Coffee and Cardamon Granita with Cream and Pistachio

When Jamaica Blue asked its fans to post their favourite Jamaica Blue dish, I immediately thought of the coffee granita and tiramisu I've made using the Jamaica Blue take-home packs, I love using them for my desserts and sweets recipes. It's got superior taste and fine flavour, a splendid coffee indeed.

Granita is an Italian semi-frozen dessert and it's one of those desserts that are so easy and fun to make.The first time I tried a coffee granita was in La Casa Del Caffè Tazza D’Oro in Rome where  locals and tourists queue for Rome’s most famous granita di caffè, and that pretty much got me hooked.

So here's the recipe, it's just too good not to share with you. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups strong (double strength), freshly brewed coffee

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamon
pinch of salt  


Method
Put a baking dish 9x13x2 inch into the freezer.
Stir the sugar, salt and cardamon into the hot coffee until dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Pour mixture into the baking dish and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for about 45 minutes or until ice crystals starts to form around the edge. Remove from the freezer then scrape the mixture with a fork to flake. Repeat the process two more times.

Cover and return to freezer and freeze for another 3 hours or overnight.

For the cream
1/2 cup thickened cream

1 tablespoon icing sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamon

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip the cream, icing sugar, cardamon and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until required.

Serve the granita in pre-chilled glasses with the cream mixture and scatter with chopped pistachios.

La Casa Del Caffè Tazza D’Oro, Rome