Watermelon Granita with Ginger Syrup

This is a good palate cleanser between courses or served as a dessert – both are ideal as part of an Asian meal. The combination of icy watermelon, fresh ginger and just a tiny hint of rosemary from the everlasting flowers are heavenly. So far it’s my favourite thing in 2009 all thanks to Neil Perry from whose original recipe I have adapted this.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

750g seedless watermelon, coarsely chopped for the granita
200g watermelon, finely diced for the finished dessert
60gm white sugar for the granita
100gm white sugar for the syrup
20gm fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
60ml water
Blue rosemary flowers for garnish

Method:

Roughly chop the melon, place in a bowl and sprinkle over 60gm sugar. Leave to macerate for about an hour then blend until smooth and pass through a very fine sieve. Pour into a 20cm x 30cm shallow metal tray and place in the freezer, stirring and scraping during the course of the next few hours until crystals form and the granita is frozen.

Ginger Syrup: Combine 100gm sugar, ginger and water in a saucepan, stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, turn off the heat and stand until cool. Strain, discard the ginger pieces and refrigerate the syrup until it is completely chilled.

To serve:

Divide the diced melon into martini glasses, top with granita, drizzle with syrup and scatter blue rosemary flowers over the top.