Hello Old Friends,
It has been ages since I have posted to my Platter Chatter With Patricia Blog. I had developed some other interests and pastimes and have been pretty busy over the past few years with that. However I have been wanting to get back to Blogging once again, and I thought this would be a good time to start as I have had some recent interest by Friends to post some of my recipes.
One of these recipes I already posted several years ago on my Blog, and if you are interested you can find it by going to the home page and looking in the right hand column you will find a list of recipes which I had posted. The one I am speaking about is for Apple Butter. It is a wonderful recipe, full of amazing flavor. The post will explain everything. Apple Butter is a fantastic spread for toast or even plain bread and also tastes great spread on crackers and having it also with cheese/crackers. My husband enjoys having it with roast pork right out of the oven or with pork leftovers on a sandwich. Please note however, there is no butter in this recipe or as an end result. It is merely called Apple Butter due to its rich and velvety smooth consistency just like butter itself. If you have any questions on this recipe you can reach me at worldpeace@slingshot.co.nz or on Face Book
Patti Hoesten-Watts
Now as for the next recipe....
The following recipe is a very old favorite that I have been making for decades, and it never fails to please. It is called Citrus Fruit Ambrosia. It happens to be a very popular recipe in America, particularly in the South. I have been making it since I was a young girl, and so frequently I would make the dish to bring as one of my contributions to a Pot Luck Dinner. It is great anytime, but it is also popular around all the Holidays and for picnics as well. I will give all the details below, but after reading everything, you may want to change or replace different fruits used for other fruits. I will give the ingredients and directions as I make it which serves approximately 8 people/children. But please feel free to scale the recipe any way you would like to reflect your own needs. If you have any questions regarding this recipe also, you may contact me at the e-mail address I posted above or you can contact me on Face Book and the details for that are also above.
Firstly here are the basics of what you need in cook ware:
1 serving bowl quite large for your finished Ambrosia
1 large bowl or pot for all the reserved syrups from the canned fruits
1 electric hand mixer or something similar for beating your whipped cream
1 hand colander or similar to aid in draining canned syrups from cans
1 large spoon to be used when all ingredients are added to the serving bowl to mix everything together. I always like to use a large wooden spoon, but you can improvise of course. You may need other odd items which most people have right in their kitchens.
Citrus Ambrosia Salad
Serves 8
But you can always rescale for your particular needs
This will all take about 1/2 an hour to prepare
Ingredients:
1 large can of peaches in syrup
1 large can of apricots in syrup
1 large can of diced pineapple
1 large can of pears in syrup
1 large can of mandarin oranges in syrup
1 package of diced glazed cherries, or a bottle of cherries
( If large cans of the above are not available in your grocery store, you will have to choose smaller cans, so you may need 2 or 3 of each of the above.
1 bag of desiccated coconut
1 container of heavy cream
1 container of sour cream
1 bag of small sized marshmallows (if small size marshmallows are not available you will have to cut larger ones into fours)
1/4 or less of a cup of sugar for the whipped cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla for the whipped cream
Optional: chopped up walnuts which you may want to add and mix up in your finished Ambrosai. Some people have allergic reactions to walnuts, so I only add them when I am preparing this dish
for people that I know that are not allergic. You can also add slithered almonds in place of the walnuts if you like.
Directions:
Open all the cans which you are planning on using. Using a hand colander pour contents of one can at a time into colander and make sure there is a pot or bowl underneath the colander to catch the syrups. Do this also for all the remaining cans. Now here is something that is a big help. When it comes to the peaches and apricots, slice each peach piece into 3 and add to your serving bowl. Do the same with the apricots so the pieces are not too huge in the dish. As for the can of pineapple you can do the same, unless you purchased diced pineapple. If you did buy the diced, they will be the perfect size, Also if you are using pear slices or any other kinds of canned fruits use your judgement about slicing the fruits into small pieces. Once all the fruits are completely drained from the syrup, set aside the bowl of all the reserve syrup. You can use that for other cooking ideas in your kitchen. It will not be going back into the serving bowl at all.
Once all the cans of fruits are in the bowl, add in a bunch of cherries. Do not use cherries with pits, but rather a jar of pitted cherries and they are also available in cans as well. Be as generous as you would like to be with the cherries. They taste wonderful in the Ambrosia, but they also add some great color to your finish dish.
Set aside for a moment.
Now whip your cream with an electric hand mixer or you can also whip it up in one of these large electric type of mixers with the large bowl. Either way is just fine. Firstly, use your judgement as to how much whipped cream you would like to make. All you will need for the recipe for 8 is about a cup and a half of heavy cream. Add that to a smaller bowl. Add in a teaspoon of vanilla or vanilla essence. Add in about 1/4 cup of regular white sugar and beginning beating on a high speed. This may take about 4-5 minutes. When the cream is whipped into lovely white peaks, it will be ready to use.
Next step is top add into the serving dish approximately 30-35 small marshmallows or cut up 15 large ones into 4 pieces and add them in at this time.
Then add approximately 1/3 of a cup of the dessicated coconut and mix in with all the other ingredients.
Now begin to add 2 large dollops of whipped cream and 2 large dollops of sour cream to your bowl and mix together gently so not as to break up any of the fruit pieces. I find a good wooden spoon does this best. If you have decided to use walnuts or slithered almonds you can do this now and give another gentle mix.
Now just for the record I use a very large stainless steel bowl for all of the items that go into the whole mixture, and when everything is done I then pour everything into a large serving bowl to serve. Also you can add extra marshmallows to top your dish and also with some extra cherries for a great look. The Ambrosia can be put on your table and using small pretty bowls for each person also makes a lovely look.
Please note:
The last time I made my Ambrosia was just recently as we were having family members for Brunch. I had wanted to take a photo so I could use it when I posted this recipe, but I wound up totally forgetting to do so. I went to Google images and found an image which looked as close to my finished recipe for the Ambrosia, and I have used it above so you can see exactly what it should look like.
So this is the recipe in full. Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions or would like to leave a comment.
Take care!
Cheers From Patti
