Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce
(from Katie Lee Joel's THE COMFORT TABLE)
Whenever I am having houseguests, I like to make a fruit salad for breakfast ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. Everyone loves starting their day with the fresh flavors and beautiful bright colors. The custard sauce can also be made ahead of time-it adds such a nice, elegant touch.
For the fruit salad:
1 medium pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks (about 3 cups)
1 seedless orange, peeled and cut into chunks (about 1 cup)
1 medium apple, cored and cut into chunks (about 1 cup)
1/2 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks (about 2 cups)
1/2 honeydew, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks (about 3 cups)
1 cup strawberries, stems removed and sliced in half
2 kiwi fruit, peeled and cut into chunks (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup superfine sugar
For the custard:
2 cups milk
1 whole vanilla bean
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
FOR THE FRUIT SALAD
In a large bowl, toss together all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
FOR THE CUSTARD
Prepare an ice bath.
Place the milk in the metal top of a double boiler over 1 inch water. Slice open the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape the beans into the milk, and discard pod. Stir to combine. Heat the double boiler over medium heat until milk is steaming but not boiling. Turn off the heat. Combine 1/4 cup of the warm milk with the eggs yolks in a small bowl, stirring constantly. Add another 1/4 cup of milk, stirring constantly to warm the egg yolks. Pour the egg-and-milk mixture back into the milk in the double boiler. Stir in the sugar. Turn on the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. The custard should be about the consistency of a creamy salad dressing and thickly coat the back of the wooden spoon.
When the custard mixture is thick, remove from the heat and put the top of the double boiler in the ice-water bath. Stir in the nutmeg. When the custard is cool, drizzle over individual servings of fruit salad and serve extra sauce on the side.
YIELD: 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
PREP TIME: 30 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 15 MINUTES