Florida Citrus Garden Salad Recipes

FLORIDA CITRUS BARS

Steps:

• For the crust: Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang for easy removal.
• In the bowl of a food processor, add the vanilla wafers, butter, granulated sugar, zest and a pinch of salt. Pulse until the mixture is a very fine crumb and is starting to clump together. Press the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Chill the dish in the freezer while you make the filling.
• For the filling: Add the cream cheese, condensed milk, confectioners' sugar, grapefruit zest, lemon zest and orange zest to a large bowl. Whip together with an electric hand mixer until completely combined and there are no clumps of cream cheese. Fold in the whipped cream. Remove the crust from the freezer and pour in the filling, using a spatula to smooth it into an even layer. Return to the freezer and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• For the topping: When the filling is set, remove the whole bar from the baking dish and place on a cutting board; removing the parchment. Decorate the top with the orange, grapefruit and lemon rounds, then carefully slice into bars. Serve immediately.

CITRUS SALAD

Steps:

• Place lime slices, tangerine sections, navel orange, and grapefruit in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the lime zest, mandarin orange zest, shallots, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. Pour over the fruit. Arrange dressed fruit atop romaine lettuce to serve.

CITRUS SALAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the fruit sour cream, marshmallows and coconut. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. If desired, serve in a lettuce-lined bowl or on individual lettuce-lined plates.

FLORIDA AMBROSIA SALAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Pierce the softest eye of the coconut with a metal skewer or small screwdriver and drain any liquid into a small bowl to sample-you should have about 1/2 cup liquid. (If the liquid tastes sweet, the coconut is fresh; if it tastes oily, the coconut is rancid and should be discarded.)
• Bake the coconut for 15 minutes then transfer to a folded towel on a work surface. Using the back of a knife or a cleaver, crack the shell open. Break the shell into large pieces and use a strong knife to carefully remove the flesh from the shell. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the brown skin then shave the coconut into thin strips-you should have about 4 cups shaved coconut. Reserve 2 cups for the ambrosia salad; wrap and freeze the remainder for another use. DO AHEAD: Coconut shavings can stored, in an airtight container, in the refrigerator up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.
• Using a serrated knife, cut the peel off the grapefruits and oranges. Cut the fruit crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds then cut the rounds into bite-size pieces. Transfer to a large bowl; add the pineapple, kumquats, pomegranate seeds, 2 cups coconut shavings, 1/2 cup coconut juice, and the apple juice, and toss gently to combine. Serve at room temperature or chilled. DO AHEAD: Florida Ambrosia Salad can be prepared ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator up to 8 hours.