Orzo Pasta Fruit Salad

Rosa Marina Pasta Fruit Salad 

This recipe was one of the first given to me by my old friend, Olive Grant, when I was a newlywed. She taught me so many tricks of the kitchen trade I will always be grateful. She was a little old lady about 30 years older than me at the time..... She told me once, "I won't be around forever to cook the suppers at church, so you need to learn how to do it for when I'm gone." She was a master of all kitchen gadgets (some I'd never seen before!)  and she was a wonderful, wondrous cook. 

Ingredients for Orzo Fruit Salad 

The Rosa Marina macaroni/pasta is very hard to find. It looks like fat pieces of rice in pasta form. But Orzo pasta is a good substitute and easier to find in most markets. But I like Rosa Marina better. It plumps up to a nice oval shape and it feels fun in your mouth. So if you find it, buy up bags of them up!  Anyway, I used orzo for this recipe, so you can too. 

Custard mix for Rosa Marina Fruit Salad

You are basically making a sweet custard to mix with cool whip and the macaroni is a base for this sweet, fruit salad. It makes a huge bowl so I love bringing it to a family supper or a church pot luck. The Maraschino cherries make it so pretty and it will feed an army, like 12 to 14 as a side dish. 

ROSA MARINA OR ORZO FRUIT SALAD

• 1 box (1 pound box or bag) Rosa Marina pasta, OR orzo pasta
• 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
• 1 can (20 ounces) pineapple tidbits
• 1 jar (8 ounces) maraschino cherries
• 2 cans (11 ounces) mandarin oranges
• 3  eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 container (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Heat a saucepan of water to a boil. Add the salt, then add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside to cool. 

cooked Orzo pasta....for Rosa Marina Fruit Salad

Meanwhile, drain all of the fruit, reserving the juices,  (except cherry juice).  Add the eggs, flour, sugar, lemon juice and the mixed fruit juices in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat until custard mixture thickens like gravy. Pour into a bowl and cool mixture in fridge.

Here is the thickened, cooked Orzo Fruit Salad custard.....only takes 5 minutes.....

Drain the pasta when cooked, then let cool. Place the cooled pasta into a bowl and add the cooled fruit sauce custard mixture and the crushed pineapple. Mix. 

This is what the custard looks like when it is cooked and a bit thickened....you add the Cool Whip when it cools.

 Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight. Refrigerate the fruit separately in a bowl.

This was before I mixed in the fruit.... how beautiful it looks after the  pineapple, oranges and cherries are added. It is so colorful and pretty in a glass or crockery bowl.

When the mixture sets up it is time to add the mandarin oranges, tidbit pineapple and Cool Whip to the pasta and custard mixture. Pull the stems off of the Maraschino cherries and add a whole small jar (minus the juice) into your salad. Reserve 8 for the top of the salad to make it look pretty. Put in fridge till ready to serve. 

 Here is the finished Orzo Fruit Salad....it looks good....and it IS YUMMY!  

Orzo or Rosa Marina Pasta Fruit Salad

Place them in a circle on top of the salad just for looks. I like to use a pretty glass bowl so the pineapple, oranges and cherries show through the sides. But this was a new orange crockery bowl I just bought and wanted to try out. 

I ALWAYS get compliments on this fruit salad. 

                      You will too!  I promise!