Skip to main content

Japanese-Italian Fusion: Fruit Salad with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and Sweet New Zealand







I like small things, even when it comes to food: small plates with small tastings, miniature bites, doll houses' type of things... 

This is a 'fruit salad' that could be served at the end of a formal 'Japanese' meal, where presentation is important and fruit is often the only dessert, or at the end of a formal Italian meal (we also tend to have fruit rather than 'pudding').

For the dressing I used some Aceto Tradiozionale Balsamico di Modena, not to be confused with Aceto Balsamico di Modena (they are two different products) and it goes well with all the fruit used here, including bananas. And to accompany, no ice-cream or similar, but I dared to be different and went for fresh petals... if you choose them go for pink, cherry or peach, and yes, they can also be dipped in the ABTM and eaten,  I did it (but I don't know many other people who regularly eat flowers like I do :-).


Ingredients:

for each person:
2 slices of banana (sprayed with a little lemon juice)
2 small balls scooped from a kiwi (green)
2 raspberries
2 small balls scooped from a kiwi gold (yellow)
1 tsp ABTM
cherry or peach petals




The utensils: a knife, a little scoop for the kiwis,  a flower cutter for the banana (I used a Japanese one for cutting vegetables like flowers), small bamboo skewers. To assemble just look at the pictures. Serve with the ABTM.






I am entering this recipe in the monthly blogging event Sweet New Zealand, created by Alessandra Zecchini (yes it's me, but hey!! An extra chance to include my other link here!!) and this month hosted by the talented Bron Marshall. If you are blogging in NZ, or if you are a Kiwi blogger living overseas, please come and join us here!








Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Comments

  1. Wat an elegant salad,looks stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This so exquisitely beautiful! I don't do it often enough, but I love small tasting of things too; draws meals out and allows you to relish the pleasure of eating. Beautiful photos, beautiful food!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a beautiful end to a meal - simply stunning. Love the idea of serving with the blossom.
    Sue xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a gorgeous Salad! Beautiful clicks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal...

Mezze Maniche with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Since I had some left over mushroom sauce from yesterday's dish , today I made some pasta. I heard from other bloggers about the Garofalo pasta brand, in NZ I could only find it in one shop, and it was too expensive even to consider, so I thought that I should try it while I am in Italy. I choose mezze maniche for this dish. Mezze maniche with mushrooms I cooked the mezze maniche al dente. In the meantime I warmed up the pan with the left-over mushrooms and added 250 ml of cream. Then I added some freshly chopped Italian parsley and some freshly ground pepper. I drained the mezze maniche and passed them in the pan with the mushroom and cream sauce. They tasted great! Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Paccheri with tomato, parsley and garlic.

Paccheri are hollow pasta tubes that look like rigatoni or tortiglioni, but with a difference: the paccheri tubes flatten once they are cooked. Usually the have very rich sauces, but I am one for 'less is more' these days, and so here I just warmed up a ready made Italian tomato passata ( a good one ). Once the passata was hot I added some salt, extra virgin olive oil and finely chopped Italian parsley with garlic. These days I am chopping a lot of parsley and garlic together, it is too early for basil, and parsley taste really good in Italy! Also, I like the idea of having a cooked sauce but with raw herbs and garlic in it: the taste changes completely. Simple but really effective!!! If you are not vegan you can add some ricotta to this. Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©