A Little Somethin' Froggy on the Side
Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 11:24AM | Taneasha 
When I mentioned to Seeley that I was thinking about making frog eye salad, she made it quite clear that she wouldn’t be eating anything with frog eyes in it. Perhaps she’ll come around when she sees that the ‘frog eyes’ in this recipe are actually just pasta. Traditionally, it’s made with canned fruit and marshmallows and coconut, but as you know by now, we don’t really do traditional around here. I decided to use the basic recipe, but to put in my favorite fruits. You can put whatever you want in it, and it’ll be sure to make a fabulous side to go with your Easter ham. And speaking of Easter ham, be sure you save the liquid that cooks off and the bone and extra meat, and next week, I’ll show you a fabulous way to use them. Now, onto fruity, creamy, delicious frog eye salad.
Here’s what you’ll need:
1 cup acini de pepe, uncooked
¾ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons flour
1 ¼ cups pineapple juice, drained from canned pineapple
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 eggs
Whatever fruit you want to put in. I used strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, and mango.
Drain your pineapple. I used all of the juice from a big can of tidbits and a small can of crushed, but used only about half of the actual tidbits. If you don’t have quite enough juice, you can add another kind of juice or even water to get you to 1 ¼ cups. Put the pineapple into a container or bag and into the fridge until you need it later.
Cook your pasta for the least amount of time on the package directions.
Drain it, and stir in a tablespoon of butter.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
Whisk the eggs and lemon juice into the pineapple juice.
Pour that into the dry ingredients and whisk them together over medium heat.
Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick. If you run your finger through it on the back of the spoon, it will not run back together.
Pour that over the cooked acini de pepe and stir them together.
Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, it’s time for the fruit. This is how I like to cube a mango. Cut both sides off, avoiding the pit.
Then run a knife along the inside, not going through the skin, making little cubes.
Turn the whole thing inside out, and then you can just scrape them off with a spoon, or even your fingers, into a bowl.
Dice up the strawberries.
Blueberries just have to be rinsed.
And last, but not least, is the kiwi.
Cut off both ends and stand it upright.
Cut down the sides, removing the peel in strips.
Quarter it and dice it. (I used 2 kiwis)
Look how pretty that is! Lovely colors for springtime.
Add your pineapple to the bowl and stir all the fruit together.
Pull your pasta mixture out of the fridge. It should be quite solid.
To 2 cups cream, add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 3 Tablespoons sugar.
Whip until… voilá!
With a spatula, loosen up the pasta mixture a bit. It’s pretty solid, so you’ll kind of have to chop and smoosh.
Fold in the whipped cream in batches. At first it will be more stirring/smashing than actual folding.
But eventually, the mixture will start to come together, and you’ll be able to fold properly.
Now, add your fruit. Oh dear. Do you see the same problem I do? Obviously my bowl isn’t big enough. Oh well, I have confidence in my abilities!
Fold in your fruit until everything is incorporated. And there you have it! Frog Eye Salad. It’s sweet, creamy, fruity, and delicious.
Don’t you just love all the beautiful colors?
What’s your favorite springtime side dish?
Taneasha
I made a lower fat version of this dish this week and it was fabulous. Simply substitute 2 cups of nonfat, vanilla, Greek yogurt, for one of the cups of cream. Stir the yogurt into the pasta mixture first, and then whip 1 cup of cream with 1.5 Tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and fold it in before adding the fruit. That cuts the fat content of this just about in half, and it's every bit as delicious.
Reader Comments (3)
Um, I'm going to have to add this one to my pile of "American Food Is Weird".
Pasta salad, sure. Fruit salad, no problem. Pasta fruit salad? Um, wut? Now, I'm all for starchy things in custards. I love me some rice pudding and sweet bread pudding, but what I don't do with it, is serve it as a side dish for ham! This is like that sweet potato crumble thing that you wanted on the plate with your turkey.
Frogs Eye Salad = Delightful Summer Dessert
(and would be very fun to serve after the "Buffalo-style" frog legs that a local French restaurant has on the menu ;) )
Well, I won't argue with you on the dessert thing. It definitely makes a fabulous dessert. Although, I doubt I'll be eating buffalo-style frog legs anytime soon.
Yeah, I've never tried them. I just think they're hilarious on the menu like that. Served with a side of celery, carrots, and bleu cheese dressing. True French fusion. lol