Lebanese Fruit Cocktail

Welcome to July's Improv Cooking Challenge! This month we are taking advantage of all the delicious summer fruit available with the challenge to make something involving Kiwi & Pineapple. I love taking two everyday items and finding a way to fit it my international niche. This month kiwi & pineapple fit together well in this Lebanese Fruit Cocktail recipe.

This delicious fruit recipe is layers of fresh fruit and fruit puree or sorbet topped with ashta cream, shopped pistachios or almonds, and honey. I have a hard time finding rose and orange blossom waters, but I wanted something floral in the ashta cream so I made mine with elderflower blossom cordial.

Use whatever fresh fruit you like and/or have available. I used pineapple and kiwis of course, but also strawberries, blackberries, mangoes, and orange segments. Grapes, bananas, raspberries, cantaloupe, and dragon fruit are all popular in fruit cocktail. As is avocado, both cubed and pureed, it makes a gorgeous, thick, green puree.

This recipe is portioned for six but it's just as easy to make for 2 or for 100. But scale up or down to fit whatever size crowd you want to feed.

1/2 c. mascarpone cheese
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. honey or sugar
1 tsp. rose or orange blossom water or elderflower cordial
Honey
1/4 c. chopped pistachios

1 c. strawberries, pureed
2 mangoes, pureed
6 c. assorted fresh fruit
Additional fruit to garnish

Whip the cream with honey or sugar until stiff peaks form. Remove from the mixer and whip the cheese until smooth. Add half the whipping cream to the cheese and fold to incorporate. Add the remaining whipped cream and keep folding. 

In six individual glasses layer the fresh fruit and the fruit puree or all fruit sorbet. Top with 2 tablespoons of the cream, 2 teaspoons of pistachios, and a drizzle of honey. 

Enjoy immediately.

The #ImprovCookingChallenge is a monthly blogging event where two ingredients are assigned to a month. Bloggers can make any recipe they like as long as it features the two ingredients. If you are a blogger and would like to join us, please visit our Facebook page. You can also read more about the event on our our home page. If you’d like to see previous creations, check out our Pinterest board.

Improv Cooking Challenge 

Kiwi & Pineapple

• • Kiwi Pineapple Dream Cocktail by Cookaholic Wife
  • Grilled Pineapple & Kiwi With Fresh Fruit Vanilla Pudding by Sneha's Recipe
  • Kiwi Pineapple Mojito by Our Good Life
  • Grilled Mahi Mahi with Kiwi Pineapple Salsa by A Day in the Life on the Farm