Bitter sweet endings

I went out to eat the other day and had some very good food; well the starter and the main course were good. Unusually I had a pudding and as usual I was disappointed. The desert was so ridiculously sweet it could have come with squirty cream, 100’s and 1000’s, white chocolate buttons and in a sugar bowl and you wouldn’t have noticed. So I decided to try something a bit more grown up or perhaps just not as sweet.

Campari & Grapefruit Granita.
Campari like anchovies, olives, capers et al is one of those tastes you grow into but once you get it you can’t go back, maybe you do get bitter in your old age after all!

I’m not sure I actually made a granita as it was closer to sorbet but it was jolly nice and crucially not too sweet, I think even people who don’t like Campari might like it. Its wonderfully pink and sharp tasting. Its best eaten on the day but can be frozen for few days and left to melt a little and broken up with a fork before eating.

Weights and measures:
I got the basic recipe from here, I’ve never bothered to find the conversion table for American cups so I just used a mug. It made about enough for 6-8 to have a tasteful amount, I would just treat the amounts as proportions. I use boxed juice as I couldn’t be bothered to clean my juicer after squeezing a few grapefruits, I’m sure it would even better made from fresh. Using blood grapefruit would add to the pinkness!

Ingredients:
1/2 mug sugar
3 &1/2 mugs of Grapefruit juice
1/3 mug Campari (depending on how strong you like it)
Flat plastic box with lid

Method and changes:
The difference I made to the recipe was to use all juice, I didn’t heat up the liquid just stirred the sugar till it dissolved. Then pour in the Campari. I tasted it before freezing and added a splash more Campari for good measure. Bear in mind that it will taste sweeter before freezing, as cold food in general needs more seasoning; don’t add too much booze as the alcohol may stop the thing freezing at all! Then after 40 mins. you stir it to break up the ice crystals, keep doing this until it looks like frozen rice or grains hence the name.

Timings:
As to prep time it took 10 mins. to make and about 4-5 hrs in fridge to freeze to the loose texture I needed, I used a deep dish for space reasons; use a shallow bowl and it will take less time.

Enjoy!