Monday, February 05, 2007

Espresso Granita

For this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge, Sara has decided to put a twist on the theme that started WCC and asked us to do something from our newest acquisition.

After searching through the pile of new cookbooks and the like, I settled upon one that I've yet to use - Gennaro Contaldo's Italian Year. My neglect of this book was due to the other cookbook purchased at the same time - Locatelli's masterful tome Made in Italy. So it was time to make amends.

With the hot weather returning, I sort solace in my other new acquisition of the mechanical type - some my say I have an unnatural attachment to the gelateria - to create a wonderfully refreshing and quintessentially Italian, Granita al Caffé or Espresso Granita.

Espresso Granita© by haalo



Granita al Caffè/Espresso Granita

150 grams caster sugar
500-mls water
200-mls espresso coffee


Place the water and sugar into a saucepan and place over a medium heat - stir to dissolve the sugar and then allow to come to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before using.

Make the espresso and allow that to cool completely.

When making any ice-creams, sorbets etc. to get the best result it's important that the ingredients are allowed to get as cold as possible - don't be trying to make it with warm or tepid mixtures.

When both mixtures cold add the coffee to the sugar syrup and chill.

If you have an ice-cream maker, churn according to manufacturer's instructions. It won't get as hard as ice-cream, it will be kind of sloppy but that's what you want. Transfer to the freezer until you are ready to use it.

Espresso Granita© by haalo


If you don't have an ice-cream maker - place the combined mixture into the freezer for an hour then remove it - beat it with a fork and then return to the freezer for another hour. You then repeat the process until it has that creamy consistency that you'll find with sorbets.

To serve, scoop out into glasses and top with whipped cream if desired.

6 comments

  1. Looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fabulous photo and the Granita al Caffè/Espresso Granita doesn't look bad either.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't care that it's currently -32C with the wind chill, I want some! But then again, I like frozen things, regardless of the weather.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Last weekend "The Independent" ran a 2-part series on improving your photography, with a free CD. I'll be reading avidly to see whether I can learn to shoot like this. Isn't Giorgio's book brilliant? It was a birthday present and I'm a bit embarrassed not to have cooked from it yet but I'm going to start soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi imitation m&ms!( For argument sake, I think smarties are the original chocolate with the colored candy shell and m&ms are the smarties' imitation! Anyone care to back me up on that?) Anyhow... How are you my dear haalo? Your granita looks good.I on the other hand have not gotten over making a bad butter pecan ice cream 2-3 weeks back.It was the first time I used my Krups ice cream maker too. Sigh!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Ellie!

    Thanks Squishy - it's a thumbs up taste wise!

    I'd send you some Brilynn but I think it would just be coffee water by the time it reached you.

    Hi Trig - Locatelli's book is fabulous and unlike Gennaro's book, it's Jamie Oliver free;) The writer did a really marvellous job of capturing Locatelli's mannerisms as text, you can really hear him when you read the book. It's soooo much better then the english version of The Silver Spoon which was a huge disappointment when compared to the original Italian versions.

    Hi Carol - I'm doing fine and I hope you are too! You must try again as the world of frozen delights are within your reach. What happened to your ice-cream?

    ReplyDelete

© Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once | All rights reserved.
BLOG TEMPLATE HANDCRAFTED BY pipdig