Recipes

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Watermelon: Granita & Popsicles!

Hellooooo! 

I just got back from an incredibly delicious dinner with my mom and Brian at Toro in the South End.  I haven’t been since last year and my mom and I were craving it…specifically the corn on the cob and paella. 

Anyways…just had to mention that.  Other than that it has been a pretty low key weekend.  My mom has been travelling a lot for work so it was nice to spend some time with her.  It’s also been pretty toasty around here although I can’t complain…it’s summer, and this is summer weather. Although I really wish we had a pool, or a least a close friend with one ;)

Watermelon!

I bought a big whole watermelon earlier this week because I had a few people over on the 4th, but we never got around to eating it. 

I decided to hack away at it so we could eat it during this week.  

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SO.MUCH.MELON.  It filled that bowl, and that’s a pretty large mixing bowl…about 12” diameter.  I don’t think the 2 of us could eat it all this week without it either going bad or us getting sick of it so I decided to use about less than 1/2 of it to make some frosty treats!

I saw this recipe on the Whole Foods website earlier in the week: Watermelon Granita

Perfect!

I made about 1/2 batch loosely following the recipe:

  • 4 cups watermelon, put into blender
  • blend until smooth
  • add juice & zest from 1/2 lime
  • 1 – 2 tsp honey (more or less if you like)
  • blend again
  • pour into a glass baking dish (mine was 11” x 7”)
  • Place in freezer
  • I stirred with a fork every 30min for about 2 hours (then left for dinner), when I came home it was frozen and time to scrape up with a fork!

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Until it’s all icy

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So cool and refreshing!!  This was so easy I’d love to try it with other flavors.  The original recipe said to top with mint or basil which I think either would be delicious.

I think I want to try Espresso Granita next…we had some in Rome on our honeymoon….it was sweet espresso granita topped with freshly whipped (unsweetened) cream…amazing.      

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This is perfect hot weather food.   

Next!

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Using the same ingredients, I put more watermelon chunks in the blender, the juice and zest from the other half of the lime and blended again.

This time I ran the mixture through a fine mesh sieve:

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And filled popsicle molds with the remaining strained watermelon juice!

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I bought those popsicle molds for less than $10 at Bed Beth and Beyond and have been dying to try them out. 

These will also come in handy on these hot days! IMG_4835

Don’t worry, we still have a GIANT container of fresh watermelon to eat this week ;)

sidenote: the pops and granita are paleo friendly!  The use of honey is up to you :)

You could also make some amazing cocktails with fresh watermelon puree…mojitos, margaritas… the possibilities are endless.  I also plan to enjoy some watermelon + feta this week too! 

What’s your favorite way to use up extra watermelon??

5 comments:

  1. the granita looks fantastic! Last summer I was making all kinds of watermelon treats from margaritas to the tasty feta and basil salad. 

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  2. FunandfearlessinbeantownJuly 9, 2012 at 9:15 AM

    I love making popsicles and it is time for me to dig out the pop molds from the back of the cabinet!

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  3. I have those same ice pop molds! I love making fruit pops with them

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  4. Yummy! I love making popsicles in the summertime! 

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  5. This might be my new favorite way to use up watermelon!

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