Three Fruit Salad - fresh and elegant

Not being a fan of the "lucky dip" type of fruit salad, crammed with every kind of fruit all leaching colour into one another, I have evolved a preference for three fruits only, of different colours and textures.  No sugar syrup, just plain unsweetened fruit juice.   Less is definitely more when it comes to fruit salad!
Serve with home made ice cream and little biscuits/meringues if you wish, but otherwise enjoy the simple flavours of well-chosen fresh fruit.   (This is not an opportunity to get rid of a lot of overripe fruit - save that for a smoothie!)  The salad below is pineapple, with strawberry and banana, in orange juice, decorated with mint.

Three Fruit Salad

Pineapple, Strawberry and Banana – serves 6

1 pineapple

1lb/450g ripe strawberries

2 underripe bananas (green/yellow, not yellow/black)

approx 1 pint fruit juice – apple or orange

mint leaves

Cut the fruit into roughly even pieces, layer in the bowl and pour the juice over so that the fruit is nearly covered, not drowning.    Leave for at least half an hour.    If you are using bananas, you could sprinkle on a little lemon juice to stop them going black.

If your strawberries are not very ripe/scented, sprinkle with icing sugar and a squeeze of lemon and leave in a warm place for half an hour, alternatively, put in the microwave for 15-30 seconds! 

Other good combinations:

Strawberry, grape, orange flesh melon/nectarine

Fruits to avoid:

Apples, blackberries, raspberries and any of those 1980's fruits – kiwi, star etc….