Serving fruit to a group of guests can present a challenge. We’ve all seen that desultory grocery store platter of chunked fruit languishing away at the lonely end of the buffet table. There’s always the carved watermelon basket with balls of melon, but that is way to much work for me. I have never been a fan of savory dressing for fruit salads – those mustard and poppy seed versions – and old-fashioned congelead salads get some funny looks these days. So I developed this recipe for a purely sweet, citrusy dressing that that works spring through summer and is versatile to boot. You can vary the citrus to taste, using whatever is available, but all lemon is a bit too tangy.
The lovely, sunshiny yellow color of this dip looks beautiful on a platter with vibrantly colored fruit. Serve this as a dip with juicy strawberries, dolloped over a platter of sliced fruits, or gently stirred through a bowl of mixed, chopped fruit and berries.
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- 1 lime
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- Zest the orange, lemon and lime, then juice them. Measure ½ cup of juice into a jug, then add water to make ¾ cups liquid.
- Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together in a saucepan and add the liquid. Whisk over medium heat until the sauce is thick and glossy, about the consistency of thick maple syrup. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Whisk in 1 Tablespoon of the combined citrus zest. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter a small piece at a time until melted and smooth. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, cool, cover and refrigerate up to 12 hours. Let the sauce come to room temperature before serving with fruit.
Leave a Reply