Colorful: Tropical Fruit Salad with a Hint of Mint

What I love about fresh fruit and vegetables is the lush palette of rich colors they come in. It's like a gorgeous kaleidoscope, each twist creating a gleaming new pattern and each pattern illuminates the gloomy in a whole new and exciting way.  

I have always been a sucker for colors and in my younger years could spend hours twisting, turning and shifting a kaleidoscope, finding perfect satisfaction in the multitude of patterns. Today, although I could still sit for hours twisting Soeren's kaleidoscope, I get my fix for colors at the Farmer's Markets. Seeing the colorful fruit, vegetables, breads, cheeses and flowers provides soothing comfort to extremely dull winter days.

And on such gloomy days, when the skies seem to only have shades of dull and drab grays, I go to the market. There I am greeted by cheerful yellows, bright oranges and ravishing reds. Walking down the rows of the several stalls, each turn I take brings a completely new set of colorful patterns. Fruit and vegetables in all shapes, sizes and colors piled up high all waiting to be picked.

I never can resist and I cannot remember that I have ever come back empty handed from the market. Even if my fridge is bursting full, my temptations of all I could make with the produce in front of me always takes on the upper hand.

This fruit salad adds a lovely vitamin kick to the day. Besides the fact that it looks beautiful with all it's lovely bright yellow, orange and pink tones, almost all the ingredients are organic. There are organic mangos, papayas, pink grapefruit and oranges, only the baby pineapple was not. I use the fresh juices of the grapefruit and oranges to provide my dressing adding a touch of lavender honey and chopped mint to give an explosive taste.

For me fruit salads should not be a mushy pulp of too many fruits. As the saying goes "Too many cooks spoil the broth", my saying goes "too many fruits spoils a good salad." I always pick 3-5 types of fruits for my fruit salad. This is more than enough and will offer a wonderful harmony of flavors. Adding too many types of fruit overkills the flavors of a fruit salad only confusing the taste-buds as to exactly what it is one is currently chewing on. I also like to set a theme when preparing a fruit salad. For this salad, I chose "tropical" as my theme and stuck to fruits that pair well with each other. The flavors of mangos, papayas and pineapples blend perfectly with each other and the tangy aroma of the citrus fruits complements the entire salad wonderfully. A touch of mint adds a refreshing note and the pistachios the crunch.

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Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

1 mango - chopped into cubes
2 papayas - chopped into cubes
1 baby pineapple - chopped into cubes
2 oranges - filleted - juice reserved
1 pink grapefruit - filleted - juice reserved
1 tablespoon honey - use a lightly flavored honey like lavender or eucalyptus
Few mint leaves - chopped
Handful of pistachios - chopped

Optional:
Low-fat crème fraiche

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Method

Put all the fruits into a large metal bowl. In a separate bowl pour in the reserved orange and grapefruit juice. Add the honey and whisk until incorporated.

Pour over the fruit and toss well. Sprinkle with the mint leaves and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so that the flavors and aromas can infuse with each other.

To serve, simply spoon into bowls or glasses and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. If using the crème fraiche add a small dollop on top. Serve chilled.

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Verdict

Always a pleasure and always enjoyed anytime of the day. I always make larger portions of this fruit salad as all of us really enjoy it. Soeren enjoys it best for breakfast sprinkled with granola and topped off with yogurt. Tom digs into it in between meal time as a healthy snack and as for me I cannot resist adding a scoop of pistachio ice cream for a special treat while watching Grey's Anatomy!

You might enjoy these fruity desserts too:

	Apricot Clafoutis
	Figs In Cherry Caramel
	Grilled Peach with Eucalyptus Honey Yogurt and Roasted Almonds
	Persimmon Honey Nut Yogurt Verrines

 

I am sending this over to Andrew at Spitoon Extra who is this month's host for Waiter There's Something In My .... Salad. Enjoy the extra vitamins Andrew!

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Reminder!

One pot + many ingredients = one-dish dinner! That's you challenge this month. I am looking for innovative and creative one-dish meals. These can be casseroles, cooked in a crockpot, in a pressure cooker or in a baking dish. Whatever you are using you need to stick to the one cooking dish. So, come on over to February's mingle with your favorite One-Dish Dinners.

You'll find all the necessary details to this month's Monthly Mingle here.

Deadline: March 10th, 2008

 

Don't forget to send me your links to your fresh, crispy, juicy winter produce. Eat Fresh is a seasonal event, which attempts to bring people to share their weekly fresh produce with each other. So, all you need to do is take a picture of your weekly fresh vegetables and fruit, post it on your blogs, send email to blogmeeta@gmail.com and you will get an invitation to join our growing Eat Fresh list.

Deadline: March 31st, 2008

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Technorati Tags: fruit,salad,papaya,pineapple,mango,orange,pink grapefruit,healthy,food,recipe,photography,Nikon D70s

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