lemon mint granita

Lemon-Mint Granita
Adapted pretty liberally from Wolfgang Puck

Granita’s selling points don’t end with being more appealing than ice cream to a certain preggo (though really, what more do you need to know?), more refreshing than an air conditioner on turbo on a sticky summer day, and the best thing since a Snoopy Sno-Cone — they’ve got something going for them that sorbets, sherbets, ice creams and gelatos lack: not just the ability to be made without a machine, but the insistence that it’s the only right way. You won’t get those fleck-y ice bits in a churner, you’ve got to rake them up yourself with a fork. And then try not to eat them all before sharing.

Oh, and let’s say you’re not baking a baby right now? One word for you: Limoncello. Can you imagine a glug of that over your dish? Oh baby indeed. Just promise to have some for me, too.

4 lemons
4 cups water
Sugar, to taste (we used 3 tablespoons, like a tart lemonade)
Handful of fresh mint leaves

Clean and wash the lemons. Cut off the top quarter of the lemons and slice a thin bevel off the bottom, so they can stand up straight. (You can skip this step if you don’t want to serve them in frozen lemon cups.) Using a grapefruit knife, carefully remove all of the lemon flesh and juice (working over a bowl ensures you won’t lose any), being careful not to cut through the bottom. Stand the lemons on a plate or cookie sheet and freeze until solid.

Using a food processor (a blender will work as well), toss a handful of washed and dried fresh mint leaves into the work bowl. (I used about 25 to 30 leaves from 6 to 9 sprigs.) Add the scooped out lemon flesh and juice, and pulse until mostly pureed. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes, so the mint releases its flavor, then press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. You’ll end up with approximately one cup of lemon-mint juice.

Stir in the water, then sugar, one tablespoon at a time until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is to your desire level of sweetness. Pour the mixture into a large roasting pan or baking dish, large enough that the liquid isn’t more than one-inch deep. (Otherwise it takes forever to freeze, trust me. A 9×13-inch pan worked great here.)

Freeze for one hour, then remove the mixture and scrape with two forks to break up the ice. (Your freezing time will vary, depending on the temperature and muscle of your freezer.) Return to the freezer and freeze until solid, about 2 to 3 hours, scraping it again with forks every hour or so.

When the granita is frozen, rake until glittery. Scoop into frozen lemon shells (or, you know, plain old dishes) and serve before Deb gets to it.

sorbet w/o added sugar

juice of 3 limes
juice of 1 orange
1 finely chopped mango
1 small jar prune baby food

mix in freezer.

a funny story about diana and me yesterday

i found this recipe online for mint chocolate chip ice cream and we have a ton a mint and diana loves that ice cream so we made this. unfortunately we made a couple of crucial errors (someone forgot to separate the eggs, and someone thought we should use the cold cream in the frigging newly purchased metal bowls to add to the eggs and heat....) and the custard turned into scrambled eggs. sweet, minty, sickly green little rice-sized ones. not a single bit attractive.

but we had already taken the HOUR to pick, clean, strip leaves and infuse the cream with the mint so we weren't starting over. so we strained the egg mess and then realized that you do need a ice cream freezer. yikes. couldn't find all of the parts for the cute cuisinart sorbet/ice cream maker,so again, we bunted. diana found a "kneading" method online if you don't have a freezer. we were not expected much, so we were glad we had decided to also make some inman park brownies (raspberry jam topping the brownies, all covered with melted chocolate chips)

Eureka! It worked! (we added some creme de menthe so that it wouldn't get rock hard IN CASE it ever froze)

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Recipe

We have a couple of mint patches growing in our yard, though I never thought to use the mint we grow for ice cream until now. The taste of the ice cream using fresh mint really is out of this world, so if you can get your hands on fresh mint, I highly recommend using it for this ice cream.

Note that if you do not have fresh mint, you can make this mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe with peppermint extract. Skip steps 1 and 2, instead heating 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of cream and the sugar and salt until steaming. Continue with step 3. Add 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract in with the chilled custard mixture in step 6.

• 3 cups of fresh mint leaves (not stems), rinsed, drained, packed
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups heavy cream (divided, 1 cup and 1 cup)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate or dark chocolate, chopped fine, keep in the freezer until used

1 Put the mint leaves in a heavy saucepan with the 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of the cream. Heat until just steaming (do not let boil), remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes. Reheat the mixture until steaming, remove from heat and let stand for 15 more minutes.

2 While the mint is infusing in step 1, prepare the remaining cream over an ice bath. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set in ice water (with lots of ice) over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the bowls. Set aside.

3 Strain the milk cream mixture into a bowl, pressing against the mint leaves with a rubber spatula in the sieve to get the most liquid out of them. Return the milk cream mixture to the saucepan. Add sugar and salt to the mixture. Heat until just steaming again, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.

4 Whisk the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm mixture, but not cooked by it. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

5 Return the saucepan to the stove, stirring the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10 minutes.

The custard base does not coat the back of the spoon, it is not ready.

The custard base coats the back of the spoon. You can run your finger across the coating and have it not run. It is ready and should be removed from heat immediately, and poured through the sieve over the ice bath to stop the cooking.

6 Pour the custard through the strainer (from step 2) and stir into the cold cream to stop the cooking.

7 Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (at least a couple of hours) or stir the mixture in the bowl placed over the ice bath until thoroughly chilled (20 minutes or so). Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

8 Once the ice cream has been made in the ice cream maker it should be pretty soft. Gently fold in the finely chopped chocolate. Put in an airtight container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several hours. If it has been frozen for more than a day, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it before serving.

Note that there is no alcohol in this recipe. A few teaspoons of some spirits such as rum or bourbon will help keep the ice cream soft over several days. Even the alcohol in vanilla extract will help. If you have no added alcohol in a homemade ice cream recipe, we recommend that you eat it up quickly, in a day or two; beyond that point the ice cream will quickly get very very hard.

Makes 1 quart.