RUBY RED GRAPEFRUIT & GINGER GRANITA

I miss my kitchen. During the past five weeks, we have eaten in more restaurants than I can count, and for the most part the food has been really tasty. Having meals cooked for me day after day is an indulgence I haven’t had experienced in years. That said, from time to time I long for my home kitchen with all of its familiar tools, counter tops.....

Last week, we had an apartment with a real kitchen and ample equipment to make our own meals. After a little sleuthing, I tracked down the one and only organic market in Darwin, Australia - not a town known for its cuisine. Though during our stay in the Northern Territory, we did try baramundi, kangaroo, and termite mound (yes termite mound!). 

Greenies is hidden deep in a rundown strip mall, ghostly with its many vacancies. The shop is no cartoonishly abundant Bay Area market, yet Greenies had everything we were looking for - life, good music, and happy hippie foods. Rushing back to our pad, we roasted chicken in our familiar way, tossed together a Berkeley-style salad with plenty of avocado and arugula, and ate kilos of strange exotic fruits.



Darwin is damned hot - over 100 degrees every day we were there, and this wasn’t even the hot time of year. I needed the satisfaction of making a refreshing treat for my travelin’ clan. After spending a month in Bali indulging with decadent abandon in fresh fruit juices, lassies, and slushies, I felt inspired to make my own fruity concoction. It was devoured in minutes - a success!

The candied ginger, though not necessary, was delicious with the granita. Next time I’d like to make my own.


INGREDIENTS

• 4-5 ruby red grapefruit, yielding approximately 3 cups of juice
• 3 inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled
• approximately 1 1/2 cup sugar 
• candied ginger  (optional)

Squeeze out grapefruit juice and remove seeds. Put juice, ginger chunk, and sugar in a saucepan. Cook, stirring regularly over high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Taste for sweetness. Add more sugar if you want a sweeter granita. Make sure all sugar is dissolved before removing liquid from heat. Then let sit for 20 minutes. Strain out pulp and remove ginger chunk.

Freezing: Pour liquid into shallow baking pan, or any shallow bowl. Freeze 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and stir with a fork to break up any frozen bits. Make sure to scrape the edges of the pan, this is where the freezing begins.

Continue to freeze for 20-30 minute intervals. Stir. Freeze again. After two to three hours of freezing and stirring, your granita will be ready to eat.

Once you are ready to eat the granita, remove from freezer and serve immediately. It melts quickly. Try chilling cups, or bowls to help keep the granita frozen longer.

Serve with candied ginger. Enjoy!



serves 4