Champagne & Green Grape Granita a la Marketman

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We had about a fourth of a bottle of Taittinger champagne left over from our New Year’s Eve toast/dinner which I stuck in the fridge overnight. On January first, I decided to try and make a champagne granita for the first time ever and it was a shockingly simple process which yielded a wonderful result. Yet another great use for holiday leftovers…

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Take half a cup of water and half a cup of sugar and make a simple syrup by heating it until the sugar dissolves. Cool this sugar water. I took some 25-30 green grapes out of the fridge and de-seeded them and placed them in a blender, then added the sugar water and the leftover champagne (a bit less than 3 cups) and the juice of one medium juicy dayap and blitzed it for a few seconds. I then poured the blitzed liquid into a small metal pan (I used one similar to the local leche flan pans, but rectangular and larger) and stuck this in the freezer. About half an hour later, I stirred the liquid up with a fork and returned it to the freezer. I repeated this process every hour or so for three hours until I had a flaky ice. Served this in a glass container with some fantastic lenguas de gato and it was an instant hit! The Teen thought it was “too champagney” but all the adults who tried it loved it. The bits of blitzed green grape gave the ice a bit of body and texture and the sweetness of the sugar nicely balanced the acidity of the champagne. If you are need of an elegant but dead simple dessert, this is a good option.

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23 Responses

  1. I happened to be online the same time you posted your new post. i have left you a comment and a question in the previous post. i read the about section of your web and happy to know someone who like me is fond of cooking. have you tasted Iranian food? by the way do you know any supplier for iranian food there in phil? i mean sellers,stores,.. that sell ingredients for middle eastern food? thanks so much.

  2. You wrote: “The bits of blitzed green grape gave the ice a bit of body and texture and the sweetness of the sugar nicely balanced the acidity of the champagne.”

    Luvvvv the description! It is like tasting it myself. (Hindi na kasi ako umiinom—pero sumimple ako ng sherry nitong Christmas season).

  3. Just noted MM, funny the word seed can mean both to put as in sowing or to remove, so do you have to de-seed? Just wondering. Anyway, your champagne and grape granita looks so so refreshing.

  4. Connie, good point, I guess I have always used the de- to mean remove… “remove the seeds” might be more accurate or descriptive…

  5. looks and sounds cool and chi-chi! :) ang tiyaga nga talaga 3hours! maybe this can also work with Welch’s White Grape juice to serve the kids?

  6. Grassi’s used to serve a very nice champagne granita at their benpres bldg location. Wow, I think that’s about 17 years ago na! We used to go all the way there late in the evening just to have it. I think your recipe will be nicer though.

  7. look so refreshing. I can’t wait to make this when the weather here in NY finally warms up

  8. Nice…except in our household there is no such thing as left over champagne, at least not left over from drinking! (Maybe left over from making a granita but not for long!) :)

    Libay, you can make a granita from red or white table wines, as well as things like marsala or port. As long as the alcohol content is not too high, you can freeze almost any mixture. I have had truly lovely granitas made variously from Gewuerztraminer, Sauternes, and even a rather hefty Rhone (mainly syrah). They are nice between courses, too.

  9. I tried making a sangria granita once with tidbits of real fruit to encourage a couple of my friends to get accustomed to the taste of wine (they’re not very into it, and they often feel left out in parties where everyone else drinks). I also tried wine and vodka shots (wine or vodka mixed into jell-o) and they’re always a great hit for parties with my friends. I pity the neighbors!

  10. Yummy – I prefer granitas & ices over ice-cream (I am a bit lactose intolerant).
    @emsy: if you love ices & vodka you’ll love snowshots: vodka & lemon sherbet or Italian ice (some add proseco) in a blender! Great summer refresher. I think this is called “Sgroffino” which last might have originated in Italy. I first had it in Zurich at my cousin-in-law’s B-day celeb and we were joking: “One glass of this and I can understand Swiss-German; two and I’ll speak Swiss-German; three and I’ll be able to teach you Swiss-German!”

  11. @vicky sounds great! or I may even make that drink then sprinkle cubes of the alcoholic gulaman all over each serving. aah, excellent idea!

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