Tropical fruit for summer dishes

BY KATHY HAGOOD
FOR FLORIDA TODAY

            Tropical fruits are a sweet pleasure any time of year, but are especially refreshing on a hot summer day.

            The summer months offer a bounty of fresh tropical fruits grown in the southern part of the state.

Among the better-known Florida-grown tropical fruits are carambola, longan, mamey sapote, guava, mango, banana, coconut, green papaya and lynchee.

            Those vitamin-rich fruits and others that go well with them, such as pineapple, add extra flavor to any meal and can be used in salads, entrees, desserts and drinks.

Preparing meals with tropical fruits and fruit sauces is an easy way to create a festive atmosphere while entertaining guests or to add pizzazz to family meals, fruit lovers say. Tropical fruits hint of their Caribbean, Latin American and Asian roots.

“Tropical fruits lift a meal out of the ordinary and make a statement,” said Joan Green, owner of Green’s Gourmet Groves, located just outside of Florida City. Green formerly owned a restaurant where tropical fruits graced most menu items.

Locally, Chef Tony Pinero, owner of Pinero Restaurant in Suntree, features a menu enhanced by a plethora of tropical fruits and fruit-based toppings, including his pineapple-mango and honey-guava barbeque sauces.

Pinero, who grew up in Cuba, puts his own spin on traditional Caribbean, Creole and Mediterranean dishes, including Key Lime Chicken and Coconut Mahi-Mahi.

“I never tire of experimenting with tropical fruits,” Pinero said. “Each fruit is unique in flavor and texture. We are lucky that in Florida we have access to so many varieties of tropical fruits.”

While he won’t give away all his secret concoctions, he does share the ingredients of his Mango Pineapple Sauce, which can be used by to top chicken or fish or used to make a milkshake.

“You can’t go wrong by using fruit when you prepare meals at home,” he said.

            While Hispanic and Asian restaurants often offer tropical fruit-enhanced dishes, the popularity of the fruits is bubbling-over into more mainstream restaurants, including Norman’s Raw Bar & Grill in Cocoa.

            The new restaurant features a Caribbean Salad that has become the most-often-ordered salad on the menu, said Carrie Early, who owns the new restaurant with her husband, Norman.

The salad features chunks of mango and pineapple as well as bleu cheese and walnuts. Raspberry vinaigrette is the dressing of choice. The salad can be ordered topped with grilled tuna, mahi mahi, shrimp, scallops or chicken.

            “It amazingly popular,” Carrie said. “Some people order it every time they eat here.”

            Carrie created the salad with the help of her manager, Chris Haynes, and his wife, Abby.

            “We decided to add some sort of Caribbean Salad to the menu because it was something we enjoyed,” Carrie said. “We also knew it would be favored by our health-conscious customers.”

Because of the popularity of the salad the Earleys have decided they will likely add more fruit to their menu items and are developing a mango dressing.

“Fruit ties into the tropical theme we’ve tried to create here,” Carrie said.

Fruit does send a message of tropical delights and vacation-like relaxation. But while mainstream restaurants owners realize that and are more often opting for tropical fruit, the average consumer still isn’t bringing home papayas on a weekly basis, Green said.

“People tend to bring home the same foods they always have,” she said. “It takes a while for a food that’s considered exotic to become a regular purchase. But restaurants and our growing Hispanic and Asian population are influencing the choices of the mainstream consumer.”

            While mangos haven’t yet become as popular with shoppers as bananas, they have shifted into the mainstream in recent years and are being purchased more often. Carambola, the star fruit, is also a tropical fruit being purchased more regularly.

             “We growers just used to supply the ethnic market here is South Florida,” Green said. “Now were growing, packing and shipping millions of pounds of tropical fruit across the country.”

South Florida growers expect mamey sapote, a sweet, red-colored fruit with a custard-like texture, to become the next crossover fruit.

A tropical fruit and cheese plate recipe by nationally known chef Dewey LoSasso of North 110 in North Miami, is a delightful example of how mamey sapote can be combined with the more familiar mango and papaya.

 LOSASSO’s Tropical Fruit and Cheese Plate
4 pieces goat cheese (room temperature)
4 slices of papaya
5 slices of mango
5 tablespoons of mamey sapote
(spoons of mamey are made with a tablespoon scooping lightly from the flesh of the mamey, providing a crescent type presentation.)

 Papaya Maceration:
1 cup red wine
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. chopped basil
1 tsp. chopped mint
2 tsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepot combine all maceration ingredients; simmer for 18 minutes. While hot, pour over papaya slices--let rest. Cool papaya before plating.

 Place cheese on plate, compose all the other fruit around the cheese, keeping the fruit separate from each other.  Serve with bread of your choice, bread can be room temperature or grilled.

 CARRIE’S CARIBBEAN SALAD|

4 cups Romaine and Iceberg lettuce
1 large mango, cut into chunks
2 cups pineapple chunks or 6 pineapple slices
1 cup bleu cheese crumble
1 cup walnuts
raspberry vinaigrette or bleu cheese dressing
optional: grilled tuna, mahi mahi, shrimp, scallops or chicken

Spread lettuce in four bowls, add mango and pineapple, add bleu cheese and walnuts, top with seafood or chicken, if desired, add dressing to taste.

 PINERO’S MANGO PINEAPPLE SAUCE

5 large mangoes cut into 1-inch chunks
4 cups of pineapple juice
1 and a half cups of sugar
3 teaspoons of cornstarch
2 teaspoons of butter
In a blender, puree all ingredients. Cook in a saucepan over low heat until it thickens, stirring slowly. Remove from heat and blend into butter.

 Sauce can be used to top chicken or fish or for desserts, shakes and tropical drinks.

For mango pineapple shake, add two cups of the sauce to 2 scoops of  vanilla ice cream, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 cup of milk.