Lemon Granita
Do you like to eat ice? Not water ice, or ice cream, just pure ice? I love to, and, believe it or not, it’s because I was anemic during my pregnancy. I didn’t feel anemic, but a friend pointed out that the new ice-eating habit I had picked up was a side effect of my anemia. I could and would consume two or three cups of ice in a few hours. I ate it as a snack and as a dessert and as a movie-going treat. Yum!
While pregnant and eating ice cube after ice cube, I wondered how I could do so without seeming like a giant freak. Finally, I hit upon a dessert my mother-in-law had made one night pre-pregnancy — granita. It’s perfect. It’s icy, crunchy, flaky deliciousness. And better yet, to my pregnant tastes which had demanded citrus twenty-four seven, it could be lemon-flavored.
Now, nearly two years later, I’m still in love with ice, citrus, and lemon granitas. I regularly make granitas and eat them all up all by myself. With summer coming up, it’s time to share my recipe!
I would caution about making this as the sole dessert for a dinner, however. A friend I have calls this a faux dessert. While I still count this currently honeymooning individual as a friend, I now know that for them, granita is either a palette cleanser or a part of a bigger dessert.
By the by, my granita recipe is not that sweet. If you like really sweet desserts, you might want to consider adding a few tablespoons of sugar to it. If you like really tart desserts, either take out about half a cup of the water or add a lemon or two.
Lemon Granita
From: combination of several online recipes
- 3 lemons
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
1. Get the water to boiling in a small pot. Is it boiling? Good! Add your sugar and stir!
2. Turn the burner off, and get our your zester (or Microplane) and zest up your washed lemons. I just zest directly into the pot of hot sugar water. Put your zested lemons off to the side.
3. Roll the lemon under your palm against your counter or cutting board. What you’re doing here is softening it up, because I don’t believe in using a juicer to get juice from lemons. Cut the softened lemon in half and using a fork, juice the lemons into the pot, seeds and pulp and all. Really, just dig the tines in for all that they’re worth.
4. Mix that all up and let it sit until the mixture has cooled to room temperature and then strain it into a glass pan that you can stick in your freezer. I hope you have enough room in your freezer. I always have to push over all the meals my husband makes for me that I never reheat.
5. This is so super important — every twenty minutes promptly (and possibly a little more often near the end of this step), go in to your freezer, and stir up the granita with a fork. Scrape the ice down. When you near the end, try your hardest to break up the ice bits with your fork or you’ll not be eating flaky ice, you’ll be eating ice cubes. Once your granita starts to look more like fluffy snow than frozen ice, you’ll be good to go!
6. At this stage, I get out a bowl and I scoop several spoons of granita into it and top the whole thing off with raspberries or candied lemon slices. Then, I eat it as rapidly as possible and go back for more.
