Pineapple With Ginger and Chilli

Submitted by RonaNZ

"This unusual combination of flavours for a dessert fruit dish needs no other accompaniment. I have included some instructions for cutting up pineapple. It seems to be a bit of a fiddle but this is the way I always do it and it makes such a difference to the pleasure of eating pineapple. You could slice off more skin but you’d lose some of the tasty pineapple. Or you could go for the leave-the-skin-on approach – but then you get pineapple stuck in your teeth as you attempt to bite it off the skin. Not a good look if you happen to be having a romantic dinner for two!"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 3
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 fresh ripe pineapple
• 40 g fresh ginger (about 2 inch piece)
• 1⁄2 red chile (mild, deseeded and chopped)

directions

1. Peel, core and cube the pineapple.
2. Peel the ginger and grate into the pineapple. Discard the fibrous bits.
3. Add the chopped chilli.
4. Cover and marinate in the fridge overnight.
5. Bring to room temperature to serve. Cold destroys the flavour so this is an important step.
6. Variations:.
7. Add kirsch or a liqueur of your choice.
8. Substitute 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped mint for the chilli.
9. =========================================.
10. Directions for chopping up pineapple:.
11. Chop the leaves off the top and take a slice off the bottom of the pineapple so that it can stand up.
12. Slice off the skin starting at the top and taking 1 inch wide slices to the bottom. This will leave the flower buds (the spiky brown bits) but not remove too much of the sweetest flesh which is near the skin.
13. Lay the pineapple on its side and you will notice that the flower buds are in a spiral pattern around the pineapple.
14. Cut out the buds with a v-groove, following the diagonal pattern of the buds. Make a shallow cut one side and then complete the v-groove by cutting the other side. A flick with the knife will remove the buds without too much of the flesh.
15. Once all the buds have been cut out, slice the pineapple into 1-2cm slices.
16. Take a slice and, holding it over a bowl to catch all the juice, make two cuts into the slice from the edge to the core, about 1-2cm apart.
17. Snap out the wedge from the core. It will break naturally at the edge of the tough bit, a bit like snapping the ends off asparagus.
18. Continue cutting wedges and snapping them from the core until all you are left with is the core. The cook gets to suck on the cores!
19. Repeat for the other slices.
20. All the pineapple in the bowl will be succulent, juicy and ready to pop in your mouth – or your lover’s mouth, if this a romantic dinner for two. ;).