Lemon granita

Here is a charming conceit, lemon granita served in frozen, hollowed lemons, which I adapted Wolfgang Puck's recipe:
Ingredients:
6 lemons
4 cups of water
Sugar, to taste
3 sprigs of lemon balm or thyme
2 tablespoons of limoncello
Method:
- Clean and wash the lemons. Cut off the top 1/4 of the lemons and shave a bit of the bottom so they can stand. Try to keep them level. A couple of mine listed a bit.
- Use a sharp, thin knife (I used a boning knife), to cut the flesh of the lemon. Be careful not to cut through the bottom. Scrape the shell clean with a teaspoon. Optional, use scissors to trim the membrane inside.
- Put the flesh in a bowl and press with a spoon to extract the juice.
- Stand the lemon shells on a cookie sheet. Place in the freezer and freeze until solid.
- Strain the lemon juice. There should be about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of juice.
- Add the water to the lemon juice. Stir in sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is as sweet as you like.
- Crush the lemon balm leaves with your fingers to release the fragrance. Add the leaves and limoncello to the syrup and let it sit for 15 minutes.
- Strain the mixture into a shallow dish or dishes. I used a couple of small metal plates so that the juice is a one-inch deep. Freeze the mixture for 1 hour.
- Remove the dishes from the freezer and scrape with 2 forks to break up the ice. Or crush the ice in the blender or food processor.
- The granita should have a crystalline texture.
- Scoop the frozen ice into the frozen lemon shells and serve immediately. Garnish with sprigs of lemon balm.
The lemons hold a few tablespoons of the granita and I served them as a palate cleanser so I didn't make it too sweet. This recipe seems quite fiddly but it really isn't. I found the whole process lots of fun.
I'm not done with lemons yet. I'll be posting recipes for Lemon curd, Lemon chicken, Preserved lemons, Pickled lemons, Spanish Lemon Cake shortly.
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