Recipe: Cucumber granita

Cucumber granita

Total time: 15 minutes, plus freezing time

Servings: Makes enough to serve as an accompaniment for 8 to 10 servings of gazpacho

Note: Use this cucumber ice as a garnish for tomato gazpacho.

2 cucumbers, each about 11 ounces

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 teaspoon salt

3 sprigs mint

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup water

1. Peel the cucumbers, cut them in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut the cucumbers into chunks. Puree the cucumbers in a blender with the lemon juice, onion, green pepper, salt, mint, oil and water. This makes about 21/2 cups puree.

2. Pour the cucumber puree into two 9-inch metal cake pans. Freeze.

3. To serve, remove the granita from freezer 5 minutes before serving. Use a fork to scrape the ice into mounds. Add the scraped ice to the gazpacho immediately before serving.

Each of 10 servings: 47 calories; 0 protein; 2 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 1 gram sugar; 234 mg. sodium.