Watermelon Granita

Summer is here! I'm a summer baby and nothing makes me happier than the long days of warm sun. A few summers ago now I was lucky enough to be shipped away to Italy for a month by my Grandpa. I spent that month stumbling over my Italian, jumping off of boats into the beautiful Medd and eating pizza, gelato and whatever else they fed me! That was in 2007, but the taste of that July spent in Italy is still with me today in Honolulu because I've done my best to recreate granita!

What is a granita you ask? Well, for starters it's delicious! I had it for the first time in Sicily two summers ago. It's the perfect antidote to being too hot with just the right amount sweetness. In Sicily they eat it for breakfast or mid-afternoon snacks with huge puffy brioche buns. Technically speaking it's frozen fruit juice or chocolate, but fruit flavors are way more popular, especially lemon. The closest comparison I can make is a sorbet but fluffier and way less sugar.

After staring at the watermelon sitting staring back at me for the past couple of days I had an epiphany. Granita! The days here in Honolulu have been getting warmer by the minute and I've been craving iced treats. I did some research and found several suggestions for recipes. As usual with most Italian inspired recipes they're vague and once you get the basic idea down you can do whatever you want with it! I didn't make the buns to soak up the melted bits, but maybe next time. So here it is, my own version granita:

Watermelon Granita

Ingredients:

1 med-small watermelon

1/2 papaya

2 tablespoons grapefruit juice

1 tablespoon sugar

Tools:

sharp knife

medium sized pot

sieve

medium bowl

2 metal pie pans (preferred but not nessecary)

Slice up the watermelon and papaya into cubes and place in the pot on medium-low heat. Add in the sugar and juice. Then let it sit and simmer mixing occasionally until the fruit starts to break down. Then pour the mixture slowly through the sieve and into the bowl to get out the bigger chunks and seeds. Finally, evenly pour the mixture into the two pie pans and place in the freezer. After about an hour take a fork and break up the little ice crystals, continue every couple of hours.

*I made this at night and didn't do the "fluffing" but did take it out in the morning and scraped with the side of the fork to get a similar effect. Also, you don't have to do the bowl step, I just don't trust my pouring and holding a sieve skills. I also don't have a sieve so I spent most of the time making this recipe squishing the watermelon with a pastry cutter and transferring it between a steamer and bowl to get the juice out...ugh. Hassle. These instructions are more my after thoughts of how I would have done all of this. Either way, the flavors work and comes out yummy! The perfect sunny warm summer day treat!

Buon Appitito!

Here goes nothing!

I can't say exactly when I decided to start my own blog. I'm guessing it was planted in there by my mom or by my boyfriend or by my friend Sarah, who just happens to be working on her own blog about her crafting adventures. One way or another the idea grew in the back of my mind until it boiled over into the rest of my brain. It may have also had something to do with the large amount of photos that I've taken of my food conquests over the past few months.

So here I am, with a my very own public writing space and a stock pile of photos on my cell phone. What will I be writing about you ask? Food. I love food. For starters, you literally cannot live without it. Second, if you can't live without it, why not invest some sweet loving time into it? I believe that food not only feeds the body, but the soul too. Some people splurge on clothes to make them feel better, I buy a higher quality chocolate.

That said, I don't think I've ever not cooked on a budget. Maybe someday I won't have to think about it, but for now, while living in Hawaii where rents are high and pay is low (not to mention my impending return to school) the budget remains in tact. So this, in essence, is going to be my adventures of feeding both my boyfriend and I yummy food and hopefully original food while living on a student budget for at least the next 3 years! Suggestions will always be appreciated! I wish I had something cool to cheers with. I guess my mostly empty cup of coffee will have to do! Cheers, buon appetito and wish me luck!