Call it fruit salad or call it fruit salad: they are the salvation of dessert in summer (even breakfast or snack). They are fresh, very easy to prepare and they tend to be liked by everyone. However, it strikes me that there has never been too much innovation in its formulation: we limit ourselves to choosing the fruits that we like the most –taking advantage of the fact that summer is the time of maximum fruit splendor–, we cut them and put them in a bowl with juice, sugar or syrup and we are so pichis. Well, it’s time to start putting a little imagination into this colorful dish by adding other elements, and not much more difficulty for that. Syrups, spices, herbs, nuts, crumbles, etc. can give it another dimension: here are five ideas and their corresponding variations.
Summer fruits with rosemary and lemon
From the culinary bible The encyclopedia of flavors From Niki Segnit I learned that rosemary goes wonderfully with stone fruits like peaches or plums. Imagine a roast chicken with plums and rosemary, it works, right? Well, in a sweet recipe the combination is good too. For this fruit salad, prepare a syrup with equal parts of sugar and water (200 g of each, for example), a sprig of rosemary and a strip of lemon peel without its white part. Let it bubble for five minutes over low heat, then cover and let sit until cool. Wash well and cut into segments or pieces the fruits that you like the most: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums of any color, Paraguayans, bananas and cherries go well in this recipe.
Place the cut fruit in a bowl and add the syrup, mix it and let it rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. You can eat it as it is or do the following if you want to turn it into a slightly heavier dessert (for 4 people): in a bowl, whisk 150 g of cream -for whipping- very cold until stiff, add a few drops of vanilla essence and 150 g of cream cheese and beat a little more until it is integrated. Place the cream on the base of a plate, add the fruit on top and a little lemon zest. Tip: if you don’t want to make the syrup from scratch, you can use some peaches in syrup and infuse it with the rosemary and lemon over low heat for a few minutes.
fruit chaat
It is not the Messenger of the Macedonians. After this bad joke, let’s continue: “chaat”, explained in an ultra-simple way, is how the snacks in India, so a fruit chaat would be a fruit pica pica. Apparently there are many ways to prepare it, but chaat masala, a mixture of spices that usually consists of cumin, coriander powder, black salt, amchoor (dried mango powder) and chili powder, must be present in all of them.
It is rare to find this mixture in Spain but you can prepare it at home following this Yummy Recipe or replace it with the mixture of spices that you like the most. It is interesting that it has a spicy point and also an acid point – we already know that both things are good for the fruit. Since achieving acidity with the spices we have available is somewhat more difficult, you can simply add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice to the recipe. As for its preparation: wash and cut the fruits that you like the most – for example, two peaches, a banana, a handful of cherries, a mango and a handful of blueberries – and place them in a bowl. Add a few chopped mint leaves and two teaspoons of chaat masala or your chosen mix. Let it macerate for 15 minutes and serve.
Fruits, labneh and tahini sauce
If you have yogurt and salt, as our editor Mònica Escudero explains, you can make labneh at home. Although it goes well spread on bread or in savory recipes, we can also use it in desserts. In this fruit salad, the fruit provides the sweet touch, the labneh the dairy and acid point, and the tahini sauce the flavor of nuts. How to prepare it? In a bowl, mix well two tablespoons of tahini with a tablespoon of lemon juice and half a tablespoon of honey. On the other hand, wash and cut into segments some apricots, some peaches and some plums. Divide the fruit into individual bowls, add a little sauce on top and finish with a tablespoon or quenelle of labneh. If you want to be even more pro, you can pass half of the fruit through the pan to give it other flavors and aromas, and add some chopped pistachios on top to add texture and color.
Macedon pina colada
You can prepare this piña colada fruit salad in an adult version by adding rum or make it suitable for all audiences by omitting it. Start by placing five or six clean pineapple slices on a plate. Add a shot (30 ml) of rum and let them rest for 10 minutes. After that time, turn them over and leave them for 10 more minutes so that they soak well on both sides (skip this step if you are going to make it without alcohol). Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat, add a teaspoon of butter and brown the pineapple slices well on both sides. Add a little more butter if you are doing it in batches and it is necessary.
Add the rum that could have been left in the dish and turn off the heat after a couple of minutes. Reserve three slices and place the rest in a blender glass. Add 100 g of grated coconut or 100 ml of coconut milk, 3 more slices of fresh pineapple and the liquid that is left in the pan. Blend as much as possible and add a splash of cold water if it has a very dense texture (it should be like a milkshake). Strain the mixture through a Chinese strainer or a regular fine-mesh strainer and pour it onto a plate as a base. Cut five or six slices of fresh pineapple and quarter the golden slices. Place them on the liquid base and add some cherries cut in half, some fresh mint leaves and lime zest. You can also add fresh or dehydrated coconut flakes to this recipe.
Red fruits and white chocolate
Summer is the time for red fruits: raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries are at their best. Although I’m not a big fan of white chocolate, I think it’s a good counterpoint to these sour fruits. Put the amount of these fruits you want in a bowl, add a tablespoon of sugar, mix and let them rest for 15 minutes (the fruit will lose some water). Serve it in individual bowls and top with a scoop of quality white chocolate ice cream. You can replace the ice cream with whipped cream, ricotta or mascarpone and a little grated white chocolate. You can also add a crunchy touch with a crumble –here’s a very simple one–, chopped nuts or crushed biscuit.
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