Simon Hopkinson's coffee granita recipe

There's no cooking involved in this frozen Italian dessert recipe. It's made with just coffee and sugar with whipped cream on top, but it's sweet and refreshing after a heavy meal

Ingredients

• 600ml/1 pint strong, hot espresso coffee
• 120g/4oz caster sugar
• Whipped cream, to serve

You'll also need:

• Shallow baking dish (about 1litre/1¾ pints capacity)

Method

1. Put a shallow baking dish into the freezer.
2. Stir and dissolve the sugar into the coffee. Set aside to cool.
3. Pour the coffee mixture into the dish and freeze for 40 mins. Check to see if there are any ice crystals forming around the edge. If there is, gently bring them into the liquid centre using a fork. Place the granita back into the freezer
4. Have another look again in about 20 mins and repeat the same process as step 3. Keep doing this until the entire mixture is a mass of coffee crystals with no remaining liquid parts. Once this has been achieved, tip the granita into a plastic, lidded box and store in the freezer until needed.
5. Serve in pre-chilled glasses with whipped cream.