Asian fruit salad

As promised (a little late!) here is my take on fruit salad. Any fruit can be used however I always have a blend of pulpy and citrus fruits to give a zingy flavour.

Ingredients

1 large tin or small fresh pineapple
1 small melon
2 small tins or 6 fresh satsumas with juice
1 small tin grapefruit with juice
1 packet mixed seedless grapes
1 papaya
1 tin or 2 fresh pears
2 fresh plums
1 tin or 2 fresh peaches
orange juice to dilute
1 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Method

• It coudn't be easier! Just cut all the fruit to bite size pieces, mix in a large bowl (add the juice of the tinned satsumas, pineapple & grapefruit) and cover with orange juice. 
• Add juice of lemon and salt & pepper to taste. The seasoning really brings out the sweetness of all the fruit and gives a gentle sweet & sour taste.
• Have chilled with lemon sorbet or ice cream of your choice.

Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas. Now after all the indulgence I am in the mood for some light food so watch this space for tomato soup, Asian fruit salad and home made flat bread! I will also reveal my 3 course menu to celebrate the end of 2011. See you soon.

Christmas veg. . .

One of the best things about where we live is the brilliant garden we have got. And after growing all sorts of veg in the summer, we set about putting in some potatoes and turnips which we hoped would be ready for Christmas. And they are!

Festive take on the Strudel!

I love apple strudel but as I did not have any apples I decided to make a concoction from what I could find in the cupboard! The result was a gooey and yummy sweet pastry which can be had on its own or with custard, or ice cream or cream or ….

Ingredients

1 x packet ready rolled puff pastry

1 x small packet marzipan

½ cup glace fruit

½ cup chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons grated coconut
4 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

2 tablespoons apricot jam

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons demerara sugar

Method

• Pre heat the oven to 200 c (fan oven 180 c)
• Roll open the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface
• Spread apricot jam then layer with rolled out marzipan, walnuts, glace fruit
• Sprinkle golden syrup on top
• Then start rolling in from the long side and stop halfway through – fold the other side in till it looks like a log
• Put egg wash on top and sides and sprinkle the top with demerara sugar
• Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes
• At this point you can either cut into thick rounds and lay flat on the baking tray or simply slash deep lines all across the pastry log and cook whole
• For whole pastry log cook in oven for max 30 minutes and up to 15 minutes for individual slices
• Once cooked let the log or pieces cool and then decorate with some icing before serving

Winter in the west Highlands. . .

I know it's got absolutely nothing to do with cooking, but this was the scene outside our house this morning when the sun came up. We haven't seen much of the sun lately, and as it was just a lovely picture I thought I'd put it up!