Melona Granita

Featuring our very first Gentle Foods guest, chef Susan Kim!

I could not be more excited to introduce the Gentle Foods community to my fellow K sis and our first-ever guest chef: Susan “Sooz” Kim, extraordinary human and chef/owner of Doshi, which brings Sooz’s beautiful and highly personal Korean-American cooking all over the world. Eating and talking food with Sooz is one of my life’s great pleasures. She’s such a reverent and exuberant and FUN eater without being precious about any of it. She’s also just one of those world-expanding/life-affirming humans who always leave my cup filled after each hang.

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Sobbing because tomorrow Sooz leaves for PARIS for a two-month residency at the restaurant Early June, and if you’re lucky enough to be going to Paris this summer you will absolutely want to stop by and taste her exquisite food, which I love every month of the year but especially during the summer. (Also speaking of Paris, Cake Zine pals Aliza and Tanya are also popping up there in a week with some exquisite-looking desserts.)

In preparation for the long hot weekend we bring you Sooz’s recipe for MELONA GRANITA, a transcendent and EASY frozen dessert that I first ate last summer at a couple of her NYC pop-up dinners and haven’t stopped thinking about since. It’s a playful-chic take on Melona, the iconic Korean creamy, honeydew-flavored frozen bar with a curiously satisfying stretchy texture. We always had a box of these in the freezer at my house growing up, and while I was always more of a B.B. Big girlie (which I just learned is also owned by Melona), I’d swap them out for one of these pastel green bars when I craved that singular melon-y flavor.

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Sooz’s version starts with a granita, which sounds like one of those superfluous chef-y dishes “normies” shouldn’t make at home, but in all honesty is just some cut-up melon blended with a little sugar and salt and poured into a pan, then frozen and scraped with a fork until fluffy and light à la shaved ice. I find the scraping motion to be very meditative, like what I imagine raking sand in a zen garden to be. The resulting granita is light, refreshing, easy to make ahead, and now one of my favorite ways to enjoy summer fruit (as it turns out, you can granita almost anything.)

The pure, uncomplicated, sweet melon flavor is perfectly complemented by the addition of gently whipped cream and bits of assertive mint all commingled with cold melon balls and served in a melon half. In true Korean fashion, it’s best eaten communally, so pass spoons at the table and have everyone dig in together.

Writing this reminds me to put Eric Kim’s (paywalled) No-Bake Melon Cheesecake Bars, another tantalizing Melona-inspired treat, on my summer to-do list.

Buy a melon this weekend and tote it home in a GIANT Doshi Tote Bag, my #1 bag for NYC #schleplife.

See you all tomorrow for another edition of Gentle Pleasures, which is quickly becoming my favorite corner of this newsletter.

—Chaey

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Melona Granita
Serves 2–4

Ingredients
¼ cup (50 g) plus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 4½–5 lb. ripe honeydew melon
3–4 fresh mint leaves, plus more for serving
½ tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more
½ cup cold heavy whipping cream

Preparation

1. Make rich simple syrup: Combine ¼ cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. water in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Let simple syrup cool while you prepare the melon.

2. Prep melon: Cut melon in half lengthwise (from stem to root); scoop out and discard seeds. Using a melon baller or teaspoon, scoop 10–12 melon balls from one melon half (they don’t have to be perfectly round). Chill melon balls and scooped melon half until ready to serve. Remove rind from remaining melon half and cut into 2-inch chunks. (You should have about 2½ cups of cut melon.)

3. Make granita: Blend cubed melon, simple syrup, and mint leaves in a blender until completely smooth; you should have about 2½ cups of purée.

4. Freeze granita: Transfer melon purée to an 8x8” or 9x4” metal baking pan, or another shallow metal baking dish (a reusable plastic container also works well; just avoid glass). Freeze mixture until edges begin to set, about 30 minutes. Use a fork to scrape and redistribute the frozen bits and return to freezer. Freeze, scraping and breaking up mixture every 30 minutes, until it resembles fluffy shaved ice, 2–4 hours total depending on your freezer.

5. Make whipped cream and assemble: Just before serving, combine heavy cream, remaining 1 Tbsp. sugar, and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl and whisk to medium-soft peaks. Place chilled scooped melon half on a plate and heap with layers of granita and melon balls. Top with a few more melon balls, a big spoonful of whipped cream, and torn mint leaves. Serve immediately, eat with abandon.

Do Ahead: Once granita is fully frozen, transfer to a resealable container and freeze for up to a week; re-fluff with a fork before serving.