Italian-style Coffee Granita

Put 70 g/1/3cup sugar into a pan with 125 ml/1/2 cup water and mix well. Bring to a boil and boil vigorously for 1 minute. Add the espresso (or coffee). Slit the vanilla bean open lengthways, scrape out the seeds and add both seeds and bean to the coffee syrup. Let cool.

Strain the mixture through a sieve into a shallow metal dish and put into the freezer for 2 hours, stirring vigorously with a fork every 30 minutes to prevent any large ice crystals from forming. Stir once more at the end of the 2 hours.

Whip the cream with the rest of the sugar and the espresso until semi-stiff.