Winter Apple & Grape Fruit Compote with Mexican Crema Dressing — Don’t Forget Your Apron

Here’s an inspired fruit salad which we have been enjoying during these cold, winter months. One of my goals for the new year is to eat more fruits and vegetables. Blending a medley of fruits into a “compote” or “fruit salad” is one way to do this. I find that we eat alot more fruit this way. For example, I don’t often purchase grapes; although they make a great fruit snack. Over the Christmas holidays, we watched a new show on the Food Network, “Selena + Chef”, which featured a Mexican-style fruit salad including green, seedless grapes. The dressing was a simple mixture of yogurt and Mexican-style crema. Wow, a perfect “compote” for us to include in meals and snacks. Crema was a new ingredient to me. Although it took several stores to fine the crema, it was worth the effort. I located the ingredient just before our massive snow storm hit. We really enjoyed this salad for several days during our winter storm. I kept filling up the serving bowl with more fruit — and then adding more dressing!

Winter Fruit Salad

You can really eat this versatile fruit salad all year long and add all sorts of fruit to the compote. The original salad recipe included apples, green grapes, fresh pineapple and pecans. We received some sweet, juicy green grapes in a gift basket over the holidays. I had all the other ingredients already in my kitchen — substituting canned pineapple for the fresh. The pecans added a nice crunch and aroma to the salad.

Making the fruit compote is simple. Just dice and slice up the fruit and add to a large bowl. Cut the fruit into pieces so that they are about the same size. (I didn’t even peel the apples.) Then add the dressing.

What is Mexican-Crema?

The dressing is made simply by mixing yogurt with Mexican crema and then thinning it with pineapple juice, as needed. So, just what is Mexican crema? I had never used this ingredient. Since I love checking out new foods, I thought that I would give this fruit salad a try. Never mind that I had to go to three grocery stores to finally locate this interesting ingredient. It turns out that an Hispanic grocery market — just a few miles from where I live — carried an assortment of brands of Mexican crema. None of the store clerks of whom I encountered spoke English. How do you describe this ingredient? It was an eye-opening adventure.

Mexican crema is a cultured, pourable dairy product which mirrors sour cream or crème fraîche. It is smooth, rich and slightly tangy. I found that the crema was more subtle than sour cream and not sweet. It was thinner than sour cream and pourable. In Mexican cooking, crema is used as a condiment or topping for entrees (such as tacos, enchiladas), soups and side dishes (such as refried beans.) The crema helps balance the acidic, hot and spicy flavors of the Mexican dishes.

Since it is a cultured product, use the Mexican crema within two weeks once the jar is opened. (It is not like a salad dressing which can last and last.)

New Food Network Cooking Show — Recipe Inspiration

My inspiration for this fruit “salad” was a new cooking show on the Food Network, “Selena+Chef.” We found the program while surfing the television channels one morning during the Christmas holidays. The show featured celebrity, Selena Gomez. Selena professed that she didn’t know anything about cooking but wanted to learn. Apparently, she’s planning to earn on her new television show.

Selena Gomez’s mentor for this episode, “Home for the Holidays,” was chef Claudette Zepeda. Zepeda is an American-Mexican executive chef from San Diego, known for her “bold approach to regional Mexican cuisine.” Zepeda has appeared on many television cooking shows including Top Chef and Iron Chef. An assortment of eye-appealing and tasty recipes were prepared on the show, including “Apple and Grape Christmas Salad.” All the dishes looked delicious, and we were able to “google” the fruit salad recipe later. (See Reference) I plan to try out more of the recipes later.

Dress to Cook — And Don’t Forget the Apron

Zepeda was dressed like a chef and ready to cook — she wore a chef’s apron and her hair was pulled back. You could see that she belonged in a restaurant’s kitchen somewhere. However, Gomez was dressed in a fancy outfit and her shoulder-length hair flopped around. Didn’t her staff prepare her for the television show’s model kitchen?

And that’s my point. If you are planning on spending time in the kitchen — please get ready. Wear an apron or, in my case, an old T-shirt and pull your hair back. It is impossible to cook without splashing something on your shirt. Just a plain, white cotton twill apron is fine. They are sturdy and easy to launder. Back in my food service management days, I ordered lots of these aprons for my staff. We loved them. So, let’s get ready to cook. It is a simple and important point that we often overlook. Will someone tell Selena?

Fruit Compote and “Salad” Recipes and Ingredients

Back to fruit “salads.” I love fruit compotes and have featured several ideas in past blog posts. They are so tasty, easy to prepare and adaptable. Increase or decrease the ingredients as needed to make more or less servings. I like to add different dressings such as the tasty Mexican crema and yogurt sauce.

My fruit salads always seem to start with apples. For six people, two Honeycrisp apples are about the right amount. In this salad, I added 1 cup halved seedless grapes and 1 can drained pineapple chunks. The original recipe included shredded coconut and dried cranberries. Although this would be great in a holiday salad, I didn’t have these ingredients in my kitchen during our winter storm. I did, however, have miniature marshmallows leftover from my holiday cooking and added these. You really can’t make a mistake when it comes to combinations of fruit and ingredients.

We enjoyed this fruit compote over our historic winter storm. I even took the photos outside on our backyard deck which was covered with snow. And, no, you can’t use a garden rake to remove snow from a deck. So, these photos have lots of snow.

Let’s enjoy an abundance of fruit and vegetables this year!

Reference:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/apple-and-grape-christmas-salad-18131217