HOME & GARDEN CONSUMER GUIDE

Feature Fruit Before Dessert

Trend-setting chefs are busy turning menus topsy-turvy, serving brownies made with black bean purée and tarts featuring glazed cherry tomatoes for dessert. Although some dishes are faddish, others feature familiar foods at unexpected points in a meal or time of day and are worth trying.

One ploy I particularly like is including fruit in dishes other than dessert. Trendy entrées like salmon with roasted rhubarb sauce are just the beginning. In other cultures, fruit is used in savory dishes. Who has not enjoyed Chinese sweet and sour pork, or pork loin stuffed with prunes, common in many northern European and Scandinavian countries? From these combinations, it is a short step to serving chicken simmered, Middle Eastern-style, with apricots or pomegranate seeds; or Greek lamb stewed with quince; or Moroccan tagines, stews that often include either salt-cured lemons or raisins and other dried fruit.

With the persistence of the American sweet tooth, plus the abundance of important nutrients and phytochemicals in fruits, it makes good sense to experiment with eating fruit as more than desserts and snacks.

Using fruit enhances dishes by adding intriguing flavor. For years, I have included a diced, tart Granny Smith apple in my iced broccoli bisque for summer, and used cubes of sweet Fuji apple, lightly sautéed, as croutons in winter squash soup. Fresh salsa is another good way to include fruit in a meal. Beyond those made with mango, papaya, pineapple, or peaches, Mexican pico de gallo is, in fact, a savory fruit salad since tomatoes are, botanically speaking, a fruit, as are cucumbers and avocados.

Other savory salads that include fruit are the Waldorf – apples, again – and chicken salad with grapes. Watermelon in salads is a raging trend at restaurants. Look for it paired with goat cheese or crumbled feta, sliced tomatoes, or just drizzled with a savory dressing.

Here’s a simple watermelon salad with flavor far more complex than the ingredient list.

Watermelon Salad

• Juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 4 tsp. wildflower honey
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 8 1/2-inch slices each red and yellow seedless watermelon, chilled
• 8 Boston lettuce leaves
• 4 tsp. snipped chives
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely minced

In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, ginger and honey until honey dissolves. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Dressing can be covered and refrigerated up to 2 hours.

Pare rind from melon slices. Cut melon into thin, 4-inch triangles.

Arrange 2 lettuce leaves on each of 4 salad plates. Using one-fourth of the melon for each serving, arrange melon on lettuce, alternating red with yellow. Spoon one-fourth of the dressing over the melon on each plate. Sprinkle chives and jalapeño over the melon and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: 197 calories, 2 g. total fat (less than 1 g. saturated fat), 45 g. carbohydrate, 4 g. protein, 3 g. dietary fiber, 12 mg. sodium.

By Dana Jacobi for the American Institute for Cancer Research
“Something Different” is written for the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) by Dana Jacobi, author of The Joy of Soy, and recipe creator for AICR’s Stopping Cancer Before It Starts.