Fast Forward to Summer: Watermelon Grand Marnier Granitas

Watermelon balls

Watermelon Grand Marnier Granita

I usually like to cook with the seasons but I found a beautifully ripe watermelon at the market the other day so I decided to make something that reminds me of summer. Watermelon is one of those things that reminds me of Fourth of July picnics and endless summer BBQs. Watermelon is the main ingredient in this Granita. Granita is a type of flavored Italian ice or coarse grained sorbet and does not usually contain alcohol but this one did. I used the creme de la creme of triple secs, Grand Marnier. I found that if you limit the amount of alcohol you add to the flavored liquid, the granita will freeze nicely.

1 cup of pureed fresh watermelon
1-2 tablespoons of extra fine sugar
1 jigger or 1.0 fluid oz of Grand Marnier
1 jigger of Arbor Mist tropical fruits chardonnay or some other fruity chardonnay
1/2 cup of pineapple juice

Mix everything in a glass bowl. Pour into a plastic container with a tight lid. Freeze overnight in the deepest and coldest part of your freezer. Scrape flavored ice with a fork. Refreeze for another 6 hours or so before serving. Scrape ice again with a fork and then serve in margarita or martini glasses. It has a grainier or grittier texture than sorbet because the flavored liquid is frozen and then manually scraped or raked with a fork.

The Improvisational Salad of the Day: Iceberg Lettuce, mangoes, Mcintosh apples, and oven dried grape tomatoes.

Sweet Red Mangoes from Brazil

You can take the girl out of the tropics but you can't take tropics out of the girl. I can eat about 10 mangoes in one sitting. I love mangoes in salads too. It has the taste of perpetual summer and my childhood in the Philippines. This salad has another interesting addition --oven dried tomatoes, one of my husband's favorite salad toppings. When grape tomatoes bake in the oven with extra virgin olive oil and good quality coarse sea salt, they get a concentrated tomato flavor and a chewier texture. Yum.

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into big chunks

2 cups of hand torn iceberg lettuce

1 Macintosh apple cut into 1 inch cubes

Oven dried grape tomatoes, about half a pint

* Cut tomatoes in half

*drizzle with extra virgin olive oil

* liberally season with salt and pepper

*bake for 20 to 30 minutes until they shrivel up.

a couple of sprigs of chopped cilantro for garnish.

Put a handful of lettuce on a plate. Place apple and mango chunks and cilantro on top of the lettuce. Salads look pretty when they are pilled high on a plate. Arrange oven dried tomatoes around the salad. Dress with your favorite lime or lemon based vinaigrette.