Blood Orange Granita

January 21 2009 by Kristin at The Kitchen Sink in Dessert,Recipe » 20 comments

As a kid, I had a thing for magenta. Not red, not pink: magenta. I liked the sound of it, for one thing. Try it now: mahhh-gen-TAH! It also happened to be the hue of my eight-year-old self’s favorite outfit (a stripey multiples number, complete with cumberbund, if you must know). I also adored the book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, but that’s neither here nor there, is it?

Magenta also features prominently in one of my favorite childhood memories. A distant cousin (second cousin, I think, but really: what does that even mean?) came to visit, decked out in magenta (knowing it was my favorite shade) and took me to the zoo. We rode camels and ate magenta-colored snow cones, and, well, that’s really all it takes for an eight year old, isn’t it?

Now, I know it couldn’t be any further from snow cone season at the moment, but it is citrus season (clearly). And when I found blood oranges at the market last weekend, I had an inexplicable desire to use them in a granita. (Truth be told, I also wanted to make them directly into margaritas, but I have a fiesta in my near future and I tapped my deepest reserves of restraint to hold off on the margs until then.)

So I juiced up the oranges (after marveling at their ruby insides, naturally), stirred in some simple syrup, lemon juice and a pinch of freshly-ground black pepper and let the concoction firm up in the freezer. Once it had hardened into a big jewel-toned ice cube, I scraped it with a fork, yielding a mound of fluffy shaved ice.

After one bite—imminently refreshing: tart and sweet, with a sparkling kick from the black pepper—I couldn’t help but think of that snow cone at the zoo. And, while this granita isn’t quite magenta, it’s close.

Blood Orange Granita
Bobby Flay

Printable Recipe

4 cups blood orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup simple sugar (2 parts sugar to 1 part water, heated to boiling)
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Adjust sugar to taste. Pour liquid into large shallow stainless steel pan and place in freezer. When frozen, scrape with fork until fluffy and serve, as desired.

20 comments so far. »
| Leave a Reply

sue bette says on January 22 2009 at 5:59 am:

I have to agree with you on the magenta – it does sound cool and always makes its presence known. I have been WAITING for blood oranges to reach Vermont, nothing yet, and I am afraid they might not travel this far – I’m still crossing my fingers.
The granita looks lovely and refreshing, a perfect way to brighten up a winter dinner.
DD says on January 22 2009 at 8:55 am:

I will definitely be going straight to margaritas with these. A nice refreshing chilled drink come summertime? Oh yes.
limeandlemon says on January 22 2009 at 10:48 am:

Looks really Delicious .. and so simple to make .. Laila .. http://limeandlemon.wordpress.com/
Shaheen says on January 22 2009 at 11:14 am:

Love the photos – I’m drooling!
duodishes says on January 22 2009 at 12:38 pm:

Wow, black pepper. Now that’s interesting! If God gave Margaret citrus, then she has to do what she has to do with it. (Great book that is!)
Olga says on January 22 2009 at 1:15 pm:

That looks gorgeous! Interesting twist on adding black pepper.
I’m planning on trying something like that with pomegranate juice.
Dawn in CA says on January 22 2009 at 1:19 pm:

Absolutely gorgeous photos. Those colors! And did you say you RODE camels? Now that’s my kind of zoo.
ingrid says on January 22 2009 at 3:02 pm:

That is a beautiful color. I have blood oranges in the fridge that need to be used (never had one before). Unfortunately I don’t have enough for this and there isn’t a grocery store close enough to just pick up a few more. Guess I’ll just cut ‘em up and eat ‘em as is.
~ingrid
Kevin says on January 22 2009 at 4:01 pm:

Wait, you’ve been on a camel before? Any pigeon incidents I need to know about?
Granita (if that’s what its really called) was delicious!
Bong says on January 22 2009 at 8:41 pm:

oh wow! the pics are great! the orange…yummy looking
culinography says on January 22 2009 at 9:01 pm:

Mmmm… as a former print geek, I have a soft spot for magenta… and as a foodie, I’d like some granita, please!

::makes note to self to keep an eye out for blood oranges::
eggsonsunday says on January 22 2009 at 9:37 pm:

Awesome – what a great treat for mid-winter! Nice for a change.

Oh, and I’m totally with you on liking magenta just for the name…the color is pretty great, too! -Amy
Mari says on January 23 2009 at 8:41 am:

It’s just so pretty, I’m not sure if I could eat it!
Haven’t picked up any blood oranges this winter, must get on that!
Aggie says on January 24 2009 at 11:53 am:

Magenta reminds me of crayola crayons…one of my favorite colors too.

I don’t know how your resisted putting some of the juice in margaritas…mmm…but wow, this granita looks so fun an totally refreshing. I so love blood oranges!
Kristin at The Kitchen Sink says on January 26 2009 at 9:30 pm:

Thanks, everyone!

sue bette: They only recently showed up in Illinois. Don’t give up yet!

duodishes: The pepper is just a little background note … you might not notice it if you didn’t know it was there. But it cuts through the tart and sweet flavors.

Dawn: That’s how we rolled at the MN Zoo. : )

ingrid: I halved the recipe for that exact reason and it was great.

Kevin: Aren’t you glad you married me? : )
nicole says on January 28 2009 at 11:04 am:

I LOVE blood oranges. I think this must be on the weekend’s agenda …
Kristin at The Kitchen Sink says on January 29 2009 at 5:54 pm:

Nicole: Lucky you! I hope you enjoy it.
wtyang24 says on March 14 2009 at 11:26 am:

this looks refreshingly delicious. i suppose pomegranates would yield the same color too?
Kristin at The Kitchen Sink says on March 14 2009 at 4:57 pm:

wytang24: I think that would work well. You might not need quite as much sugar as would be required to balance out the blood orange’s tartness. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I blame the almonds. « serendipity brought anchovies says on May 20 2010 at 3:54 pm:

[...] A couple of things: I cheated here as well and used dried herbs – about 2 heaped teaspoons dried basil and dried bay leaves. Try using fresh, it is probably better, but this was really good as it was; I don’t know how much better it can get only if using fresh instead of dried herbs Also, I didn’t bother looking for blood oranges (and squeezing them); I used high-quality organic juice. And since that bottle only contained 0.75 litres and already cost around 4 euros, I filled the rest up with cranberry-cherry juice, which, as I only saw when it was too late, was one of those “contains at least 30% fruit juice”-beverages – stupid, stupid me, I’ve never done anything like that before. Like this it was very sweet, my parents said, I liked it the way it was – so I think it should be fine if you use pure cranberry with the blood orange. Heck, just listen to your taste buds. Oh, and take a look at this post. [...]