Prepare tonight but eat tomorrow

nic82

Hiya,

I've got some people coming round for dinner tomorrow night, but I've only got 1hr between getting home from work and them arriving.

I want to do a hm fruit salad as part of dessert.

Would it be OK to prepare it tonight, or will the fruit go brown and yukky overnight? I was only going to do a simple one with apples, pears, bananas and pineapple (the pineapple is tinned, but everything else is fresh).

I know that you can put a bit of lemon juice on cut apples to stop them going brown, but don't know how long this will last for, nor do I know whether it will work if it is in the fruit salad's liquid?

I don't know if it'd just be better to make it tomorrow night instead.

comping_cat

I think fruit salad is the one thing i wouldnt prepare the night before, maybe the harder fruits might be ok, but i dont think the banana would keep.

nic82

Thanks Catherine. I did wonder if that would be the case. I'll just have to fly around the kitchen tomorrow evening!

The main course can't really be prepared beforehand either. It's salmon filets topped with chopped mushrooms and skinned, chopped tomatoes and then the whole lot is wrapped in a sheet of filo pastry. I was then going to do a salted cherry tomato and herb salad on the side (a la Gary Rhodes) with new potatoes and a green salad.

Actually, reading that back, I don't think it should take that long to do (fingers crossed), so hopefully I should have plenty of time to prepare the fruit salad too.

Nic

lindens

I have made a fruit salad and kept in in the fridge for two or three days no problem. The fruit goes brown when the air gets to it so i always put lots of "juice" in to make sure all the fruit is covered. I always use a mixture of fruit juice and diet lemonade.

rchddap1

At Xmas my mother always makes it the night before....except for the bananas, which get plopped in just before serving. She uses penty of orange juice, to add to the lemon juice to make sure that everything is covered.

MrsTinks

Instead of fruitsalad how about this:

Orange and Amaretti dessert.

Take some oranges and peel and remove all the white from them then chop into small-ish pieces. Buy a bag of ammaretti biscuits (£1.30 I think at Tesco) and crush the biscuits (not to a fine powder but fairly well) Put oranges in a bowl and if you have it put a little amaretti liquer (sp?) over them, this isn't essential and I rarely do it. DO add a Table spoon of sugar and stir in though.

Now all you need tomorrow night is a bowl (seethough purex is best ) and some whipped cream. Start the bowl by adding a layer or oranges, then a layer of amaretti then oranges and so on till the bowl is nearly full. Now do a final layer of whipped cream

You CAN make the dish in advance but then the buscuits go soggy and I like mine crunchy but it will still taste divine

snax

I wouldn't bother with banana at all [not in a fruit salad] - try grapes [white and red seedless], strawberry quarters, kiwi slices, a 'small' tin of diced peaches and pears [in syrup as there will be enough to 'coat' everything without it being drowned in juice] and a small segmented orange - mandarin, satsuma etc - ok to use tinned if in a hurry, drain first though as too much liquid.

This can all be done the day before and left in the fridge - cover with film and press it down to touch the surface of the fruit to exclude as much air as possible.

Apple can be added an hour or 2 before serving - it sticks in the throat for some reason [like cucumber skin!] so not sure if you need it - if you do, chop into small cubes and mix in and recover with film to keep air out.

Mango [fresh] is nice but unfortunatly a pain in the derriere to skin and chop especially if in a hurry - unless you are good with a knife?

hope it helps.

S.

saving-grace

When making a fruit salad I always use a light syrup:
3oz sugar and half a pint of water in a pan, heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (usually Jif from a bottle). Chill before putting the fruit into it.
This way you can make the fruit salad a couple of hours in advance without the fruit going brown, though its best to add the banana just before serving.
However I wouldn't make it the day before serving. Sometimes we have a bit left over and it gets eaten at breakfast but by then the fruit is definitely softening and a bit mushy and past its best.