Day 307: Secret-Ingredient Wine & Fruit Salad ◄
Blame too many late nights thumbing through 1960s-era church cookbooks where every 'salad' recipe leads off with jello, gets fancy with tinned pineapple and closes with Cool Whip: when I learned the weekend's Paper Chef ingredients, a gelatin salad congealed (sorry!) in my head and wouldn't be jiggled out.
The concept was a grown-up side salad, a wine gelatin enriched with a beet puree, packed with soft fruit, lightly dressed in a lime and ginger sour-cream sauce.
I second-guessed the idea from first thought to first bite.
- All those cans! Heavens, what aspiring Paper Chef winner would use canned beets, canned peaches and canned pears (even if canned pears were requisite since barely ripe fresh pears were out of the question)? Only the grapes would be fresh, even if alarmingly expensive. (Oh dear, StephenCooks, I'm sorry! I do disappoint!)
- And the gelatin in the pantry was years old. "Does gelatin expire?" I wondered when it took two hours to begin to set. And then later, "Was three packets too much?" This jello had little jiggle.
- And two cans of pureed beets also seemed too much, but too late. And anyway, "Maybe I should have diced the beets?"
- And "What about more sugar?" The liquid tasted powdery and wine-sour.
- And then it made such a bunch, 10 whole cups and thus two more salads the size of the one photographed. (And who do you know who has three, even one, gelatin molds? My one mold was my mother's and has lived in the basement, collecting cobwebs and roly-polyies, for years.)
- When you see this ◄ in the title and the Recipe Box, you know the recipe's a personal favorite. Tastes vary, of course, but the mark is one indication of another vegetable recipe that's worth paying attention to.
(c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade
You are just too funny! I enjoyed reading this piece immensely and now I'm also curious about what it tastes like...
ReplyDeleteFun post!
ReplyDeleteI love your Aphrodiasic Sour Cream Sauce - in fact, change the honey to brown sugar and it's the sauce I make to dip fresh whole strawberries in! [Is it getting hot in here?]
HELP! What can I do with key limes?
ReplyDeleteVisit my blog and let me know:
http://harmonia.blogsome.comq
Roly-polyies in the gelatin mold! You are just too funny!
ReplyDeleteI could probably do this with some agar instead of gelatin, but I'd probably just wind up drinking the wine. Thanks for an inventive and hilarious recipe! :-)
Oh my goodness! This evokes lots of jiggly memories for me. Sounds really delicious. I grew up eating gelatin everyday and rolling up those roly pollies too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memories (and the recipe).
I love your idea. My grandmother used to make sweet and savoury aspic like yours (minus the wine) when hosting dinner parties. I don't recall any of my parents making similar jellies but since I inherited my grandmother's aspic mould, I might try to revive the tradition at home on of these days.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing the beet puree gives your dish an interesting texture. I also like your readiness to transform an idea for a savoury dish into a dessert.
Let's see ... the words unique and creative come to mind. Wonderful post. I love your sense of humour and the photo is excellent!
ReplyDeleteWord to the Wise: The beet flavor is much more pronounced/identifiable when the gelatin is at room temperature -- this should really be served very cold.
ReplyDeleteEep! Now I feel chastised! :-)
ReplyDeleteOnly one bottle of wine? Not two?
Just kidding. It looks delicious!
This is such a great idea to have made a molded dish! Your recipe is on my "to try" list. Great post!
ReplyDelete