Ravinder Bhogal, the London-based chef, food writer and owner of Jikoni restaurant in Marylebone, creates a refreshing dessert, perfect for a festive party. It looks luminously beautiful, whether in individual glasses or one large mould, and is very easy. There's something about the bitterness of the jelly against the sweetness of the citrus and the fresh granita which really hits the spot.
Ravinder Bhogal's pomegranate negroni jelly with orange granita and citrus salad
Serves 6–8
For the jelly
150g caster sugar
The peel from one orange (use a potato peeler)
2 bay leaves
75 ml gin
75 ml Campari
75 ml vermouth
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
8 sheets of gelatine
For the orange granita
200g caster sugar
1 litre freshly squeezed orange juice
3 stalks rosemary
A few drops of orange bitters
For the citrus salad
1 ruby or pink grapefruit
2 blood oranges
2 clementines
50ml moscato
2 tsp icing sugar
For the citrus salad, peel all the citrus, remove the pith and then either segment or cut them into rounds.
Sprinkle the citrus segments with the icing sugar and pour over the moscato. Mix well to combine, then leave in the refrigerator to macerate. You could also just leave the citrus fruits fresh if you prefer.
To make the jelly, heat the sugar and 500ml of water in a saucepan. Whisk gently until the sugar starts to dissolve. Add the strips of orange peel and bay and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and strain to discard the peel and bay.
Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for five minutes, squeeze out the excess water, add the gelatine to the sugar syrup and whisk until it is fully dissolved. Stir in the gin, Campari and vermouth, and leave to cool. Pour into a jelly mould, or divide equally between six tumblers. Refrigerate for six hours or until set. The jelly should still have a little wobble to it.
For the orange granita, combine the sugar, orange juice and rosemary in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Discard the rosemary, add the orange bitters then pour into a large shallow tray to cool. Freeze and scrape with a fork every few hours to form delicious ice crystals.
To serve, scoop generous helpings of granita over the jelly, and spoon over the citrus salad. Serve immediately. 
Photographs by Marco Kesseler.
Recipe, as told to Mina Holland. This dessert was served in our Fluted Moroccan Glasses.
For more information, to order Ravinder's cookbook or to make a reservation for dinner, see Jikoni.
Add a comment
2 comments