I love a multi-course dinner, it just feels so extravagant, but sadly, most multi-courses do not take into consideration the volume of food to be consumed, so I only do it at home and never at a restaurant. I try to keep in mind how much food, a variety of textures and mixing up courses with hot, warm and cold dishes. I also like to space out the dinner party so that dinner lasts a couple of hours and not wham bam thank you mam!
This is the intermisso, or palate cleaner for our Vegetarian Valentine Dinner.
I was over at Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide the other day and they offered a lovely looking and refreshing granita made with grapefruit. Hmmm, I thought, I rather like that, so I picked up a gorgeous red grapefruit and made this lovely intermisso. I only wanted four smallish portions, so I didn’t make the amount in Greg’s recipe. I adjusted it as below.
Grapefruit Granita
Ingredients:
- 1 large ruby red grapefruit
- 1/2 lime, juice and zest
- 1 small drop orange extract (I didn’t have orange flower water)
- 2 tbsp simple syrup or to taste (it really depends how sweet your grapefruit is)
Directions:
- Wash grapefruit and lime well.
- Cut the fruit out of the skin and pith over a bowl so that all the juices can be captured.
- Stir in simple syrup, orange extract, lime juice and zest. Pour into a glass container (about the size of a brownie pan), cover and freeze.
- To serve, scrape with a strong fork into bowls.
- Garnish with fresh mint if desired.
Greg’s recipe: To make a simple syrup, heat equal parts sugar and water over medium heat until dissolved. Remove from heat, cool and store in the refrigerator.
A nice tart palate cleanser before we dig into the Paella
The chunks of grapefruit mix in with the ice crystals. It’s really quite tasty.
These dainty little glasses come from my MIL. Aren't they sweet?
Kitcheninspirations 