"fruit salad" news and stories

Not all salads revolve around lettuce and the Avocado, Grapefruit, and Pomegranate Salad from Pepper at Frugal Cuisine is a perfect example of this fact. The salad is very simple - only one grapefruit avocado, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of extra grapefruit juice - but very elegant. Coincidentally, the red and green colors of the salad and the jewel-like look of the pomegranate seeds make this an incredibly festive dish and ideal for the holidays, especially if you live in California or somewhere it is easy to get avocados year-round.

The creamy avocados balance out the sharp flavor of the grapefruit, while the pomegranate seeds add a much needed crunch. A sweet grapefruit will work best here, so if yours is very bitter, you might want to use half of an orange to round out the flavors of the salad.

This salad would work well served on its own, but could also be used as a sort of relish for fish or chicken if you diced up everything into small pieces.

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After months or declining sales and despite a good deal of negative publicity, McDonald's announced that they hit a six year high in sales both in the US and abroad, with the best performances from stores in the UK. The company cites in increase in healthier menu items, including salads and less fattening kids' choices. At UK restaurants, the new options include deli sandwiches, free-range eggs, more fruit and beef that is only "from the forequarter or flank of a cow."

While some applaud the changes and point to these new options as the reason for the sales growth, critics point out that the healthier options account for only 10% of total sales and that the company "sells eight double cheeseburgers...for every salad." The critics seem to be failing to take into account that that 10% is a huge change in the past 5 or 6 years, when the company didn't offer that many options, and that it is still primarily a fast-food burger restaurant. A sales boost should reinforce the company's desire to retain healthier menu items - and that should be a victory for the critics in and of itself.

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Summer is the season of fruit, since it seems that more things are in season than at any other time of year. Not only is fruit good for you in terms of nutritional value, but fruits can even help you lose weight. The easiest way to incorporate fruits into your diet is to cut up a large bowl of them and keep them in the fridge. A fruit salad will last longer than fruits stored at room temperature and, because they are already cut up, they are available for snacks and other meals.

There is no recipe for fruit salad, so you can include any kind of fruit you like. Melons and stone fruits, such as peaches and nectarines, are good choices and berries, grapes and pineapple work well, too. For breakfast, serve the fruit salad with yogurt and honey, adding a topping of nuts or granola for some crunch. This combination works well for a light lunch, too. Fruit salad can't really be the focus of dinner, but it can still be served as a side and provides a particularly nice contrast to smoky, tangy barbecue.

And for dessert? Berries and sweetened whipped cream still counts as a fruit salad, right?

I love winter in the United States because of the bountiful selection of citrus available. From blood oranges to honey tangerines to pomelos, it all inspires my cooking during the winter months. Here in San Francisco we've been experiencing a cold snap for the last week, but today, even though it was chilly, the sun was shining and the sky was brilliantly blue. It was the perfect day for a sweet/savory, composed, citrus salad.

Stefania's Citrus Salad

Choose heavy fruit to ensure juiciness.

1 ruby red grapefruit (and or pomelo)
3 navel oranges
1 Meyer lemon
1 lime
1/4 of a red onion, shaved or very thinly sliced

Peel all of the fruit.  Remove the white pith from the outside, then slice (across the "equator") into 1/4 inch disks.  On a platter, layer the oranges and grapefruit slices and then top with layers of lemon and lime slices. Scatter onions over the top. Spoon dressing over to taste.  Adjust salt and pepper.  Garnish with edible flowers (optional). Serve.

For the dressing:

1/2 a large shallot very finely minced
4-5 drops of honey
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar (I like Vilux brand)
6 tablespoons best quality extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper

Whisk or shake all ingredients together.

Sugar High Friday is one of the most enduring of the food blog events. This month Sam of Becks and Posh has set the day as Sugar Low - after the excesses of the Holidays, this is most welcome. And most welcome to me following my excess of cookies, sweets and doughnuts recently.

Fruit Salad in a Passion Fruit infused non-sugar sugar-syrup may not be the most inventive of ideas but with half my stuff packed away in boxes (I mean just HOW long does it take to move?) I am really not in the mood for too much creativity. Still, chilled slices of Clementine and Sharon Fruit combined with yellow plum and sugar syrup were delicious. The syrup, incidentally, was made by dissolving 200g of the sugar replacement in 300ml water, brought to a boil with a large squeeze of lemon juice and then allowed to cool after the addition of the passion fruit.

[Photo Andrew Barrow]

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