Strawberry Orange Salad With Cardamom Syrup

A light refreshing salad that works equally well as a starter or dessert. This is easy peasy to make and has a wonderful combination of flavors. If you like your fruit salads extra saucy, just increase the sugar and water to 1/3 cup. If you can't find blood oranges, use additional common oranges instead.

• Ready In: 17 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3  oranges (see preparation below)
• 2  blood oranges
• 1 1⁄2 cups strawberries

• Syrup

• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 2 -3  cardamom pods

Directions

1. To prepare the syrup: Lightly crush the cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle or the back of a knife. Not too small as they will be strained from the syrup.
2. Place water, sugar and cardamom in a small saucepan. Heat on medium for 2 or 3 minutes until the sugar is melted and the cardamom begins to infuse the simple syrup. You should not have any bubbling and the syrup should be translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. To prepare the salad: Wash and hull the strawberries. Halve or quarter the berries and place in bowl.
4. Take the oranges and trim the tops so they will sit nicely on your cutting board. Trim down the side of the orange with a knife to remove the peel and all visible pith (white part. You are trying to keep as much of the orange flesh on the fruit. Split the orange in half and trim out white in the center. Cut orange halves into 4 to 6 segments depending on the size of the fruit. Place oranges in the bowl with the strawberries.
5. Pour the syrup over the fruit salad and stir.
6. Chill for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you are chilling longer, periodically mix to make sure all the fruit is in good contact with the syrup.
7. Serve.