16/06/13 - Espresso Granita for Father's Day

This blog post is an amalgamation of things.  Not only is it briefly about Father's Day and an opportunity to share a delicious new recipe with you all, it's a chance for me to show off my parents' fancy new camera.  All the images in this post were taken on that, so feel free to tell me how much better they look than my usual ones!

Today's recipe is courtesy of Le Creuset.  My dad is a big fan and for Father's Day, he was treated not only to some chocolate and some novelty wine bottle covers (I buy the best gifts), but also to a snazzy red oven glove to replace the one he has which is falling apart.  And along with this thrilling present came a handful of recipe cards used to advertise their new ranges of cookware.  This one caught our collective eye and it was decided that it had to be tried as a Father's Day treat.  I give you Espresso Granita - a refreshing frozen coffee dish perfect as a light dessert or a cheeky afternoon snack.

For this recipe, you will need:
400ml filter coffee
50g brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of good quality chocolate powder

We toyed around with the recipe and substituted chocolate-flavoured coffee for normal, subsequently forgoing the chocolate powder.  This is something you could play with until you found what works for you and your tastes, experimenting with the coffee you have to hand.  




We made the coffee in a cafetiere and decanted it into a measuring jug, before adding the sugar and vanilla extract to the hot liquid in order to dissolve them quickly.  Alternatively, you can do this in a saucepan.  When everything is combined, pour the mixture into a shallow roasting dish or plastic container and leave to cool before placing in the freezer.


After an hour and a half-ish, check on your mixture and give it a stir to break up the formation of ice crystals before popping it back in the freezer.  Repeat this process twice more, or until you're happy with the consistency.  Depending on how much you stir it, the texture can range from very granular to a soft sorbet.

To serve, give the mixture one last stir and spoon into chilled bowls or espresso mugs (place these in the fridge when you start the process so they'll be good and cold).  We added a splash of Kahlua (coffee liqueur), a dollop of mascarpone and little grated chocolate.



The flavour of the coffee isn't overwhelming when frozen so we enhanced it with the Kahlua, but you could always use stronger coffee depending on your tastes.  It went down a storm and fortunately, this recipe made too much for four so there's still some in the freezer for another day!

Alongside this, my brother and I treated my dad to a very rich chocolate cake made by our own fair hands.  Filled with mascarpone and cherry jam and topped with chocolate Philadelphia with red sprinkles (Dad's favourite colour, hence the oven glove), it was very moist and sticky but received effusive praise from even our household's resident baker; the man it was made for.


After a day filled with lots of yummy treats and many an intense card game, it was time to settle down in front of Argo (amazing film) with a glass or three of prosecco.  I hope everyone had a lovely Sunday, whatever you were doing and whoever you were doing it with!  I'd like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to my dad, Colin, for being the most wonderfully supportive father I could ask for.  I may not always act like it, but I am eternally grateful for everything he does for me.  

If you have any naughty recipes, feel free to leave them in the comments below!

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