pineapple

Sugar. sugar, sugar! Let’s face it, I’m addicted to desserts, and my friends are starting to hate me when they jump on the scales too see the pounds pilling up. But as we can’t just live on sweets (or so the doctor told me), it’s about time I post a savoury dish around here, don’t you think? Well… mostly savoury, as one of the ingredients is pineapple. But, hey, getting there!

Polka Dot Quiche

250g of mascarpone cheese
2 large eggs
100g wafer thin ham
2 slices of pineapple
14 cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Lay the ready rolled pastry on a loose bottom pan and trim off the excess. Of course you can make your own pie crust, if you’re up for it. I wasn’t…

In a big bowl, mix the cheese and the eggs until you have a smooth mixture, and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Roll the ham slices and chop them into thin strips. Finely chop the pineapple slices. Stir the ham and the pineapple to the mix and pour it onto the pie crust. You can use other ingredients in the quiche, like spinach, mushrooms or corn, but i usually like to keep it to just one or two, at most.

Slice the tomatoes in 3, and lay them cut side up on the pie. Sprinkle some oregano and pop it in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the pastry is done and the top is golden. Serve with some salad greens - Rocket goes nicely with it, for instance.

When I’m invited to a friend’s house, for dinner or drinks, I always view it as an excuse to get into the kitchen and dream up some dessert to bring over. Yesterday, I thought of doing some custard, because I’ve had a brand new blowtorch stuck in a cabinet for ages and wanted to used it.

But a plain custard seemed somehow too unoriginal to post, so I decided to add a pineapple twist to it. The result turned out quite yummy. Don’t trust me? Ask my friends.

I used canned pineapple, not only because it’s easier, but because of the wonderful juice the fruit comes in. I was then stuck with all the pineapple slices, and decided to chop them up, caramelise them, and garnish the custard with them. This also turned out quite good, but I found it a bit overpowering to the subtle flavour of the custard. So, if you have something else to do with the pineapple slices, the custard will do just fine on it’s own.

Alternatively, if you find a really good 100% natural pineapple juice, you may dispense with the caned pineapple altogether…

Pineapple Custard

250ml of juice from a can of pineapple
400ml of single cream
350ml of milk
1 tbsp of butter
1 slice of lemon peel
3 tbsp of cornstarch
6 tbsp of sugar
8 egg yolks

In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with a bit of the milk and set aside. Beat all the yolks in another bowl and reserve as well. In a saucepan, mix the remaining ingredients. When the liquid starts simmering, add the reserved cornstarch and milk, and keep stirring until the mixture thickens.

Now we need to add a bit of this custard to the beaten egg yolks, to slowly get them up to the same temperature. Then you can add them carefully to the saucepan, always stirring until the custard is nice and even. Remove the lemon peel and divide into desert dishes or ramekins. Shallow ones are better. Chill.

Before serving, sprinkle the custard with brown sugar, and caramelise it, either with a small culinary blowtorch like mine or with a creme brulée iron (aka salamander). If you like, you can garnish the custards with a bit of…

Caramelised Pineapple

1 can of pineapple, drained
4 tbsp sugar

Chop the pineapple slices into small pieces and place them with the sugar in a shallow pan over high heat. Keep tossing until it starts to brown. Chill.