Tropical Fruit Recipes

Avocado, Apple and Feta Salad With Mustard Dressing
Ingredients:
2 avocados (peeled, stoned and cut into slices)
2 apples (cored and cut into slices)
4 tomatoes (quartered)
100g (4oz) feta cheese (cubed)

For the dressing
1 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp sunflower or light olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method

• Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl
• Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small jug and drizzle over the salad
• Serve immediately

Serves four

Banana Wraps
Ingredients:
2 bananas (peeled)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp caster sugar
2 x 2.5cm (1 in) strips of puff pastry, rolled out
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F) Gas mark 7
• Sprinkle bananas with cinnamon and sugar
• Wrap strips of puff pastry around bananas
• Whisk egg yolks and salt together and brush over the pastry
• Place the wraps on a baking tray in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden

Serves 1

Griddled Mango Pieces
Ingredients:
1 mango (peeled and cubed)
2 tbsp sugar
2tbsp white wine
Icing sugar
Sprig of mint
Dollop of whipped cream or Greek yoghurt

Method

• Heat a non-stick griddle pan on high heat
• Add the mango pieces and sprinkle with a light dusting of icing sugar.
• Cook until the mango pieces begin to caramelise
• Pour in the wine to release the mango from the pan
• Garnish with the sprig of mint and serve hot

Serves one

Kiwifruit Jam
Ingredients:
2kg (4lb) kiwi fruit (peeled and chopped)
1 box fruit pectin or 2 apples (peeled, cored and chopped)
1.5 kg (3.3lb) sugar

Method

• In a large pan, heat the fruit for 3 minutes with a dash of water
• Add the pectin or apple pieces and mix well
• Add all of the sugar and bring to the boil, then boil for 1 minute
• Take off the heat, skim any foam from the top of the mixture and place the hot mixture in sterilised jars

Barbecued Pineapple Pieces
Ingredients:
1 pineapple (peeled and cut into chunks)
Rind and juice of 1 orange
1-2 tbsp icing sugar

Method

• In a bowl, mix the orange rind and juice together, and add the sugar
• Stir in the pineapple chunks, making sure they are coated in the mixture (add more orange juice if necessary)
• Cover the bowl and leave to marinade for one hour in a cool place, such as a fridge
• Spoon the cool mixture into a foil parcel, and place on the barbeque grill for 10 minutes
• serve hot

Serves six

Tropical Fruit Smoothie
Ingredients:
1 banana
2 passion fruits
1 mango, cut into small pieces
1/2 a pineapple, cut into small pieces
100ml pineapple juice
Juice of 1 lime

Method

• Scoop out the pulp from the passion fruits
• Combine all of the ingredients in a blender until the mixture is smooth
• Add ice cubes if the consistency is too stiff, and another banana if the consistency is too runny
• Serve immediately

Serves one

Fruit Recipes

Apple and Blackberry Crumble
Ingredients:
250g (9oz) blackberries
400g (16oz) cooking apples

For the topping
225g (8oz) plain flour
175g (6oz) butter
55g (2oz) Demerara sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) gas mark 6
In a large bowl, mix the flour with the butter and sugar and rub it all together until it is in tiny, crumbly pieces
Peel, core and cut the apples into small pieces (it’s important that you do this after making the crumble mixture as you don’t want the apples to go brown)
Mix blackberries and apples together and place in a shallow baking dish
Use a spoon to gently spread the crumble topping evenly over the fruit
Bake in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until crisp and golden
Leave to cool and serve with cream or ice cream
Serves six

Blackcurrant Fool
Ingredients:
450g (1lb) blackcurrants
175g caster sugar
150ml (1/4pt) whipped cream
150ml (5fl oz) plain yoghurt

Method
Place blackcurrants in a non-stick pan
Add the sugar and a little water
Bring to the boil and stir them gently until the sugar is completely dissolved
Push the blackcurrant puree through a sieve to get rid of the pips
Add the yoghurt to the cream and mix together
When the blackcurrant puree is cool, stir it into the cream mixture gently
Pour the mixture into glasses and chill in the fridge for 2 hours
Serves four

Plum Cheesecake
Ingredients:
110g (4oz) plums (halved and stoned)
55g (2oz) unsalted butter
6 digestive biscuits, crumbled
110g (4 oz) low fat cream cheese

For the garnish:

4 orange segments
1 sprig of fresh mint
Icing sugar to dust

Method
Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the biscuits until thoroughly mixed
Take off the heat and spoon the biscuit mixture into a large circular dish or chef’s ring
Place the plums on top of the biscuit mix
Top with the cream cheese and smooth the top using a palette knife
Garnish with orange segments and mint and lightly dust with icing sugar
Serves six

Strawberry Cake
Ingredients:
4 eggs (separated)
175g (6oz) sugar
175g (6oz) self raising flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp boiling water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
284ml double cream
500g (20oz) fresh strawberries
100g (4oz) hazelnuts (chopped and toasted)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) gas mark 4.
Grease and line the base of a 20cm (6in) cake tin
Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff
Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is smooth, then add the egg yolks
Sieve the flour over the mixture and fold in with a metal spoon
Drizzle the oil, boiling water and vanilla essence into the mixture and fold in
Pour into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes
Cool the cooked cake on a rack then cut it in to two horizontal pieces
Top one of the cake pieces with half of the cream and half of the strawberries and sandwich the pieces together
Spread the remaining cream over the top and sides of the cake and sprinkle with the toasted hazelnuts. Cut the remaining strawberries and arrange them on the surface of the cake
Serves eight

Berry Nice Smoothie
Ingredients:
1 banana
A handful each of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries (or whatever else you have in your garden)
50ml apple juice
A dollop of ice cream (optional)

Method
Slice the banana into pieces and add the ingredients to the blender and mix until smooth
If the mixture is too runny, add another banana
Serve immediately
Serves one

One Pot Wonder

The best thing about this meal is that you can use whatever vegetables you have to hand. The ingredients below are just a guide.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes 

Cooking time: 1 hour

Cost per serving: $2.50

5 A DAY portions per serving: 2

What you’ll need

2 medium onions

4 medium carrots

1 small swede

2 medium parsnips

2 medium leeks

1 clove garlic, crushed or

finely chopped (you could

cheat and buy some garlic

granules or paste, or simply

leave it out all together)

1 tablespoon dried mixed

herbs

300ml vegetable stock

1 tablespoon plain flour

4 large potatoes, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon margarine

Freshly ground black pepper

Get cooking

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 190 °C / gas mark 5. Chop the vegetables into

chunks and arrange in layers in a large casserole dish (except the potatoes).

If you don’t have a casserole dish, you can put them into a saucepan and

cook on the hob

Season the vegetable layers lightly with black pepper and sprinkle them with

garlic and chopped herbs as you go

Step 2

Boil 300ml water and add the stock cube. Add the flour to the stock and pour

over the vegetables

Arrange the potatoes in overlapping layers on top. Dot with a small amount of

butter and cover tightly

Step 3

Cook in the oven (or on the hob) for about an hour, or until the vegetables

are tender

Remove the lid from the dish and cook for a further 15 minutes until the top

layer of potatoes is golden and crisp at the edges

Serve and enjoy!

Top Tip:

If you want to add meat to this meal, gently

brown the diced meat first, then add to the

casserole dish with the raw vegetables. The meat

will be very tender if cooked slowly and will soak up

all the flavours from the vegetables