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Rockmelon with Moscato-mint and honeydew granita

Rockmelon with granita & pink Moscato

Freshen up with this fruity number served with Australia’s answer to Italy’s fashionable drink – pink Moscato.

One of the most delicious wine trends to have emerged over the past decade in Australia is the increasing number of wines modelled on the gently sweet, low-alcohol, sherbety Moscato style popular in north-west Italy. Given Australia’s longstanding heritage of working with the fruit from old muscat vineyards, our love of sparkling wines in any and all forms and our advanced cool-fermentation winemaking techniques, it’s little wonder that some extremely fine, mouth-watering examples of this deceptively frivolous style have been produced here. One of the most exciting deviations from the classic white Moscato style is the emergence of the pink Moscato: the smidgen of extra colour and red fruit flavour make these wines even more well-suited to classic summer desserts such as this rockmelon with Moscato-mint and honeydew granita. — Max Allen

Rockmelon with Moscato-mint and honeydew granita

Serves 4
Cooking Time Prep time 10 mins, cook 10 mins (plus freezing)
1   rockmelon, peeled and cubed
60 ml (¼ cup)   Moscato d’Asti
2 tbsp   thinly sliced mint leaves
Moscato-mint granita
½ cup (firmly packed)   mint leaves
2 tbsp   white sugar
560 ml (2¼ cups)   Moscato d’Asti
Honeydew granita
110 gm (½ cup)   white sugar
½ (about 800gm)   honeydew melon, peeled and coarsely chopped
1   lime, juice only


1 For Moscato-mint granita, combine mint, sugar and ¼ cup each of Moscato and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes for mint to infuse. Cool, then strain, squeezing excess liquid from mint and discard leaves. Combine syrup with remaining Moscato in a shallow 3 cup-capacity metal tray and freeze overnight. Using a fork, scrape into crystals, cover and freeze until required.
2 For honeydew granita, combine sugar and ½ cup water in a saucepan and bring to the boil for one minute, then cool. Process honeydew in a food processor until smooth – you will need 2 cups. Transfer honeydew to a bowl, add sugar syrup and lime juice, then pour into a shallow 3 cup-capacity metal tray and freeze overnight. Using a fork, scrape into crystals, cover and freeze until required.
3 In a bowl, combine rockmelon, Moscato and mint and stand for 10 minutes. To serve, spoon rockmelon into glasses and top with honeydew and Moscato-mint granita.

Note You will need to begin this recipe 1 day ahead.

WORDS Max Allen RECIPE Adelaide Lucas PHOTOGRAPHY Teny Aghamalian STYLING Elodie Rambaud


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