Celery Apple Granita

From the kitchen of Carly

Crisp celery and tart apple juice freeze into delicate shards of pure vegetable flavor. The tarragon adds herbal complexity, while vitamin C keeps everything bright and fresh. A palate-cleansing granita that tastes like the farmers market in a spoon.

Prep
n/a
Cook
n/a
Total
n/a
Servings
4
Difficulty
medium

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 11 (1,000-mg) tablet vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
  • 12 Granny Smith apples, very coarsely chopped
  • 12/3 cup water, divided
  • 11 tablespoon chopped tarragon
  • 14 cups very coarsely chopped celery ribs (from 1 bunch)
  • 1Equipment: a flour sack or linen cloth

Instructions

  1. Crush vitamin C tablet in a bowl with back of a spoon, then line a sieve with dampened flour sack cloth and set over bowl.

  2. Purée apples with 1/3 cup water in a food processor (do not use a blender) until almost smooth, then pour into cloth. Bunch up cloth around mixture and squeeze as much clear juice as possible through cloth (about 11/2 cups). Discard solids remaining in cloth. Rinse and wring out cloth, then return to sieve.

  3. Purée tarragon with remaining 1/3 cup water in processor until water is deep green, then add celery and purée until almost smooth. Pour into lined sieve and squeeze out juices (about 1 1/2 cups) into bowl with apple juice. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

  4. Freeze mixture in an 8-inch square baking dish, scraping and stirring with a fork every 30 minutes, until frozen, at least 3 hours. (It will be too hard to scrape once fully frozen.)