Vanilla Autumn Fruit Salad

📝 Ingredients

• 2 apples (about 180 g each)
• 2 ripe but firm pears (about 180 g each)
• 250 g fresh grapes
• 3 kiwis (about 80 g each)
• 4 clementines (about 70 g each)
• 1 unwaxed lemon (zest and juice)
• 40 g caster sugar + 200 ml water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 40 g walnut halves
• 10 fresh mint leaves

🍴 Utensils

• Small saucepan
• Peeler
• Citrus juicer
• 2 mixing bowls
• Frying pan
• Cutting board and knife

📖 Steps

1. Pare the lemon zest into wide strips with a vegetable peeler, avoiding the bitter white pith, then squeeze the juice and set it aside. Put the water and sugar in a small pan and add the strips of zest.
2. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then simmer gently over a low heat for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract and lemon juice, then stand the pan in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes to cool the syrup.
3. Meanwhile, peel the kiwis and clementines. Cut the kiwis into 1.5 cm dice, separate the clementine segments and halve them. Wash the grapes, pull them off the stalks and halve them, removing any pips.
4. Wash the apples and pears, quarter them, remove the cores and pips, then cut into 1.5 cm dice without peeling, to keep their colour and crunch. Put them straight into a large bowl with 2 tbsp syrup so they don't go brown.
5. Add the rest of the fruit to the bowl. Remove the strips of zest from the cooled syrup, pour the syrup over the fruit and fold gently with a spoon, lifting rather than stirring, so as not to crush the kiwis.
6. Cover and leave to macerate in the fridge for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through: the fruit releases its juice and takes on the vanilla flavour. Don't leave it for more than a few hours, or the fruit will go soft.
7. While it macerates, dry-toast the walnut halves in a frying pan over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until they smell toasted. Leave to cool on a plate, then roughly chop with a knife.
8. Divide the fruit salad and its syrup between four bowls. Scatter with the chopped walnuts and shredded mint at the last moment, so they stay crunchy and fresh, then serve well chilled.