallow metal pan and freeze it, stirring and crushing the lumps with a fork every 30 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours, or until it is firm but not frozen solid. The granita may be made 2 days in advance and kept covered and frozen. Scrape the granita with a fork to lighten the texture.
• On each of 4 plates arrange 2 of the honeydew slices and top 1 of the slices on each plate with a scoop of the honeydew and sake granita. Top the other slices with a scoop of the pickled ginger and plum-wine granita.

TARRAGON AND WHITE WINE GRANITA

Steps:

• Rinse the tarragon and bruise it with the back of a spoon. Place it in a medium saucepan with the sugar, and 3 cups water. Simmer until sugar dissolves.
• Remove from heat and add the wine and lemon juice. Let stand at room temperature to infuse for one hour, or refrigerate up to overnight.
• Strain into a wide shallow nonreactive dish, leaving in a few sprigs or leaves. Cover with a lid, plastic wrap, or foil.
• Transfer to freezer until frozen around the edges. Remove from freezer, and scrape the ice with a fork, mixing it from the edge into the center. Return to freezer. Repeat scraping and mixing process every 30 minutes or so (at least 3 times) until the entire mixture has turned into small, sequined ice flakes.
• Best eaten immediately. If leaving in freezer overnight or longer, let sit at room temperature until it softens a little, then scrape it again with a fork to lighten the texture.