strawberry basil rosé granita

Last Sunday was exciting for many reasons, it was the weekend of July 4th and I appreciate any reason for a long holiday weekend and also because, my first recipe, a cherry black pepper cake was published in my new Sunday column, A Brown Kitchen in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper! I also took some time to build a raised bed to grow vegetables at home, maybe I’ll try to maintain a chicken coop in the future? I think Snoopy would go nuts…. 

Over the weekend, I also made this brunch perfect summer granita with Califia Farms Straberry Basil agua fresca. It’s got the right amount of flavor and sweetness with a splash of rosé frozen into tiny flaky ice crystals. It’s one of the easiest things you can prepare with minimal effort and still impress everyone at brunch! Califia’s done a great job with this agua fresca (and they have several delicious varieties of drinks that you can play around with to create versions of this granita). The flavor is spot on and you can taste the strawberry and basil in each sip with neither flavor overpowering each other.

And one more fun thing with this granita, add it into a tall glass of bubbly, you won’t be disappointed!

Here are some of my kitchen tips that you might find useful when preparing this granita,

• Use a good quality rosé when preparing this granita. One that you would really love to drink. 
• You can also scoop a generous amount into a tall glass and pour some champagne over it on a hot summer day. 
• Play around with all the different colorful varieties of basil available these days. There’s purple, green, leaves with curly edges and basil like this variegated kind. You can even garnish with basil flowers. Have fun with garnishes!

strawberry basil rosé granita

yields:  4 cups

ingredients

3 cup Califia strawberry basil agua fresca

1 cup rosé

1 tablespoon honey or 2 tablespoons agave nectar

a few fresh basil leaves for garnish (I’ve used a variegated kind of basil)

1. Mix all the ingredients together until combined. Pour the liquid into a freezer-safe container (a non-stick or enamel covered square baking pan usually works well), cover the top with a lid or clingfilm and freeze for 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and using a fork break the ice crystals, stir and return back to the freezer. Repeat this three more times until you get flaky ice crystals. Keep frozen until ready to serve. To serve, scoop out the granita into chilled glasses and garnish with fresh basil leaves. Serve immediately.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Califia Farms, however all opinions expressed are purely my own.