Pink Salad

Ingredients:
Fruit
Kiwi
Nutmeg
Allspice
Salt
Lemon Juice
Pickled Beets
Cottage Cheese
Baby Spinach

Pink Salad is relatively easy to make and always satisfying. Essentially a fruit salad, chop up or ball any melon or combination of melon. Picking a ripe melon is difficult; therefore, buy one and let it ripen. Pink Salad comes in handy when melons were sitting on the table a few days and start to look like they might go bad. Smell the stem end. If it smells sweet, it is ready. The stem end was previously attached to the vine. Cantaloupe has a pungent scent when ripe; however, the stem end of honeydew is allusive. The second test is to tap the melon lightly with the knuckles. If the melon sounds hallow or feels as though water is moving through it, it is ripe.

Chop the sweetened melon in to bite sized pieces and place them into a bowl with a lid. Add some berries. Clean them under cold water and remove the tops of strawberries. I will usually cut strawberries and grapes in half, but it isn't necessary. Diced apples and pears are also great. Inexpensive and hardy, they absorb the pink coloring of the dressing.

Begin the dressing with one or two kiwis. Slice them in half and scoop the fruit out of the rind with a spoon over the bowl, so all the juice is used. Throw away the rind and dice the kiwi over the bowl. Sprinkle it with a bit of nutmeg, allspice, salt and lemon juice. This is relative to the salad size. For an individual serving add less than a teaspoon. For a family size serving add around a tablespoon of lemon juice. An excellent option for lemon juice is pineapple juice.

Liquid from a jar or can pickled beets are double the amount of lemon juice. Pickled beets are wonderful and what make the salad pink. The complimentary sweetness and flavor finishes off the vinaigrette. My favorite is sliced. I like to dice up a few slices of the beets and add it to the salad. Then seal the bowl with the lid and lightly shake it around a few times so everything is evenly covered with a fair amount of dressing.

Set it in the fridge for at least an hour. Shortly before serving, tear up a handful of baby spinach and place it in the bottom of a bowl. Any lettuce can be used; however, a light flavor like iceberg is better than romaine. Now add two tablespoons of cottage cheese. Spoon a good amount of pink salad over the top. Often when not knowing how much vinaigrette will be leftover, I will wait until all the salad plated and then pour the dressing over the cottage cheese in even amounts.

There it is; if you ever wondered how to make savory foods pink, pickled beets. This salad is great any time of the year. It is also playful and out-of-the-ordinary making it a wonderful trimming for brunch or parties with a theme like Easter or Sweet Sixteen.

Related Article
Managing Time: Multitasking
Waldorf Salad for Home