CITRUS

GRAPEFRUIT, ORANGE AND APEROL GRANITA

It’s hard to beat a refreshingly crunchy granita in a heatwave. For this granita, elbow grease is needed: there are no shortcuts. Only regular beating with a fork about every half-hour during the freezing process will produce ‘free-running’, not clumpy, large, flavoured ice crystals.

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes, plus freezing | COOKING TIME: 10 minutes | SERVES: 6

2 cups (500 ml/17 fl oz) freshly squeezed red grapefruit juice

1 cup (250 ml/9 fl oz) freshly squeezed orange juice

½ cup (110 g/3¼ oz) caster (superfine) sugar

thinly sliced peel of 1 orange

½ cup (125 ml/4 fl oz) Aperol

½ vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped (optional)

Put the grapefruit and orange juice, sugar and orange peel in a pan, over medium heat, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the Aperol and vanilla seeds if using. Allow to cool.

Remove the orange peel and pour the mixture into a freezer-proof container. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze. When the mixture starts to freeze about 1 cm (½ in) around the edges, stir with a fork, breaking up any icy chunks. Do this several times – about every 30 minutes or so – until the mixture becomes slushy and frozen. This granita is delicious on its own, or spooned over fresh oysters or fresh fruit desserts.

TIP Aperol is an Italian bitters related to Campari, but has only half the alcohol and is lighter in colour, with a more delicate flavour than Campari. To replace the Aperol, use the juice of tangelos or Seville oranges.