This is a light and refreshing end to a meal and I find that it is particularly well appreciated after Christmas when the richer and much-loved traditional flavours are perhaps starting to wear a bit thin.
Ingredients
You do not need an ice cream machine to make the granita, just a little commitment to giving it the odd stir as it freezes. The resulting coarse texture is charming and invigorating.
Serves 6-8
- 5 ripe passion fruit
- 450ml freshly squeezed orange juice
- 110g + 2 teaspoons caster sugar
- 1 ripe mango
- 1 lime
- 2 bananas
- fresh mint leaves when in season
Method
- Cut the passion fruit in half and pass the pulp and juice through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. The more of the pulp and juice you extract, the more flavoursome the granita will be.
- Mix this liquid with the orange juice and 110g of sugar and stir with a whisk to dissolve the sugar completely.
- Place the mixture in a large flat-bottomed airtight container and freeze. When the mixture starts to freeze around the edges, use a fork or whisk to break it up into a pulp.
- Refreeze and continue this process three more times, by which time you will have a coarse granita-type texture.
- Peel the mango and cut into neat slices or dice. Zest and juice the lime and add to the mango along with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Stir gently to encourage the sugar to dissolve. Taste to check that the level of sweetness is to your liking, adding a little more sugar if needed.
- Chill for 30 minutes or more.
- Peel and slice the bananas and add to the mango just before serving.
- Serve the granita with the mango and banana and some of the juice and scatter over the mint if it is in season
