Recipe: Strawberry Granita

I prefer the Granitas as palate cleansers in a many courses dinner. Here is a very interesting recipe.

Strawberry Granita
Serves 8

1 lb (450 g) ripe strawberries
6 oz (175 g) caster sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

You will also need a polythene freezer box 8 x 8 inches x 21/2 inches deep (20 x 20 cm x 6 cm deep).

First hull the strawberries, then put them in a colander and rinse them briefly with cold water. Drain well and dry them on kitchen paper before transferring them to a food processor or liquidiser (blender).

Blend them to a smooth puree, then stop the motor, add the sugar and blend again very briefly. After that add 1 pint (570 ml) water and the lemon juice, blend once more.

Pour everything into a fine nylon sieve set over a bowl. Rub the puree through the sieve, then pour it into the polythene freezer box, cover with a lid and put into the freezer for 2 hours.

By that time the mixture should have started to freeze around the sides and base of the container, so take a large fork and mix the frozen mixture into the unfrozen, then re-cover and return it to the freezer for another hour.

After that repeat with another vigorous mixing with a fork, cover again and re-freeze for a further hour. At this stage the mixture should be a completely frozen snow of ice crystals, and is ready to serve.

It can remain at this servable stage in the freezer for a further 3-4 hours, but after that the ice will become too solid and it will need putting in the main body of the fridge for 30-40 minutes or until it is soft enough to break up with a fork again.

Note from the source: I like to serve the granita in small, narrow, unstemmed glasses - but any wine glasses will do so that the sparkling colour can be seen in all its glory.