Lemon Basil Granita and a Food Blogging Class

lemon basil granita

I don’t know about you guys but I’m not ready to let go of summer yet. I’m not ready to start busting out pumpkin and butternut squash recipes. I’m not ready to start my morning runs while it’s still dark out, and speaking of dark, I’m not ready to dye my hair darker and get rid of my blonde highlights, either. I want to drag out the happiest season of the year, and with the help of this Lemon Basil Granita, I think I could. (PS – it’s going into my mouth, not into my hair.)

This is a lovely refreshing treat, and it’s light and healthy, too.

And by light and healthy, I don’t mean this in a “hey it has zucchini and carrots? it’s a salad” or “it has oatmeal and almond butter? let’s eat it for breakfast” or “it’s mini? let’s roll the sides in bacon” kinda way.

This is LEGIT.

The three main ingredients are fresh lemon juice, basil, and honey.

lemonschopped basil

See? FRESH and LIGHT. It’s like Mother Nature herself came up with the idea.

(In reality, it’s Dan from The Food in My Beard who gave me the exact idea… and  he’s not exactly a tree-hugging goddess.)

The only other things we need are water, some lemon zest, a little sugar, and a pinch of salt. And some patience, too, because you’ll need to place this in the freezer and check every 45 minutes or so to move the ice crystals around – that’s how you make a granita. Place the mixture in the freezer in a flat shallow container, freeze until the edges turn icy, scrape and stir the icy portions into the middle, and repeat. Here’s another good granita flavor: Strawberries and Cream.

And here’s an unnecessary photo of my new manicure:

manicurelemon granita close up

As for the FOOD BLOGGING CLASS, I’m teaching one next month!!

I’ll be one of three bloggers heading up the Food Blogging: Basics and Beyond class at the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) on Sept. 23, 2014. It’ll be a one and a half hour class and discussion with me, Melanie from A Beautiful Bite, and Debbie from A Little Bit About a Lot of Things.

If you’re in the Boston area and are interested in learning more about food blogging basics, I’d love to see you there. You can find more details here.

lemon basil honey granita

I can’t promise you though that we’ll only be talking about light and healthy things during class, but I can promise you that this Lemon Basil Granita is delicious. Really bright and tart, with the perfect amount of sweetness.

I’m not going to mess with this healthy dessert by suggesting that you guys drizzle a little cucumber vodka on top. Or St-Germain. Or serve it with a sweet riesling. I’m not going to do that at all.

Yield: serves 4

Lemon Basil Granita

Ingredients

1 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a flat baking pan or any other freezer-safe container.
  2. Place in freezer and freeze until icy around edges, about 30 minutes. Using a fork, stir icy portions into middle of pan. Place back in freezer, stirring frozen edges into center every 30-45 minutes, for about 1 1/2 hours.
  3. Scrape the granita into flaky crystals using a fork. Transfer into serving glasses and serve immediately. This can be made a day or two ahead, just keep it frozen.

lemon basil honey granita bowl

Thank you to everyone who entered my Lindt giveaway last week. Congrats to Nicole D! I’ll email you shortly :)

   

44 Responses to “Lemon Basil Granita and a Food Blogging Class”