Blood Orange Granita Recipes

Steps:

• Place the blood orange juice, sugar and pepper in a bowl and whisk to incorporate. Pour the blood orange mixture into a large baking dish and place in the freezer. Scrape and crush the lumps with a fork every half an hour until the granita freezes, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Scrape with a fork to lighten the texture before serving. Spoon into glasses and serve.;

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring water, sugar, orange zest & mint to the boil. Reduce heat immediately and simmer until sugar dissolves (It's important to make sure the sugar dissolves completely, otherwise it's a disaster).
• Strain to remove the mint, then put the syrup back into the pan.
• Add apples & cook until the apples are soft and pulpy. Take saucepan off heat and allow to cool (you can cheat & put this in the fridge if you like to speed the process up)
• Put orange juice, lemon juice, and orange-flavored liqueur or Grand Marnier (if you're using them) into a blender along with the apple-mint syrup. Blend until smooth.
• Food Processor Method - Pour the granita mixture into a freezer proof dish, cover with plastic wrap and allow to freeze solid - for best results overnight.
• Remove from the freezer about 10 minutes before serving - this allows it to soften slightly - then either process the granita in a food processor or use a fork scrape it into fine crystals.
• Alternative method - Place plastic wrap over pan and place pan in freezer. After 45 min or when ice-crystals have begun to form around edges of pan, use a fork to scrape up frozen chunks and mix into the rest of the frozen mixture. Return to freezer and continue to "rake" granita every 30 to 45 minutes until there isn't any liquid left in the granita.
• To serve spoon granita into dishes or glasses and garnish with mint. Serves 4 - 6.

Steps:

• Peel and slice the oranges: Using a sharp paring knife, slice off the bottom and the top of each orange, exposing the flesh underneath; following the curve of the fruit, cut a one-half to 1-inch wide vertical strip of the peel; repeat, working your way around the orange until you've cut away all the peel; trim any white pith.
• Slice the orange into quarter-inch slices and place in a baking dish (a 12-inch round dish works well).
• Repeat, using all of the oranges.
• In a small heat-proof bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, orange juice, rum, lemon juice and orange zest and stir to combine with a whisk.
• Place the bowl over a small pan of simmering water, like a double-boiler, and continue stirring with the whisk; the mixture will foam a little, then turn pale and finally thicken after about 3 to 5 minutes.
• When the mixture is thick enough that the whisk leaves tracks in it, remove the bowl from the heat, whisk rapidly to cool it down, and pour it through a fine strainer into a clean bowl.
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (the dish can be prepared to this point up to 8 hours in advance and refrigerated separately).
• When almost ready to serve, beat the whipping cream with a balloon whisk until it forms stiff peaks.
• Stir the egg mixture to loosen it, adding any orange juice that has collected in the bottom of the baking dish.
• Gently fold the egg mixture into the whipping cream.
• Sprinkle the oranges with the powdered sugar and stir to combine.
• Spoon the egg mixture over the oranges in a haphazard pattern (there won't be enough to completely cover the fruit, so don't worry).
• Sprinkle with the slivered almonds and place the baking dish under a cold broiler as close to the flame as possible.
• Turn on the broiler and heat just until the gratin puffs and browns, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Alternatively, you can brown the top with a creme brulee torch. Serve immediately.