French Fridays With Dorie - Crab and Pomelo Salad

It was quite a challenge to make people eat crab ice cream.
~ Heston Blumenthal

For this week's French Fridays with Dorie, our recipe to try out was Crab and Grapefruit Salad, a colorful and fanciful appetizer to be enjoyed best during warmer weather. Before I write further, here are my two disclaimers: 1. I did not use crab ice cream to make this salad, and 2. I do not dislike grapefruit...in fact, I quite like its strong bitter-citrus flavor. 

What I did use was canned crabmeat that unfortunately didn't come in big chunks, and pink-fleshed Thai pomelo because I couldn't find any Ruby Red grapefruit in the stores. If I could've gotten my hands on peeled, fresh grapefruit sections in a jar like Kathy did, you bet I would've used that!

Why pomelo? Well, it's very similar to grapefruit, except that it's larger and sweeter, without the bitterness of grapefruit. In Asia, and Thailand particularly, the juicy pomelo flesh is very often added to salads and also to refreshing fruit juices such as orange or lime. I love the sensation of the flesh bursting as I bite into it, releasing its sweet juices on my tongue.

Pale pink-fleshed, sweet Thai pomelo

In Dorie's recipe, there was the option to add chilli pepper and bell peppers. While I incorporated thinly sliced chilli (deseeded) into the salad, I chose to replace the bell peppers with Rose Apple or Jambu instead. This is a tropical fruit, crisp and waxy on the outside, with a 'fluffy' interior on the inside. When ripe, it bears a strong, pleasant bouquet. Often I try to make a recipe work with whatever ingredients I have in stock but on this occasion, I'll admit that I had forgotten to buy those darn bell peppers :). 

Rose apple

A squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, spring onions and cucumber slices finished off the salad (no greens sadly, I ate the last of them in a sandwich earlier in the day). I arranged mine in open-topped glass yoghurt jars which created a whimsical yet elegant look to the salad. Admittedly the salad looked rather pale and unexciting sans the Ruby Red, but the pale pink hue of the pomelo made the salad attractive in a different, more serene way. What's more important is of course the way it tasted, which was deliciously divine! So good. 

This super simple recipe is on page 134 of Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, a superbly instructional and award-wining cookbook that will have you cooking French food like you were born to do it! The other Doristas and I cook the same recipe every week, sometimes tweaking them with our own variations. For this week's versions of this salad, click here.

PS. There's a reason why this post is a bit late. It's my birthday weekend and the last thing I wanted to do was stay cooped up in front of my computer, writing a blog post (yes, call me Mademoiselle Last Minute!). This Lesley Gore tune suddenly came to mind.... "It's my party and I blog if I want to, blog if I want to..."

Have a great weekend filled with sunny skies, everyone!

Tropical Quenchers: Dragonfruit & Pomelo Sensations

Aaaah... sometimes the heat outside and humidity gets to me! The sun decides to bless us with its golden rays for most of the day, then just before it disappears into the horizon, Mother Storm pays a visit and it starts to rain bloody murder... Gee, thanks. There goes my late afternoon run. The race is this weekend, and I'm starting to fret from this lack of, well, running.

When I'm in this mood (fretting, feeling caged in), I can't think creatively to make a meal I want to feed myself with, let alone others. So I go on a juice diet - juices are easy, there's not much thinking involved. Plus they are fun and delicious to consume - more importantly, they really quench that thirst on a HOT day. Luckily, I live where I live. Plenty of juicy, sweet, weird and wonderful fruits to turn into cocktails or coolers. You can go colourful (mango, watermelon, banana, jackfruit) or not (coconut, pomelo, lychees, longans).

Walked into the kitchen and found these two juicy queen of fruits - the regal red Dragonfruit, and the cool, collected Pomelo. Perfect, I'll make TWO contrasting drinks!

There are actually three varieties of dragonfruit: red-skinned with translucent white or red purply-red flesh, and yellow-skinned with white flesh. No surprise, I went with my favourite colour - red (flesh). If you've never had dragonfruit before, it's been described as tasting something like a cross between a kiwi fruit and a pear. In actual fact, it's much subtler than that. I would say that it tastes like a very watered-down version of a watermelon - quite bland. Which is an irony because visually, the dragonfruit is one of the most stunning-looking fruits I've ever come across. Unfortunately, The Big Kahuna created it to be this gorgeous bimbo of the fruit community, just to be fair to other fruits, I think. Haha, the thought.

That's the reason why I added raspberries to the quencher recipe below, to add a bit of sensuality (tastewise) to it. Let's face it, the raspberry could've had it all (red, curvy, sweet, tangy, delicious), but it too was created fairly. Why do you think it's so tiny? *grins*  

Dragonfruit~Raspberry Quencher

1 red dragonfruit, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries 

2-3 cups water

sugar syrup, to taste (optional)

calamansi limes, to garnish

Blend the dragonfruit slices together with the raspberries, then add 2 cups water and some sugar syrup (optional) and stir. If the consistency is a bit thick for you, then add some more water. If you want it cooler, blend in some ice-cubes. Pour into a glass, slice some calamansi limes and place on top of the drink. Sip or stick a straw in the glass and enjoy! 

The next drink is pretty elegant and straightforward, no blending necessary. Just add ice, and carry around at a late afternoon pool party for that rock star factor!

Pomelo-Vanilla Green Tea Cooler

1/2 medium sized pomelo, skinned and sliced

2 teabags of vanilla green tea

4-6 cups water

sugar syrup, to taste (optional)

Steep the teabags in 2 cups of hot water for about 5 minutes, allow to cool, then add up to 4 cups of cold water and ice-cubes. Take the sliced pomelo, tear the flesh apart with your hands and add to the cold vanilla tea. Add sugar syrup if you wish, it will enhance the aromatic vanilla and balance the slightly bitter, grapefruitlike pomelo flavors. Serve to guests and be prepared to take a bow!