When in doubt, go retro.
A Hollywood Dinner Party Scene
The Guest sits at the dinner table in his suit, regaling his fellow Diners with tales of machismo. The Hostess puts a dish of fruit salad in front of him. The Guest takes a bite, more for dramatic effect than real desire. He remains silent, sits up straight, then dips his spoon back into the dessert. The Diners’ voices fade into the background. He lifts a gleaming cherry to his lips and closes his eyes. Domenico Modugno’s ‘Ciao Ciao Bambina’ lilts onto the soundtrack and he smiles…
Almost anyone who cooks is familiar with Marcella Hazan’s iconic pasta sauces. Right now, even more people are blogging about her Tomato Sauce III than her ‘Tagliatelle alla Bolognese’. The bloggers have good reason to write about these recipes, as both dishes leave the eater speechless, stretching his or her spine in attention.
‘Wow’ and ‘Yum’ are complimentary, but when someone shuts up and gets taller in their chair, you know that you have done your job. Today, I give you Marcella Hazan’s ‘Macedonia di frutta’ from ‘The Classic Italian Cookbook’. This simple recipe is overlooked, and in my experience, has always hushed the guests around the table.
The Fruit
The Italians borrow the name macedonia from a region in southern Europe that includes parts of ex-Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece. The area is known for the mixture of races that populates it, and this namesake should be made with as many different fruits as possible. For the baseline, you will need apples, pears, bananas, orange and lemon juice. For the top notes, add a generous selection of seasonal fruits. For me, cherries and peaches are a necessity. After that, I use whatever is ripe. Nectarines, plums, green grapes, pineapple and melon are all fair game.
The Maraschino Liqueur
Maraschino is made from Marasca cherries and their pits. Produced in Croatia and Northern Italy, it has a ‘bitter-dry flavour profile’. To me, it just tastes retro, in the best possible way. One sip of this liqueur and I am right back in the 60’s, crunching on the electric coloured cherry in my Shirley Temple cocktail, begging my mother for the jar. Ms. Hazan calls for 8 tablespoons. I double the amount of top note fruits in her recipe. This dilutes the strength of the maraschino, but I still consider it essential. Without it, you have a run of the mill fruit salad.
Macedonia di Frutta, adapted from Marcella Hazan
Note: This makes a large amount and will feed a crowd at a party. Please feel free to scale down.
The Ingredients
1 to 1.5 cups orange juice
Grated peel of one lemon
2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
2 apples
2 pears
2 bananas
3 lbs of assorted fruit such as cherries, apricots, nectarines, plums, peaches, grapes, mango, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and pineapple
1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar (only if necessary)
8 tablespoons maraschino liqueur
The Method
Put the orange juice, the grated lemon peel and the lemon juice in a large serving bowl.
Peel and cut all fruits into bite sized pieces and put them into the bowl. Add each fruit to the bowl as you cut it, so that the juice in the bowl will keep it from discolouring. Pit the cherries and remove the seeds from the grapes if not using seedless.
When all the fruit is in the bowl, add the maraschino. Taste. Add the optional sugar if necessary. Mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a dish and refrigerate for at least 4 hours for the flavours to develop. Mix gently and serve chilled. It is best on the day it is made, but still good on day two.