Black Muscat Granita

Serves eight

What a lovely thing to be able to serve iced desserts even if you don't own an ice cream maker. The Chinese invented the first ice cream freezer: They poured a combination of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and snow over the top of syrup-filled containers in order to freeze the contents. When Marco Polo saw this in China, he rushed home to Italy with the idea.

Chef's Note

When a product is frozen, the intensity of the flavors and the amount of sweetness both decrease. Too much sugar, however, will lower the freezing temperature of the granita. Therefore, you have to balance the flavor and the freezing capacity when adjusting the sugar content in a frozen recipe.

Ingredients

3 cups Black Muscat Wine, Ouady Elysium brand
1-1/4 cups Lemon Juice
1-1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons Orange Juice
3/4 cup Sugar
4-3/4 cups Water

Procedure

1. Combine all the ingredients in a hotel pan or shallow bowl and mix until the sugar is completely dissolved.

2. Put the bowl or pan in the freezer. Once the granité forms a rim of ice around the edge, stir by scraping the ice from the outside of the pan into the middle. Repeat every hour for the first 3-4 hours.

3. Freeze overnight without any additional stirring.

4. Just before serving, scrape the ice from top to bottom, and stir gently to incorporate any settled juices from the bottom of the pan. Serve in a stemmed glass with a tuile cookie on the side.

Buy the Book!

from:
Creating Chefs
by Carol W. Maybach
The Lyons Press
Hardcover, 320 pages
$27.95
ISBN: 1-59228-183-4
Recipe reprinted by permission.