Today’s recipe is the fruit salad I mentioned in yesterday’s post. With my new Cuisinart food processor that dices stuff, it’s really easy. We’ve had a variation on this every night for the last month, ever since I got the dicing gizmo.
We almost always make this with diced apples, strawberries, and celery. When I have left-over papaya, as I do when I make the civiche in yesterday’s post, I add papaya to this salad and cut back on the strawberries. Baby spinach or arugula adds greens to the salad. If I have some, I’ll julienne some mint to put in, too. I usually top it with an assortment of berries and–sometimes–feta.
In addition to subsituting papaya for strawberries, you could substitute a pear for the apple, or fresh fennel for the celery. During the summer when the garden produces copious amounts of cucumbers and tomatoes, we make a variation of this salad with those instead of apples and strawberries.
I also make a low-calorie dressing for this salad. I use a tiny bit of olive oil in it, but add a dash of xanthan gum to thicken it. I use stone ground Boetje’s mustard made in Rock Island, Illinois. I grew up with this awesome mustard–I despise the yellow glop people slather on hamburgers. I was delighted to find it on Amazon.
You can probably find xanthan gum at your grocery store, but it’s on Amazon, too. I bought my Red Mill bag of the stuff five years ago, and still have half of it left–you only use tiny amounts at a time.
A hand immersion blender is a really handy tool to have, especially for making sauces and dressings. Indeed, it’s almost essential for things like vichysoisse or bisque.
Finally, you need a grinder for the spices. I have a mortar and pestel, but it just doesn’t grind them fine enough, so I finally broke down and bought one that works…adequately.
- Food processor and dicing attachment
- Xanthan gum
- Immersion blender
- Spice grinder
I’ll do the salad recipe first, then the dressing.
Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1 apple, cored and diced
- 6-10 strawberries, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 c Baby spinach
- 1 tbsp Dressing (see below)
- 1/8 C Splenda
- 3 Raspberries
- 3 Blackberries
- 6 Blueberries
Instructions
- Dice the apple, strawberries,, and celery to 1/4 inch cubes and place in a bowl
- Add splenda to taste to the bowl and toss to mix
- Shred the spinach and add it to the bowl
- add about 1 TBSP of the dressing to the bowl. Don't over do it. A little dressing goes a long way.
- Toss again until well mixed and the dressing coats the ingredients. The xanthan gum helps the dressing cling to the salad, especially after the dressing has chilled in the refrigerator.
- Plate the salad on salad plates or bowls, and dress with the berries.
Notes
Dressing
Equipment
- A hand infuser or blender is helpful
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp white wine (I use Riesling)
- 2 tbsp Juice and zest of one lemon
- 1 tbsp Brandy (I used E&J VS)
- 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar (I use a pear-infused Balsamic)
- 1 tbsp stone-ground mustard
- 1 tbsp olive oil (I used a garlic-infused oil)
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tbsp ground fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp ground anise seeds
- 1/8 C Splenda (or 2 TBSP honey, but I wanted low calorie)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except the xanthan gum and Splenda to the cup that came with your immerision blender (or to your blender).
- If using an immersion blender, have it ready. Sprinkle the splenda on top of the liquid, then the xanthan gum. Immediately use the immersion blender to mix the ingredients, moving it up and down so the ingredients circulate.The reason for "immediately" is because the xanthan gum tends to clump if you let it sit, and then won't mix. Remember, a little bit goes a long way! Too much, and you'll wind up with Jello-like consistency instead of dressing. Ordinarily, this volume of salad dressing would be half oil and have three times the calories.
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