4th of July Giveaway Winning Recipe: Fruity Peacock

Here is the winning recipe by Cortney:



Choose a watermelon that is not too big and fairly round. Cut a little bit off one end so it is stable on your plate. Take either a toothpick, pencil or marker to sketch out the shape you will eventually cut. In the picture, I made the tail round, but you could do scallops or a zig-zag even. The shape of the head is important. Follow the picture to give you an idea.

Then take a knife and follow your line. Cut out your shape and leave the chunks that you cut off as big as you can so you can use the fruit within. If you take just little bits at a time, it won't be as usable.

When you've got most of your shape cut out, take a melon ball utensil and gut the watermelon. As you can see in the photo, I was able to get many melon balls, but also wedges taken from the chunks that I cut out. When using a melon ball utensil, take care not to dig too deep into the white flesh. You don't want the rind too thin and it's better if the inside is all the same color, preferably red.

The skewers are the next important part. Use 5 or 7 wooden skewers and load with fruit chunks. An odd number is best since one would stick straight up and the rest would be even. It's ideal if you can do a pattern of large fruit, small fruit including peeled and sliced kiwi. Kiwi is a little difficult to work with since it's so soft, but the effect is awesome since they represent the "eyes" in a peacock's tail. If you can't or don't want to work with kiwi, other large, round slices of another fruit would be okay. Make sure all the skewers are loaded with the same pattern of fruit.

Stick the first skewer right in the top of the "tail". Stick it down far enough that it won't fall over. Make sure there is no skewer showing above the top fruit. Add the other skewers around the "tail" at even intervals.

Blueberries are the next important element. Use three toothpicks. Cut about 1/3 off two of the picks. Using the picture as a guide, put a blueberry on each toothpick and place on the "head" of the peacock. Use the 1/3 that was cut off and place a blueberry on that and stick on front of "head" as an eye.

Put whole peacock on decorative plate that has a lip. Juices may drain! Add cut fruit to peacock bowl and around plate for garnish. Enjoy!