Cowboy Fruit Salad Recipes

COWBOY CHOPPED SALAD

Steps:

• For the bacon and tortilla strips: Fry the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Add some vegetable oil to the bacon skillet and fry the tortilla strips until crisp, approximately 1 minute. Drain on paper towels.
• For the BBQ ranch dressing: In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, barbecue sauce, parsley, chives and garlic. Adjust the consistency with buttermilk to make it a little thinner. Taste and add hot sauce and salt as needed.
• For the salad: Put the lettuce, tomatoes, scallions, bacon and most of the cheese into a bowl. Drizzle over the dressing and stir. Scatter over some pico de gallo, the tortilla strips and the reserved cheese, then serve.
• Dice up equal quantities of the tomatoes and onions. Roughly chop the cilantro. Now slice 1 or 2 jalapenos in half. With a spoon, scrape out the seeds. (If you like things spicy, leave in some of the white membranes.) Dice the jalapenos very finely; you want a hint of heat and jalapeno flavor, but you don't want to cause any fires. Now dump these 4 ingredients into a bowl.
• Slice the lime in half and squeeze the juice from one half into the bowl. Sprinkle with salt and stir together until combined. Be sure to taste the pico de gallo and adjust the seasonings, adding salt, lime juice or more diced jalapeno as needed. Yield: 8 servings

COWBOY FRUIT SALAD

Steps:

• For the spicy syrup: Put the sugar, jalapeno and 1/2 cup water in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced to a thin syrup, about 10 minutes. Remove the jalapeno. Let the syrup cool, then add the lime zest and juice.
• For the cowboy fruit salad: Add the strawberries, melon and green and red grapes to a bowl, pour over all of the syrup and toss. Sprinkle over the mint leaves.

FRUIT SALAD WITH ORANGE-VANILLA SYRUP

Steps:

• Place the sugar, 1 cup water, orange zest, juice and vanilla bean in a small pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes to thicken. Set aside to cool.
• Prepare all the fruit in a large bowl, pour the cooled syrup over the top and toss together. Decorate with mint leaves and chill until ready to serve.

ZIPPER BAG FRUIT SALAD

Steps:

• Special equipment: a resealable plastic zipper bag
• Mix the apple jelly and 2 tablespoons water in a resealable plastic zipper bag until combined. Pour in the fruit, seal and toss with your hands. Add the mint leaves and serve.