Stars In Your Eyes

Hi folks, I'm still here (just!)

Last time on the blog, way back in (ahem) February, I posed the following food-related teaser: what, pray tell, is this?

My dear pal Marissa was on the case and correctly identified Star Fruit. Why are they called Star fruit? Because when you slice these delicious sweet-tart things, they look like this...

Carambola, or star fruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and throughout Malesia (a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone). The fruit is commonly consumed throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Micronesia, and parts of East Asia. The tree is cultivated throughout tropical areas.

The fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually five but can occasionally vary); when cut in cross-section, it resembles a star, hence its name. The entire fruit is edible and is usually eaten out of hand. They may also be used in cooking and can be made into relishes, preserves, and juice drinks.

So what can we make with them? Here are a couple of ideas.

Food blogger Suwannee Rose has some great recipes for Starfruit, including Starfruit Chips, Starfruit Tart and Starfruit Palomas .

Food Network had this recipe too, for Starfruit Upside-Down Cake:

Star Fruit Upside-Down Cake

Level: Easy
Total: 1 hr 50 min
Active: 40 min
Yield: 8 servings (1 slice)

Ingredients

Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3 or 4 small starfruit, cut into 1/4-inch-thick stars and seeds removed

Cake:

1/2 cup pecans

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup low-fat yogurt


Directions

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan.
For the topping: Melt the butter, brown sugar and lemon juice together in a microwave-safe small bowl in the microwave. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan. Cover it with the starfruit slices by nestling them next to one another and overlapping (it will look crowded). Set aside.
For the cake: Spread the pecans out on a baking sheet, and bake until nicely toasted, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Whisk together the ground pecans, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and allspice. Set aside.
Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed. Adjust the mixer speed to low, and add half the flour mixture, then the yogurt, then the remaining flour.
Pour the batter into the pan, spread it out into an even layer and give it a few taps on the counter. Bake until golden brown, a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean in the center and the cake pulls away from the edges, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack until the pan is cool enough to handle, then run a knife along the edge and invert the cake onto a serving platter. Let cool completely before serving.

Sounds pretty amazing!

Ok, then - let's do another. Name THIS Food!