Eat & Drink
Originally published on Tuesday, 11th August 2009
Sour Cherry Granita
Serves 6 A Canadian childhood has taught me to live peacably alongside most animals - winged, poisonous or otherwise - but chickens are another story. With their murdurous, beady eyes and that incessant clucking - chickens are ingenious and calculating creatures with pure evil on their minds. This recipe is the result of genuine triumph over adversity.
I’ve been staying on an olive oil farm in the south of Turkey with a huge sour cherry tree in the yard. One day I went with a pot to pick cherries to make granita and within seconds I was surrounded by dozens of chickens. They were eyeing up my cherry pail, they were forming into battalions, they were plotting on how to trip me and pluck out my eyeballs. I screamed bloody murder and ran for shelter with my scant few handfuls of cherries. Thank god this granita tasted amazing. Eat more chicken.
Ingredients
500 grams sour cherries, rinsed well
850 mls water
175 grams of caster sugar or more to taste
Instructions
Place the cherries in a pot with the water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 25 minutes or until the cherries are very soft. Pour the cherries into a fine mesh colander with a bowl underneath to catch the water. Press down hard on the cherries with a spoon to force any pulp and juice from the cherries through the colander into the pot and set aside to cool. Stir the sugar into the cherry liquid and taste. Add more sugar until the desired level of sweetness is reached, then place the pot back on the stove and bring to a simmer. Stir frequently for 5 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and leave the mixture to cool.
Stir the sugar into the cherry liquid and taste. Add more sugar until the desired level of sweetness is reached, then place the pot back on the stove and bring to a simmer. Stir frequently for 5 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and leave the mixture to cool.
Pour the mixture into a wide, shallow plastic container and place in the freezer. When the mixture begins to freeze (this will depend on your freezer and the how cool the cherry mixture is when you place it in the freezer) take a fork and scrape it through the granita to fluff up the ice crystals as they form. Continue to do this every 20 minutes until the mixture has completely frozen.
Divide the granita between glasses and serve immediately.
Jennifer Klinec from Eat Drink Talk has kindly agreed to provide Urban Junkies readers with mouthwatering recipes and foodtips.
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