A little recipe for today.

This is something kind of different - and maybe some people might consider it a little outrageous or dated. (It comes from a 50s-60s era cookbook: "Good and Easy." (It's a Betty Crocker book; a small, spiral-bound-with-hard-cover book - apparently they did a line of these, I have a copy of Cooking for Two that is the same format, and there's at least one more, a book on entertaining that has some wonderful luridly decorated cakes in it. Here's a picture of the book in question. It's from 1954).

It's called Baked Curried Fruit. It seems like something that would not be done today (at least, I've never had it) because of the overwhelming idea (at least that I've heard from some people "into" nutrition) that fruit must be eaten fresh and raw. And of course, the recipe has sugar and butter in it.

But it's good, and it's different, and it's interesting, and it would go well with a roast. I made this recipe last night as a trial - we're having a dinner at church on Sunday, ham is being served, and I thought this might be a good potluck dish. (I think it will go very nicely with ham).

I think it would also make an interesting pie filling.

The recipe is pretty simple. Like a lot of older recipes, it called for "Number 1 cans" and "Number 2 cans" (Stop laughing! The numbers correspond to ounce size. I have a conversion table in one of my newer cookbooks - I always have to look them up) . But you could sub any amounts of what you wanted.

The main thing is the sauce. You melt 1/3 cup of butter, stir in 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar and 4 teaspoons of curry powder. (I used a "sweet" curry blend from Penzey's; you could probably use a hotter curry and just use less of it). I found I had to add some water to make the syrup liquid enough. (You could probably cut out some of the butter and use water or the juice from the fruit instead...)

Then, you open your number 1 cans of pears and peaches (or apricots), drain them, arrange them in a 9 by 13 dish. Then you open your number 2 can of pineapple chunks, drain them, and add them. Then you add a few maraschino cherries for color. You pour the sauce over the fruit and pop the whole thing in a preheated 325 degree oven for 15 minutes, then baste, then bake 15 or so minutes more.

It's surprisingly good, for something so simple: it's not as sweet as fruit straight out of the can (despite the brown sugar, and when I make it again I might use less sugar), it has a nice complex flavor. (The spices that make up the sweet curry mix are many of the same ones that go in chai tea - so you could almost call this "Masala fruit" if you wanted to be uppity). The recipe as printed made enough for me to have a big serving of it at dinner (along with a salad, it was dinner), and maybe 2-3 smaller servings leftover. I think you could safely say it would serve 4 to 6, especially as a small serving as a sort of relish with ham or turkey.