Granita di pesche (Peach Italian Ice)

I went to the farmer's market today with my mother-in-law. I say farmer's market but it's a loose term. Most of the produce there is NOT directly from farmers.  For the most part,the produce is bought from produce suppliers and resold, although some farmers DO actually sell their produce there.

Anyways, today I went with my mother-in-law and we had a great time shopping for deals. I ended up spending all $60 cash that I had brought. We bought several boxes of produce and split it.

 Peaches (kids have already put a dent in these! The bottom was full.)

 tomatoes (I put a dent in these as I already made something with it. I plan on canning a few jars.)

Silver Queen corn (Need I say it? Yes, I put a dent in this too, grilling several ears. Annie and her friend SG each ate one raw.)

I also bought a box of Kent mangoes (did you know there are over 400 varieties? I didn't either.) blackberries ($2!!), lemons (5 for $1), tomatillos, and garlic (from California, not China).

Later in the day, after running TONS of errands in the 97 degree humidity, I got to work. I had some produce from my own garden to incorporate as well as some from the CSA we are a part of. I made lots of things which I'll share with you soon, but today I wanted to share how to make granita (which you may know as Italian ice).

It's quite simple really. Four ingredients in all.

1.Fresh peaches.
2. Fresh lemons.
3. Sugar
4. Water

Make a simple syrup with water and sugar. Add lemon juice. Puree' peaches and add sugar lemon water. Pour into a metal 9 X 9 pan and freeze, stirring every so often during the first couple of hours. It should look like this:

It smells soooo good! What? You can't smell it? How about if you get a little closer?

See that velvety goodness? It smells fantastic! All summery sweet. Trust me on this one.

Oh, and I have some leftover whipped cream from our week at the beach. The kind in a can, not homemade, but good enough! A squirt of that will finish it off.

Granita di pesche con la panna. Ci manca solo una brioche. Did you know in Sicily we eat granita with a brioche sweet roll for breakfast? Yep. We do!