Salad Days.

A useful salad tip from Ruby Borrowdale in the ‘Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book’:  " 'To curl' carrot curls and tasselled celery sticks, and open up your radish roses, place them in a jug of water with ice cubes, and let them stand until you assemble your salad."

“Individual ‘Side Salads’ with pineapple lend colour and vitamin goodness to summer and winter meals . . . give each diner the pleasure of mixing his flavours, or savouring each one solo.”

Treasure Island.

Fill a parfait glass to the rim with a random mixture of Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, chopped marshmallows, and chopped lime jelly. Top with a scoop of strawberry ice cream, garnish with cherries and mark the treasure with a cross or jelly star.

That was certainly a colourful meal! And wow that dessert! I’m quite sure my mother would never have served us jelly plus marshmallows plus strawberry ice cream plus glace cherries in one dish in the 1960s! Les and I remember our mothers making ice blocks from cordial in an ice cube tray and ice cream of evaporated and/or condensed milk in little aluminium trays. Times have changed! Aeroplane jelly, of course, appeared regularly, Anne.

"Round like a rissole."

There's not alot you can say about rissoles - they were round and crumbed and not unpleasant with pineapple, Anne.

Hearty Rissole Dinner.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 1 kg topside mince, 2 tblspns plain flour, 1 cup cooked rice, ¼ cup water, 1 chopped onion, crushed clove garlic (optional) 2 tblspns mustard or tomato sauce, herbs to taste, salt and pepper, beaten egg, fine dry breadcrumbs.

Place meat in saucepan, add plain flour, water, sauce, herbs, onion and garlic. Cook stirring, over low heat until meat changes colour. Remove from stove and stir in cooked rice. Cool. Spread onto shallow dish and chill till firm. Take chilled mixture by tablespoonful and mould into round shapes. Dust rissoles lightly with seasoned flour, dip in beaten egg and then coat well with breadcrumbs. Fry until richly browned. Serve hot with rich brown gravy, vegetables and pineapple slices which have been drained and lightly grilled.

Grow your own: 2

After about a week drying in a warm shaded place “Paloma” was planted in a mixture of sandy seedling mix in a small terracotta pot (for good drainage). Apparently pineapples don’t like “wet feet”! She’ll be living indoors as our weather is still likely to go cold suddenly. On warm days I’ll take her for an outside visit to a shady spot. It’s important the leaves don’t get sunburnt.

I’ll only need to water her once a week and then, I’ll only pour the water onto the soil not the plant. I’ll fertilise her once every 2 – 3 months taking care not to put any on the inside of the plant. Gosh, as I’m not the member of the family with green thumbs that could all be quite a challenge!

"Paloma"

 

My friend Maria recently showed me a magnificent pineapple she has had growing for about two years in her vegetable garden. She and her son Pascal have decided to call him “Maurice”. So far there has been no fruit, Anne.

"Maurice"

Ruby said “Help Keep Children Healthy”

Raffaellu and Angelica created wonderful, healthy lunch boxes that Ruby would have been proud of. Then finished off with refreshing "Orange Holiday" juices.

School Lunch Box Salad.

Cut 3 sandwiches (2 savoury, 1 sweet) and trim so they stand on edge in box. Pack ends with short pieces of celery. Allow sandwiches to fall in fan shape, separated by 2 well-drained slices of Golden Circle Pineapple wrapped in lettuce to keep moisture off bread. Add hard-boiled egg, wedges of red apple, pieces of cheese or any salad vegetable according to the child’s personal preference.

Eggman:  Press cloves (for eyes) and portion of capsicum (in mouth shape) into egg. Cut off top part of egg so that carrot slice will rest on flat surface, then place carrot point on top of slice. Slide onion ring over pointed ‘carrot hat’ so that it forms a headband. Arrange ‘eggman’ so that he sits securely.

Orange Holiday.

Combine Golden Circle Pineapple and Orange Drink with a tsp (per glass) of passionfruit pulp, and maraschino cherry set in red jelly. An orange slice to garnish.

Liver and Bacon Tropic Style.

Unfortunately the Liver and Bacon Tropic Style was not nearly as good as the kidneys.  First problem was the lamb’s fry, which was cryovac’ed, the only way I could buy it.  The packing changes the texture so that it is firmer than I prefer, also I think it was from an older “lamb”, it was quite large and dark coloured. Secondly, the pineapple is an afterthought and could easily be omitted.  In fact I ate it last, as dessert.  You will notice that I added some veggies as it was dinner, not breakfast, and I am keen to eat my veg quota each day. I didn’t follow the recipe closely as I think fried liver is not very appealing.  I prefer it in a gravy, which I made, with onions for flavour and texture.  However, it was quite tasty and I am sure good for me.  The iron from the liver is more easily absorbed with the vitamin C from the pineapple eaten at the same meal, Ann.

Liver and Bacon Tropic Style.

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, required amount of lamb’s fry or sliced liver, bacon rashers, seasoned flour.

Trim bacon and fry till lightly crisp. Remove from pan and keep warm. Have liver cut in 1.5cm thick strips and rolled in seasoned flour. Cook in bacon drippings in pan. While you arrange liver and bacon on warmed serving plates, allow drained pineapple pieces to brown slightly in frying pan. Add to plates, serve hot with buttered toast.

Sweet and easy.

A pleasant, light finish to a lovely meal with friends, Anne.

Pineapple Meringue Pie.

440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 2 eggs, 2 tblspns cornflour, ¼ cup water, 1 tblspn butter, ½ cup sugar, one baked 20cm pastry shell.   

Place pineapple and syrup in saucepan; when boiling, thicken with cornflour blended in water. Beat in yolks of eggs and butter. Spoon into baked pastry shell and top with meringue made by beating the sugar into stiffly-beaten egg whites. Brown meringue in moderate oven.                                                   

Pineapple Beanburgers.

Ever since an American friend told me how she adds to baked beans with chopped bacon, onion, capsicum, carrot, celery (or whatever she has at hand) with a dash of chilli powder they have been different everytime I've opened a can and popped them on the stove. Pineapple isn't a bad addition either, Anne.

Pineapple Beanburgers.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 1 can baked beans, 3 rashers bacon, toasted and buttered hamburger buns.

Cut bacon into strips and pan-fry.  Remove bacon, add a little butter and fry well-drained pineapple slices both sides. Place pineapple slices on buns. Heat beans in pan and spoon over pineapple. Top with bacon strips.

How easy is that!

And yes there is half a buttered hamburger bun and a slice of pineapple in there!

Starting the day with Trinidad Eggs.

Trinidad Eggs

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple pieces, 6 eggs, 2 tblsp butter, 1 chopped onion, 500g ripe tomatoes, skinned, ½ cup chopped green capsicum, 1 tblsp chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Drain pineapple pieces. Melt butter in frypan, fry onion for 5 minutes. Add sliced tomatoes, green capsicum. Cook, covered, about 5 minutes. Add pineapple pieces, stir to blend. Break eggs into frypan, one at a time, making a nest for each with back of spoon. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley. Cover and cook until eggs are set, about 5 minutes. Serve hot with buttered toast.

An old favourite.

Party-time Crumbed Cutlets.

I hadn’t associated crumbed cutlets with parties before, but why not? They were my favourite as a child, I can even remember ordering them in cafes. My daughter, Ella, recently commented on my like for them and said “What is it with you and crumbed cutlets?” I’m not sure actually. But finding this recipe in Ruby Borrowdale’s “Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book” seemed like a good reason to cook them once again! I wasn’t as exciting as Ruby when it came to the potatoes or presentation but those cutlets were yum! Anne.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 6 to 8 crumbed veal or lamb cutlets, 6 to 8 baked jacket potatoes, butter, grated cheese, parsley.

Drain syrup from pineapple and cut slices in halves. Cook the required number of cutlets until done to taste. Cover cutlet ends with paper frills. Scoop out centres of potatoes, mash with butter and grated cheese, then replace adding garnish of parsley. Arrange cutlets on serving platter, frills to the outside, and surround with the potatoes and the halved [pineapple slices which have been lightly browned in butter.

Thanks Jurrassosaurus!

What wonderful names people have in cyberspace!

Jurrassosaurus has sent us a link to more information on the wonderful Scottish Pineapple.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/airth/thepineapple/index.html

Grow your own.

Our son Ky has a pet ferret called Fantamus. I now have a pet pineapple called Paloma. Growing your own pineapple is a challenge especially when you are not living in the tropics but I thought if they could grow them in the hothouses of 17^thC Europe I could have a go here in 21^stC NSW.

For instructions on how to grow your own pineapple log onto http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1902702.htm

or for more detailed instructions
http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/pineapple/pineapple.htm
This website also sells great gadgets for coring and slicing pineapples with the elaborate name of the 'Stainless Steel Pineapple Easy Slicer, Corer'.

 

We started by twisting the green top off the base and peeling some of the lower leaves away to reveal the brown bumps (root primordial). I then left it in a warm dry place to dry out to prevent rot. I’ll keep you posted on Paloma’s growth (or demise as the case may be . . .) Anne.

 

 

Plantation salad.

As Ruby advised in the ‘Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book’:   

 “Plan your salads with colour in mind – and give every salad the touch of gold with pineapple. Combine the golden flavour of pineapple with white – cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, cucumber, onions, eschalots . . . with green – lettuce, celery, cabbage, asparagus, capsicum . . . with orange – carrots, shredded swede, oranges, matured, tasty cheese . . . with red – tomato, beetroot, radishes, red capsicum.”                                                      

Plantation salad.

Line your longest salad platter with crisp green lettuce leaves. Then arrange salad vegetables in neat rows, like a plantation. Start with a colourful flavour centre – Golden Circle’s Tropical Pineapple Pieces and tender, sweet Beetroot. Arrange rows so that each provides bright colour contrast for its neighbour, and include the ‘protein serving’ (the meat, cheese, egg or fish ingredient) in the plantation rows. You will think of many variations of this ‘fix-it-easy’ salad meal.

Imagine you’re in Hawaii.

Well, I’m afraid this casserole didn’t fool me into thinking I was on the verdant islands of Hawaii but it was quite pleasant especially with a lovely glass of white wine that our daughter, Ella, had given us produced near Orange NSW. It looked very ordinary - tossing chopped parsley on top was a good idea Ruby! Anne.

Hawaiian Steak Casserole.

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple pieces, 750g blade or chuck steak, 3 tblspns flour, ½ tspn salt, ¼ tspn pepper, 2 tspns dry mustard, ¼ tspn nutmeg, 1 large onion, 2 tblspns butter, 2 tblspns vinegar, 2 cups stock or water, 1 tblspn chopped parsley.

Trim steak. Cut into 6cm pieces. Mix flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg and mustard. Coat steak thoroughly with this mixture and brown lightly in hot butter in heavy pan. Remove meat, add sliced onion and brown lightly, then add balance of flour mixture and allow to brown. Stir in stock and vinegar, continue stirring until gravy boils, then return meat and pineapple pieces. Turn into an ovenware dish and cook in moderate oven till meat is tender, about 2 hours. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately with rice or jacket potatoes.

Old favourite with a new twist.

Macaroni  Tropical from Ruby Borrowdale's Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 250g macaroni, 1 ½ cups grated tasty cheese, 1 tblsp butter, ½ cup each cooked green peas, chopped onion, chopped red capsicum and chopped celery, 475ml thin white sauce, 4 rashers crisply-fried bacon, salt and cayenne pepper.

Drain pineapple slices. Chop 1 slice and add to white sauce. Lightly fry onion, capsicum and celery in butter, add to white sauce together with the peas, 1 cup of the grated cheese and chopped bacon. Cook macaroni according to directions but do not rinse. Add white sauce mixture to macaroni, stirring to blend. Turn into buttered casserole. Top with remaining cheese, bake in moderate oven (180° C) till bubbling hot. Top with remaining pineapple slices during last 5 minutes of cooking time. Serve immediately.

Instead of using one casserole I dished out the Macaroni Tropical between individual ramekins, Anne.

In praise of the pineapple

Skiourophile informed me last night that a truly delightful pineapple teacosy is on display in her skiourophillia blog:

http://skiourophilia.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/crochet.html

Pineapples appear in all kinds of surprising places, like the Jamaican coat of arms. I was recently exploring the show room of a certain extensive Scandinavian design store in Sydney when I came across a plastic pineapple in a trendy kitchen display! Sadly it wasn't for sale! Anne.

As Fran Beauman says in The Pineapple: King of Fruits
"Why is the pineapple so special? In one surprising sense it is indeed ideal. Made up of hundreds of separate fruitlets, its spirals embody the gradations of the Golden Mean - it is mathematically perfect. But it is more than that - for years a focus of traveler's tales, it is a treasure of sight and scent and taste." 

Make your own pineapple.

Needle-workers have preserved the pineapple as a symbol of hospitality in family heirlooms over the centuries. Items include pot holders, towels, drink coasters, tablecloths, decorative flags, curtain borders and welcome mats. This fabulous table setting from “Crocheting Tablecloths and Placemats” (edited by Florence Weinstein, Dover Publications NY, 1975) may remind many of you of childhood visits to great aunts and grandmothers.

Ann and I both treasure doilies made by various women in our families such as these ones from Ann’s collection.

 

 

The following website is worth a look – pineapple fashion! Socks and suncatchers, doilies and dishcloths, bags and box covers, earrings and edgings, there’s even a pattern for a pineapple monokini ! http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/pineapples.php

A basic pineapple motif incorporated into these can be made from the following instructions, partly acquired from

http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa102399.htm

Step 1: Chain 4 (= first double crochet)

Step 2: Work (1 double crochet, chain 2, 2 double crochet) all in the 4th chain from the hook.

 

Step 3: Chain 4 to turn (= first treble), work 12 trebles in the chain - 2 space (13 trebles)

Step 4: Chain 4 to turn (= first treble), skip first treble, work (chain 1, treble) in each treble across, ending with the last treble worked in the top of the chain - 4.

 

Step 5: Turn. Work (chain 3, single crochet) in the first chain - 1 space, (chain 3, single crochet) in each chain - 1 space across (12 chain - 3 spaces)

Step 6: Turn. Skip the first chain - 3 space, work (chain 3, single crochet) in each chain - 3 space (11 chain - 3 spaces)

 

Step 7: Turn. Skip the first chain - 3 space, work (chain 3, single crochet) in each chain - 3 space across (You will have 1 less chain - 3 space at the end of each row)

 

Repeat Step 7: Continue to repeat Step 7; eventually you will have a row with only one chain - 3 in that row.

 

Step 9: Working around the motif, make 4 chain, 1 single crochet into each single crochet, 4 chain.

 

Step 10: Into each 4 chain loop work 1 double crochet, 1 treble, 1 double treble, 1 treble, 1 double crochet until you return to where you started, tie off.