Italian fruit salad

Macedonia di frutta di stagione
In Denmark you can always buy French hot dogs and Danish pastries, when you stop for a snack on the motorway. In Germany you won’t fall short of bratwurst and sachertorte. And in Italy every Auto Grill serves rustichella and Macedonia or toasted sandwiches and a fruit salads based on seasonal ingredients. The Italians manage to offer a meal that is fast, tasty and healthy, both dishes cooking up three treats in one.

Macedonia is so offensively simple to prepare, it hardly qualifies as a dish, but for those who have not yet discovered the sweet beauty of freshly cut fruit, here is a recipe:

Ingredients
500 g fresh fruit of the season – eg. strawberries, apples, pears, peaches, kiwi, kaki, grapes, melons, pineapples, apricots, bananas, oranges, star fruit, papaya, mango or whatever fruit is available – at least three different kinds.
1 lemon juice
3 tbsp sugar
2 dl water
1 star anise

Preparation
Boil water, sugar, lemon juice and star anise to thick syrup in order to make the sugar has dissolved. Leave the syrup to cool, while you clean, peel and cube the different fruits.
Pour the cooled syrup over the fruit and leave the salad in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.

Simple, eh?

You can give the salad a personal twist by experimenting with liquors, rum, vanilla and cinnamon sticks, fresh ginger, fresh mint, etc., but it is a pity to cover it in cream.