July 2011: Fresh Fruit

Let's indulge in all the fresh summer produce. Incorporate a fresh fruit into your dish. Be creative! Experiment! I'm excited to see everyone again and we'll have some new faces this month.

July 28th
Jeri's house
7:30 pm

Main dish: Jeri
Salad: Holly (Strawberry-Mango Mesclan Salad)
Salad: Kelsey
Side: Missy
Dessert: Natalie
Dessert: Jenny (strawberry mango cobbler)
Drink: LindseyApricot Kebobs (a Martha Stewart Recipe)

* Vegetable oil, for grill
* 1/4 cup apricot jam
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 1 pound of pork (I used inexpensive pork chops, you could use tenderloin or picnic roast) cut into cubes
* 8 apricots (about 1 pound), pitted and quartered
* 1 small red onion, cut into 2-inch wedges, layers separated

Heat grill to medium; lightly oil grates. Soak four 12-inch wooden skewers in a shallow dish of water for 15 minutes (or use metal ones).

Make basting sauce: In a small saucepan, heat jam, cayenne, and 1 tablespoon water over medium-low until jam is liquefied; season with salt and pepper.

Onto each skewer, alternately thread pieces of pork with apricot and onion.

Reserve 1/3 of the basting sauce in a separate bowl. Grill kebabs, turning occasionally and brushing with basting sauce, until pork is cooked through and apricots begin to char, 12 to 14 minutes. With a clean utensil, brush or spoon reserved sauce over cooked kebabs OR set it out for dipping.


Strawberry-Mango Mesclan Salad (allrecipes.com)

1/2 c sugar
3/4 c canola oil (I used light olive oil)
1 tsp salt
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
8 cups mixed salad greens
2 c sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 lb fresh strawerries, quartered
1 mango - peeled, seeded and cubed
1/2 c chopped onion
1 c slivered almonds

Place the sugar, oil, salt and vinegar in a jar with a lid. Seal jar, and shake vigoriously to mix.

In a large bowl, mix salad greens, cranberries, strawberries, mango and onion. To serve, toss with dressing and sprinkle with almonds.


Strawberry Mango Pie (Also known as a tropical sunset)

3 mangoes, peeled and chopped into cubes (I did 1" cubes)
4 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered (5 cups if it's a deep dish pie pan)
1/3 c flour
3 T sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t cardamom
pie crust for a lattice top pie (a little less than a double pie crust recipe)I used America's Test Kitchen pie crust but it was labor intensive.

preheat oven to 500 degrees
line the pie pan with a crust, cut strips from the rest of the pie dough for the lattice top.
place your pie crust in the pie pan and toss it in the freezer to chill for a few minutes
mix together dry ingredients
mix together fruit in a large separate bowl
sprinkle flour mixture over fruit, gently stir to combine)
fill the pie with the fruit, lattice the remaining strips of pie crust over the fruit by laying strips of dough 1" apart across the pie, then turning the pie 90 degrees and weaving the remaining strips through the existing rows. YOu can also brush the crust with egg white but I forgot this part.

Turn oven down to 425, place pie on cookie sheet and bake covered in foil for 25min minutes. Uncover, reduce heat to 375 and bake about 20 minutes more or until bubbly and golden. Serve with toasted coconut and whipped cream, or if you're really awesome make coconut whipped cream from the thick part of coconut milk.

I used less seasoning in the pie and I wish I would have used the measurements in my recipe, FYI.

Fruit Dip: (stolen from Natalie's Mom)

• 8oz cream cheese
• 1 tub Cool Whip (I made up a packet of Dream Whip, either works)
• 2/3 c sugar

Whip it all together. Done.

Grand Raspberry Trifle (martha stewart.com)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 4 cups raspberries
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 pounds favorite pound cake

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool.
2. In a small bowl, combine jam with 3 cups raspberries, mashing slightly. In a large bowl, whip cream and 2 tablespoons sugar to stiff peaks.
3. Slice pound cake 3/4 inch thick; brush both sides of slices with lemon syrup.
4. Fit 1/3 of slices snugly in the bottom of a 4-quart trifle dish or other glass bowl, trimming edges if necessary. Gently spread top of layer with 1/3 of raspberry mixture, and then 1/3 of whipped cream. Repeat to make two more layers; garnish with remaining cup raspberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.