Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Punch up fruit flavour with a cheat: sweet raspberry sauce


Both my wife, Judy, and I are watching our calories. We've both put on a few pounds. We haven't put on much and we don't intend to. Tonight we had a salad built on a solid foundation of fresh, baby spinach.

I added chunks of sweet, navel oranges, pieces of fresh strawberries and big bits of a locally made feta cheese. I added a blackcurrant/raspberry dressing and tossed all. It lacked something.

I added a few roasted sunflower seeds and slices of pan-fried leaks. It still lacked focus, not to mention a strong, fruity snap. In desperation, I added a Tbsp of a Quebec-made, sweet raspberry sauce, a topping made for waffles or vanilla ice cream. That did it. That punched up the flavour.

The sauce is good quality, made with fresh fruit. Using just a little highlighted the sweet taste of the fruit in the salad without making it cloyingly sweet. One must take care using such a cheat. It would not take too much to destroy a healthy salad. The goal here is a salad and not a dessert.

I made this without a recipe and yet my wife said it was delicious. Someday I may feel bold enough to call myself a cook.