Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon Coconut Mousse

As a gift for my 18th birthday, my aunt, a professional chef, gave me a zester. “This is a kitchen tool you can’t live without!” she told me. I stashed it behind the garlic press, pizza wheel, lemon juicer, and apple corer in my parents’ gadget drawer until I was married. Years later, I finally agree with my aunt. I love my zester!

A friend asked me this week for a suggestion for gluten-free recipes. I’ve been in a zesty mood since last week’s lemon cake. And with all of the fruit in my house after I got a little…uh…over-excited in the produce section of Osher Ad last week, fruit salad with lemon coconut mousse it is. Yes, once again. I’m starting my Shabbos cooking with dessert. 🙂

In the fruit salad, I went heavy on the citrus fruit. One child has been home sick most of the week, and everyone is sniffling. Kiwi, another ingredient, is also rich in vitamin C. 100 grams contain over 100% daily recommended intake of vitamin C. All of the fruits I included are in season now in Israel, so they are tasty (and cheap). I often add a can of pineapple to fruit salad to give it a juicy “dressing,” but the citrus fruit is so juicy that this salad doesn’t need it.

Winter Fruit Salad Recipe
12-15 servings

2 red grapefruits
2 seedless oranges
2 small or one large apple
2 pears (I used 1 each of 2 varieties)
2 persimmons
2 kiwis
seeds from half a pomegranate, about 1 cup
1 banana

Directions:

1. Before peeling the oranges, wash and zest one. I cut the peels off grapefruit and oranges for fruit salad. I find it goes faster than peeling by hand.
2. Cut grapefruit, oranges. apples, pears, persimmons, and kiwis into cubes. Add to large bowl with orange zest.
3. When taking seeds out of the pomegranate, remember to wear an apron. Add pomegranate seeds to cut fruit. Mix.
4. If you are making this fruit salad a day or two before serving, which allows the flavors to mingle, slice the banana into it right before serving so it doesn’t get mushy.
5. Serve with a spoonful of lemon coconut mousse.

 

Lemon Coconut Mousse Recipe (inspired by The Iron You)
yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:
One 400mL can chilledcoconut cream (not coconut milk)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons honey (or agave nectar or maple syrup to make it vegan)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
tiny dash of salt

Directions:

1. Put a can of coconut cream in the refrigerator at least an hour before you want to make this. I put coconut cream in the fridge, instead of the pantry closet, straight from the grocery store.
2. Turn the cold can of coconut cream upside down and open with a can opener. Pour off the coconut liquid to use in another recipe, such as Creamy, Comforting (Curried) Orange Soup. (Today, I used the coconut liquid in a gluten-free butternut squash kugel.) Scrape the hard cream into a bowl or the bowl of your mixer.
3. Add vanilla, honey and salt.
4. Here’s the fun part. Zest your lemon! Add zest to bowl.
5. Squeeze all the juice out of your bald lemon and add it to the bowl.
6. Whip all ingredients together for 3-5 minutes as you would whip cream.
7. Chill in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
8. Serve a dollop on top of winter fruit salad. You can add toasted coconut or more lemon zest for a beautiful garnish.

There you have it! A delicious, elegant, gluten-free dessert with no refined sweeteners and little hands-on prep time! If you’re looking for more gluten-free, no-bake desserts, try Gluten-Free No-Bake Brownie Bites, pictured below.

If you’re a fruit salad fan, you may also like my fruity power breakfast bowl:

Fruity Power Breakfast Bowl