Green Media Breakfast Project: Fruit Salad with Feta & Mint

Last Friday, my Green Media class shared our first meal together with the Breakfast Project.  Each student was required to bring in a dish that they had made for everyone to try, creating a 13 dish buffet.

It. Was. Amazing.

Pancakes were made ON THE SPOT.  With a grill.  In the classroom.

Any doubts I had about taking a Friday class (my first one in years, and at 9:40am, no less) melted away as soon as I saw Marco start flipping over those gorgeous circles of fluffy batter.

Besides hot off the grill pancakes, there was also a cheese souffle, home made bagels (I didn't even know what was possible), cinnamon rolls (still warm), a blueberry lime bunt cake, vegan lemon scones, corn beef hash, and more.  Like, twice as much more.

When planning our contributions the week before, I immediately volunteered to make this gorgeous citrus salad with feta and mint that I had recently seen on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen by Deb.  I was sold on the idea after seeing just one photo (and the inclusion of feta, which I could eat by the spoonful), as well as the fact that it seemed simple enough.  Cut citrus, sprinkle feta.  Well...

Little did I know that cutting the citrus into those perfect little ninja stars did, in fact, require the actual knife skills of a ninja.  While I did manage to get one grapefruit and two oranges adequately severed, I also had to throw out another three pieces of fruit because of poor quality (taste-wise, not just because they looked janky as hell, which they did).  Defeated by the tricky citrus, I booked it to Trader Joes to grab a few tired and true items I knew would still be just as delicious and not make me cry because they looked OK but tasted like barf.

=

Mixed Fruit Salad with Feta and Mint
(adjusted recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
- Fruits of choice:
1 grapefruit
2 oranges
1/2 honeydew melon
1 green apple
1 pear
5 small plums
1 peach
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup crumbled feta (depending on size of salad)
- 1 - 2 tablespoons fresh mint (depending on size of salad)
- juice of 1 lime (optional)
- 1/4 cup orange juice (optional)
- 1 tablespoon honey

1. Cut up the fruit.  For citrus ninja stars: cut off each end of the piece of fruit, then set it on one of the now flat ends.   Cut off the sides in vertical pieces, cutting from top to bottom.  After removing all remaining skin, lay the fruit on its side and cut it into 1/4" thick wheels.

 

 

2. Add pieces of fruit to platter or bowl of choice.  For extra pizazz, I recommend putting the citrus ninja stars on the top.

3. In the Smitten Kitchen version of this salad, there is a savory dressing included.  Since I was making this for breakfast, my "dressing" consisted of drizzling orange juice, lime juice, and some honey on the top.  I felt like the added sweetness and moisture was necessary because some of the fruit wasn't as ripe as I would have liked.  This step is totally optional, and you can wing it with whatever juice you have handy (e.g. lemonade, pomegranate).

4.  Before serving, sprinkle feta and mint on top.  I would not to this too far ahead (I made mine the night before and did this step before going to class) because a) the feta will get soggy and b) the aroma of the mint seeps into the fruit VERY quickly.

5. Dig in.