Last of July

Boy, it's been a strange month!  On one hand, this July seems to have lasted forever.  On the other,  it seems to have flown by as well.  "Time flies", they say and Groucho Marx added "...and fruit flies like bananas!"  Wikipedia (which we all believe without reservation, of course) said that July

"... starts on the same day of the week as April in every year, and January in leap years. In a common year no other month ends on the same day as July, while in a leap year July ends on the same day of the week as January. 

So there.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Dragonfruit
When we were down in the Keys, we found Dragonfruit at one of the roadside stands near Homestead.  I hadn't realized it was grown here.  I wish we'd bought some then, it was a lot cheaper than the $4 per fruit (!) I paid at my local megamart the other day.  Lady Sally had never experienced Dragonfruit.  I'd had both the red and white varieties several years back when I spent a month's vacation on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

This is a unique (if expensive) taste treat.  Similar in flavor to Kiwi, Dragonfruit (a.ka. Pitaya or Pitahaya)  is the fruit of one of several species of cactus!  Originally native to Mexico, the cactus has spread throughout Central and South America and Asia.  They are commonly grown in Hawaii, as well as down here in southern Florida. The texture is firmer than Kiwi and not as creamy as avocado.  

The gazillion teeny seeds are edible thank Murphy!  They'd be a pain to seed out!  Once you halve the fruit a spoon along the edge will allow you to peel the skin away.  Skins can be used as decorative containers, of course, while the fruit can be cubed, sliced or rounded up with a melon baller.

Most of the recipes you'll find are for Dragonfruit ice cream or some variation on a shake/smoothie.  Personally I think most of those are so full of other stuff that you'd lose the unique but oh so subtle flavor of the Dragonfruit.  A cubed fruit salad will let the flavor through through, as will the recipe below:

Dragonfruit Avocado & Shrimp Salad
The name tells you the three major ingredients.  I added a couple more items to make this a bit more filling as part of a soup and salad dinner for two.

1 Dragonfruit
1 Hass Avocado or half a large Choquette/Florida variety
1/2 lb Shrimp, cooked & peeled
2 cups chopped greens - I used Greenleaf lettuce.  Anything but iceberg!
4 Mozzarella balls
4 Cherry Tomatoes

For the dressing:
2 Limes, juiced
2 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp EVOO

Cook the shrimp.  I like mine Cajun Barbecued -- that is cooked with a bit of Cajun seasoning like Tony Chachere'stm brand.  The peel and cool them while you prep the rest of the salad. Cube or slice the avocado and dragonfruit.  Lay down a bed of greens, sourround it with dragonfruit, and place the avocado in the center (or vice versa).  Add the tomatoes and mozarella.  Top with the shrimp.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together and set it on the table to be added as desired.

The soup?  My signature Butternut Squash soup -- recipe in the March 31st post here about Black Cardamon.

Canjica de Milho -- Brazilian Sweet Corn Dessert Pudding
Awhile back I picked up a package of Maiz Blanco Trillado (Goyatm brand) that was being remaindered at my megamart.  This is dried cracked hominy.  I've used a lot of hominy, but never in this form.  I found the following recipe for a sweet corn pudding and decided to give it a try.  The dish is often served at Festa Junina, the Brazilian Summer Solstice festival.  Warning.  The following recipe will be a LOT easier if you skip the Maiz Blanco Trillado and substitute canned white hominy

For 2 servings:

1/4 cup Maiz Blanco Trillado
1/2 cup Half & Half
1/4 cup Raisins
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 tsp fresh ground Cinnamon

Start with a cup of water, and simmer the hominy low and slow for at least an hour or until tender, adding water as necessary!  After an hour add the half & half, sugar, raisins and cinnamon.  Continue cooking until tender/soft and the creamy gravy thickens.  Ladle into bowls and allow it to set and thicken even more.

Pretty yummy if you like rice pudding, but a LOT of work.  Use canned hominy and save an hour!