Tequila granita with cucumber and lime
Tequila granita
I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas. Only two more days to go and it’s here…! The season to be jolly… We’ve done most of our grocery shopping, all the presents are in the house although not all are wrapped yet and I still need to write a rhyme for just about all of them. It’s a tradition for us to celebrate Christmas with friends and this is the 11th year in a row we’re doing this. We buy presents for one another within a budget (that is always overspend) and the rule is that you have to make a rhyme with each present. Each year we think; o we don’t have that many present but then our friends arrive and we have this ridiculous pile of pretty wrapped gifts under the christmas tree.
I just love it. It’s always great fun and most of the time celebrated on Christmas Eve. Low maintenance too as we do some table grilling and that’s about it. No fancy menu’s needed as we’ll be unwrapping presents most of the evening and having a good laugh about each others writing. Some are serious and some are just for fun. But no party is complete without a good drink wouldn’t you agree and this particular tequila granita is lovely and refreshing and perfect to refresh your paletteby using this is a spoom in between courses at Christmas. We are in fact making this for Christmas too but it’s lovely instead of a cocktail and now that I’ve tasted it I am thinking this will be brilliant at a summer BBQ party!! But it’s certainly no time for BBQ yet although the weather here has been unseasonally warm.
Refreshing
Weird to think that last year around this time we were head over heels into snow, ice and cold cold weather and now the temperatures don’t really drop below 10 C. If it were up to me I would go for the cold!! But who knows what is to come. Our turkey is in the fridge and while I am still suffering from Turkey anxiety I feel a little bit better we can pull this off. It’s a big bird so there will be plenty of leftovers and thank god, it fits into the oven!! It’s 5,5 kg and I was petrified it wouldn’t go in, so I tried it as soon as we brought the thing home and yeah, it went in!! Still some space left around it too so that’s all good.
I’ll try and show some turkey photos but I might not have time on Christmas day. We’ll see…
For now I’ll share this delicious tequila drink with you. You might even want to use it as a very light dessert. Maybe not the most logical choice but after a heavy dinner your stomach will thank you for it! You can vary the alcohol content to your liking, but in the qty’s used here it is light and refreshing, not too strong. You can taste the tequila but it’s not overpowering
Tequila granita with cucumber, mint and lime
Yield: 4
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 3 hrs cooling time
Total Time: 3 hrs 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cucumber (peeled and deseeded)
- 25ml tequila
- 100ml lime juice (fresh)
- 25g ginger (I did not weigh the ginger but it was roughly a little less then a thumbsize piece. Grate more so you can add a bit more if you like)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 20ml mirin (mirin is a Japanse ricewine)
- few sprigsfresh mint (chopped)
Directions:
| Place the cucumber, tequila, lime juice, ginger, sugar and mirin in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Have a taste to see if you need to add something to make it to your taste. | |
| Pour into a shallow metal tin of approx 20 x 30 cm and freeze for one hour. | |
| Using a fork, rake the top of the granita and freeze for a further 1 hour. Repeat every hour for 3-4 hours or until granita is set. Add the mint and mix gently to combine. Divide over 4 small glasses and serve immediately | |
Note
If you cannot find mirin, the original recipe used rice wine vinegar which I did not have on hand, but you can use that if you want
Recipe adapted from Donna Hay Magazine
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
What a gorgeous drink!
Merry Christmas, dear!
Cheers,
Rosa
[Reply]
Simone (junglefrog) — December 23rd, 2011 at 10:30
Merry Christmas Rosa!
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Love hearing about your traditions Simone…the rhymes sound like fun! Good luck with cooking the big bird…I’m sure you’ll be fine. As for the granita…I’m speechless…just love it!
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Simone (junglefrog) — December 23rd, 2011 at 12:32
I still get scared by meat of that size but I guess we should be fine! Fingers crossed!!
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Merry Christmas Simone.
I am tapped out on time and will be having Bloody Marys for my appetizer on Christmas Day.
Crazy days of chaos for the next two days and then relax!
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Simone (junglefrog) — December 23rd, 2011 at 12:32
Bloody mary sounds pretty good too!
Merry Christmas Mona!
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love that it has cucumber & ginger in it….looks fabulous. merry christmas !
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This looks so festive and refreshing…which is perfect for us now, because we are pretty warm this year at right around 80°F for awhile now. Perfect weather in my eyes. I would love to serve this granita. We are celebrating with our friends who are originally from South Africa, they don’t have family close by either. I don’t think I could do the rhymes, sounds fun though.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
[Reply]
Simone (junglefrog) — December 24th, 2011 at 12:44
Thanks Lyndsey. Wonderful Christmas to you too!!
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This makes me want summer back! Perfect “vacation” for a winter holiday
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We do have snow in Colorado and I’m probably craving a warm drink but this is so lovely I have to remember it for summer. Just gorgeous!
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This looks like a fun little treat, a taste of summer in the middle of winter (although we haven’t had much of a winter so far, either). Good luck with your turkey, I’m sure it will be grand! Happy holidays!
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