Grilled Strawberry & Blue Basil Granita #ImprovCookingChallenge

Welcome to the June 2020 Improv Cooking Challenge. This group is headed up by Nichole of Cookaholic Wife. And I haven't been very consistent, but I love the idea of the group, so I will try to be better in the coming months.

The idea behind Improv Cooking Challenge: we are assigned two ingredients and are challenged to create a recipe with those two things. This month's items: strawberries and basil. Here's what the crew is sharing with those ingredients...

• Strawberry Basil Lemonade by Making Miracles
• Grilled Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Strawberry Basil Topping by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Strawberry Basil Crumb Bars by Veggies First Then Dessert
• Strawberry Lemon Basil Pasta Salad by Sneha's Recipe
• Strawberry Basil Avocado Toast by Palatable Pastime
• Strawberry Basil Smoothies by Our Good Life
• Grilled Strawberry & Blue Basil Granita by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Strawberry Basil Bourbon Smash by Cookaholic Wife
  

Grilled Strawberry & Blue Basil Granita

I happened to have a flat of organic strawberries from a local farm and decided to make a granita with grilled strawberries, adding a touch of exotic with blue basil from my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf's herb garden.

Granita is a frozen dessert that I remember mostly from Sicily. It may have been available throughout Italy, but I remember sitting in piazze all over Palermo, eating granita, and talking about our next day's adventure. I don't remember that gloriously cool rush of icy sugar from when I lived in Rome. My favorite part: It's amazingly simple and flexible. 

Granitas are great because they have so few ingredients and even fewer rules! Use any watery fruit. Use any citrus. I've made Watermelon-Tequila Granita, Pluot-Port Granita, and even a Cuba Libra Granita. Okay, there's not real fruit in that last one, but you really can't go wrong with rum and coke!

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup organic granulated sugar
• 4 Tablespoons blue basil leaves and blossoms + a few whole flowers for garnish
• 1 ½ pounds strawberries, approximately 2 pints

Procedure

Place blue basil in a sterile jar. Bring water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the syrup into the jar with the blue basil. Let cool completely.

Heat grill or grill pan on the stove; I opted for the latter as our grill is packed and ready for our move. Thread strawberries onto a skewer.

Grill strawberries until softened and juices are bubbling, approximately 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Once cooled puree grilled strawberries with 1/2 cup blue basil syrup. Reserve the rest for some blue basil lemonade!

Pour mixture into a rimmed pan . Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer.

Using the tines of a fork, stir the mixture every 30 minutes, scraping edges and breaking up any ice chunks as the mixture freezes, until granita is slushy and frozen, approximately 3 hours.

Scoop into chilled serving glasses. Garnish with more blue basil leaves and blossoms.

That's a wrap for strawberry-basil improv cooking challenge. We'll be back next month - on July 9th - with recipes that use watermelon and olive oil. Stay tuned...