Fruit Salad with Sweet-Tart Sauce

Alright! A fruit thing! This is new! I don't cook with fruits nearly as often as I should, but this recipe sounded good, and healthy (usually, I eat fruit raw or put it in salads, which if you've never done, is amazing. Try a salad of spinach, walnuts, dried cherries, fresh sliced strawberries, blue cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette... simply delicious!). Anyways, this week's recipe has a variety of my favorite fruits and is covered in a wonderful lemon-lime sauce. I should note that one of the most exciting things about this recipe for me was roasting the pears, which I've never done before... they were truly amazing! To be fair, it is an adaptation of a Cook's Illustrated recipe.

4 Bosc or Anjou pears, firm
2 Tbsp butter, melted
4 Tbsp sugar
2 mangos, peeled and chopped into bite-size chunks
1 quart strawberries, peeled and chopped into bite-size chunks
1 cup blueberries (thawed if frozen, though fresh are better)
2 lemons, juiced and one of them zested
3 limes, juiced and one of them zested
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped

Preheat the oven to 500 F.

Skin the pears, slice them in half, decore them, and cut them into fifths. Toss with the melted butter. Then toss with the sugar. Lay on flat side on a cookie sheet and roast for 10-12 minutes, or until the pears are browned on the bottom. Flip and roast for another 5-7 minutes, or until the bottom is browned. Set aside to cool. Once cool, chop into bite-size chunks.

Meanwhile add the lemon and lime juices, sugar, and salt in a pot and simmer until reduced to a 1/4 cup (a syrupy consistency). Add the ginger and lemon and lime zests and let steep for 2 minutes. Filter the syrup.

Mix the pears, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries together. Add syrup and toss. Chill until ready to serve. It is best to serve it the day it is made b/c the strawberries will get soft and mushy if left overnight.

Enjoy!