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French Fruit Salad
1 orange 1 banana 1/2 pound Malaga grapes 1 dozen English walnuts Lettuce French dressing Peel the oranges and cut away the sections from the membrane by placing a knife parallel with the membrane and slicing down. If the fruit is allowed to stand in cold water after peeling, the bitter white membrane will come off easily.
Peel the bananas and cut in quarter-inch slices. Remove the skins and seeds from the grapes. Break in small pieces, but do not chop, the walnut-meats. Mix these ingredients thoroughly and place on ice. When ready to serve, place on lettuce leaves and serve with French dressing. This salad is pretty served in an orange basket, or, by substituting the grapefruit pulp for the orange, it may be properly served in the shell of a half grapefruit.
A plain fruit salad from the era when supreming an orange and skinning grapes were considered normal weeknight work. Two things need translating: the grapes and the dressing.
- Malaga grapesA large, thick-skinned, seeded table grape (sold both white-green and red) once common in American markets and now rare. Any large seedless grape works; if you use seedless, the skinning and seeding step disappears and the recipe becomes very quick.
- Skinning grapesIf you do use a seeded variety, drop them in boiling water for about ten seconds and the skins slip off. Halve and pick out the seeds with the tip of a knife.
- English walnutsSimply the ordinary walnut of the supermarket, as distinguished from the American black walnut, which is far stronger and would dominate the fruit. A dozen nuts in the shell is roughly two-thirds of a cup of halves.
- French dressingIn an American book of this period this means oil, vinegar, salt and paprika shaken together, sometimes with a little sugar or lemon when used on fruit. It is not the sweet orange bottled product sold under that name today.
- "Place on ice"Refrigerate, covered, and not for long. Half an hour chills the fruit; several hours and the banana goes grey and the whole bowl weeps juice.
- Banana timingSlice the banana last and toss it with a little of the orange juice or dressing before mixing, or it will brown before it reaches the table.
- The orange sectionsCutting parallel to the membrane and slicing down is the standard supreme cut. Work over a bowl so the juice is caught and can go into the dressing.
- YieldAs written this serves two generously or three modestly. Double it for a lunch course of four.
- Serving in the shellFor the grapefruit version, cut the fruit in half, section out the pulp with a curved knife and trim the membranes from the shell so it holds its shape. The shells hold better if chilled before filling.