So many Pineapple Princesses and Princes!

Many thanks to all the aspiring Pineapple Princes and Princesses for these wonderful objects and photos found on your travels, shopping sprees, online or in the newspaper – sorry if I’ve missed anyone, it may appear . . . tomorrow – Alex and Jess, Alice and Jill, Allan, Angela, Annie, Bronnagh, Cassie and Archer, Colleen, Donna, Holly, Isami and Marisa, Jane, Jill, Jorge, Julie, Katherine, Ky, Kylie, Les, Lorraine, Mark and Holly, Robyn, Sarah and Sue.

Pineapple in crêpes and omelettes

The Book of Crepes and Omelettes, Mary Norwak 1988

Jamaican Banana Topping 

125g butter; 125g dark moist brown sugar; finely grated peel and juice of 1 lemon; 3 medium bananas; 6 tspn pineapple juice (or dark rum); lemon twists and lemon peel strips, to decorate

Put butter and sugar into a saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter has melted. Stir the lemon peel and juice into the butter and continue simmering for 1 minute.

Peel the bananas and slice thinly. Stir into the sugar mixture. Warm through for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in pineapple juice (or rum). Turn into a warm serving bowl. To serve, decorate with lemon twists and lemon peel strips.

Serves 4.

Bacon Pineapple Topping    

250g bacon rashers, rinds removed and coarsely chopped; 8 canned pineapple rings in natural juice, drained and cut into eighths; fresh watercress sprigs, to garnish

Put bacon into a saucepan and heat gently until crisp and all the fat has run out.

Stir pineapple into pan and heat through. Serve as a pancake topping or filling, garnished with watercress.

Serves 4

Sweet and Sour Crêpes

8 X 17.5cm crêpes; 250g boneless shoulder pork, cubed; 15g lard; 220g can pineapple pieces in syrup; 3 tspn redcurrant jelly; 3 tspn moist brown sugar; 3 tspn white wine vinegar; 3 tspn cornflour; 155ml tomato juice; salt and pepper; fresh watercress sprigs or bean sprouts and spring onion tassels, to garnish

Keep crêpes warm while preparing filling. Put pork and lard into a saucepan and fry over low heat for 10 minutes, until meat is tender and cooked through.

Drain pineapple, and put syrup into a pan with redcurrant jelly, sugar, vinegar, cornflour and tomato juice, then bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Simmer uncovered, until thick, then stir pork and pineapple pieces and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 190°C. Divide pork mixture between crêpes. Roll up and put in a single layer in a shallow ovenproof serving dish. Cover crêpes with foil and heat through in the oven for 20 minutes. Garnish with watercress sprigs or bean sprouts and spring onion tassels and serve hot, straight from the dish.

Serves 4

Pineapple Omelette

220g can pineapple pieces in natural juice; 1 tspn arrowroot; 2 tspns finely grated lemon peel; 2 tspn chopped fresh mint; one 3-egg   basic souffle omelette (see below); lemon twist and fresh mint sprig to decorate

Prepare filling before making omelette. Drain pineapple pieces, reserving juice. Put 9 tspn pineapple juice into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Mix arrowroot with 2 tspn water, stir into juice and heat gently until mixture is slightly thickened and clear. Finely chop pineapple and stir into pan with lemon peel and chopped mint.

Make omelette and lift onto warm serving plate. Spoon pineapple sauce over half omelette and fold omelette over. Garnish with a lemon twist and fresh mint sprig and serve at once.

Serves 2.

Basic Soufflé Omelette: 3 eggs, separated; 3 tspn caster sugar; 15g butter

In a bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick, pale and creamy. Whisk egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into yolks.

Put butter into a 17.5cm omelette pan and melt over moderate heat, pour in egg mixture and lightly level the surface. Cook over low heat until bottom is set and pale golden-brown, then put omelette under medium grill until top is lightly browned.

Party pineapple meatballs

Over 150 Favourite Recipes, The Book Company, Sydney 1970s

Chutney Beef Balls

500g minced topside; 125g Australian feta cheese, crumbled; ¼ cup chopped parsley; 2 tblspn tomato chutney; ½ tspn salt; ½ cup desiccated coconut; cucumber slices and red capsicum or pineapple wedges to garnish (optional)

Mix together meat, cheese, parsley, chutney and salt. Form into bite-size balls. Toss in coconut until well coated and arrange on a buttered oven tray.

Bake at 200C for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve hot, piled into a bread basket lined with a paper table napkin or cold arranged on a platter and garnished with thin slices of cucumber and small wedges of red capsicum or pineapple skewered on toothpicks into the meatballs. Makes approximately 30.

Sublime Pineapple Custard

This is easily one of the most delicious desserts I have ever made - don't be put off by the lengthy instructions, it's not difficult at all, Anne.

Foods of the World: Latin American Cooking by Jonathan Norton Leonard, photographs by Milton Greene, Time-Life Books 1970

Pineapple Custard: Quesillo de Piña

To serve 6 to 8

The Caramel: 200g castor sugar; 6 tblspns water

The Custard: 3 whole eggs, plus 2 egg yolks; a 395g can condensed milk; 250ml pineapple juice; 3 tblspn sugar

To line a 1.5 litre metal or china mould with caramel, it is necessary to work quickly. Remember in handling the caramel that its temperature will be over 150°C, so be extremely careful with it. 

Place the mould on a large strip of waxed paper. Then, in a small, heavy saucepan or frying pan, bring the sugar and water to the boil over a high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil the syrup over a moderate heat, gripping a pot holder in each hand and gently tipping the pan to and fro almost constantly, until the syrup turns a rich, golden, tea-like brown. This may take 10 minutes or more. As soon as the syrup reaches the right colour, remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour the caramel syrup all at once into the mould. Still using the pot holders, tip and swirl the mould to coat the bottom and sides as evenly as possible. When the syrup stops moving, turn the mould upside down on the greaseproof paper to drain and cool.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Beat the eggs and egg yolks with a balloon whisk or a rotary egg beater in a large mixing bowl until they thicken and turn a light yellow. Gradually pour in the condensed milk, pineapple juice and sugar, and beat until all the ingredients are well blended. Strain through a fine sieve into the caramel-lined mould, and place the mould in a large pan on the middle shelf of the oven.

Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come half-way up the sides of the mould. Bake the custard for about 1 hour, until a knife inserted in the centre of the custard comes out clean. Remove the mould from the water, let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate the custard for at least 3 hours, until thoroughly chilled.

When ready to serve, run a sharp knife around the sides, and dip the bottom of the mould briefly in hot water. Place a chilled serving plate upside down over the mould and, grasping mould and plate together firmly, quickly turn them over. Rap the plate on a table and the custard should slide easily out of the mould. Pour any extra caramel remaining in the mould over the custard.

“A Matchless Bounty of Tropical Fruits: Every Latin American cuisine, and in particular that of Mexico, features a year-round abundance of wonderful fruit. In the markets of most countries there is an endless display of fruits big and small, of every colour and almost every shape.”  

“Pineapples were cultivated by Pre-Columbian Indians in the Caribbean region, and sometimes the thorny, sharp-pointed plants were massed around their villages like barbed-wire entanglements to ward off intruders. . . None of the forms in which pineapples reach their markets in temperate countries gives a true idea of what they are like in their native tropics. Canned pineapple tastes canned, and even frozen pineapple is not like the real thing. . . A prime pineapple ripened on the plant is in a wholly different class. In Mexico pineapples as big as footballs sell for a shilling or less, and they are so fragrant that one of them perfumes an entire room.”

“With sugar so abundant, it is no wonder that the Latin Americans candy almost everything. Candied fruits are cheap and plentiful in the markets, including some kinds that are hard to identify. . . Closely related to candied fruits are the delightful fruit pastes that are found almost everywhere in Latin America. They usually contain nothing but fruit pulp and sugar and can be made semi-solid like thick jam or stiff enough to be cut with a knife. All kinds of available fruit are used.” Jonathan Norton Leonard

6 / 99 Tempting Pineapple Recipes

Ninety-nine Tempting Pineapple Treats made with Crushed and Grated Hawaiian Pineapple, 1925 Association of Hawaiian Pineapple Canners

“We want to buy 100 of them – the very best recipes that the Women of America have discovered for serving Hawaii’s ‘King of fruits’. You may have the one that we want.”

Hot Desserts: Baked Apples and Pineapple   

(Recipe contributed by Helen Louise Johnson)

Pare and core 6 large apples.

Mix ¾ cup of Crushed or Grated Hawaiian Pineapple with ¼ cup sugar, 1 tblspn melted butter and ¼ cup chopped raisins.

Fill the centers of the apples with this mixture and arrange in a shallow baking dish.

To the remainder of the mixture add 1 tblspn lemon juice and ½ cup water and pour around the apples.

Bake until tender but not until they lose their shape, basting frequently with the liquid in the pan.

Pies and Tarts: Pineapple Turnovers

   

Roll pastry thin, and cut into 10cm squares.

Thoroughly drain the sirup from 1 cup of Crushed or Grated Hawaiian Pineapple. On the center of each square place a tablespoon of the drained pineapple and 1 tspn each of sugar and butter.

Moisten the edges of the pastry and fold together in the form of triangles, pressing the edges firmly together.

 Fry until brown in deep hot fat, rain on brown paper, sprinkle with powdered sugar an serve immediately.

Hot Desserts: Pineapple Puffs  

Cream 1/3 cup fat, add 1 cup sugar gradually, creaming well together. Add 2 beaten eggs. Mix and sift 2 tspn baking powder, 1 ¾ cups flour and ¼ tspn salt. Add alternately with ½ cup Crushed or Grated Hawaiian Pineapple to the creamed mixture. Pour into greased and floured muffin pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven.

Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar or with a hot pudding sauce.

Cakes, Cake Fillings, Frostings and Sauces: Pineapple Roll 

Add ¼ cup sugar to 1 cup well-drained Crushed or Grated Hawaiian Pineapple, heat until the sugar melts and set aside while cake is being made. Mix and sift 1 1/3 cups flour, ¼ tspn salt, 1 cup sugar and 2 tspn baking powder; add 2 beaten eggs, stirring constantly, and ¼ cup hot water. Beat until smooth and spread in a large greased pan. Bake in a moderate oven about 12 minutes.

Turn out onto a paper thickly sprinkled with powdered sugar and spread with the pineapple. Trim off the crusty edges with a sharp knife and roll up like a jelly roll. A strip of paper or cloth may be pinned around it until it cools to keep it in shape. Serve cut in slices.

Make sure that you don’t overcook the cake or you won’t be able to roll it up!

Pineapple Pancakes    

Mix and sift 2 cups flour, ½ tspn salt and 4 tspn baking powder.

Add 1 beaten egg, mixed with 1¼ cups milk, 1 cup Crushed or Grated Hawaiian Pineapple and 1 tblsp melted fat.

Bake on a hot greased griddle.

Delicious with bacon and maple syrup!

Pineapple Cookies    

Beat 1 egg, add ½ cup sugar slowly, ¼ cup chopped California walnuts, ½ cup thoroughly drained Crushed or Grated Hawaiian Pineapple and ½ cup flour that has been mixed and sifted with ¼ tspn salt and 2 tspn baking powder.

Drop by spoonfuls on an inverted greased pan and bake in a moderate oven 20 to 30 minutes.

In the future I will add ½ tspn cinnamon to the dry ingredients.

All delicious! Anne

A pineapple variation

Pineapple Magic: delicious, easy recipes for a family on the go, Golden Circle online, Queensland 2010

    

file:///C:/Users/Annie/Downloads/HEINZ.GC.pine.c-book.web%20(1).pdf

This is variation of Golden Circle's Thai Prawn and Pineapple Curry - Pineapple Princess Ann swapped prawns for lightly fried chicken pieces and created a delicious meal for the Pineapple Princess Anne and Les.

Thai Chicken and Pineapple Curry

2 tbsp Thai red curry paste; 400ml can coconut milk; 3 kaffir lime leaves, torn; 1 tbsp grated palm sugar; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 150g green beans, trimmed and cut into thirds; chicken pieces; 440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces in Juice, drained; 8 cherry tomatoes, halved; steamed Jasmine rice, to serve; basil leaves to garnish, optional

1. Add curry paste to a hot frying pan and cook 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the coconut milk, lime leaves, palm sugar and fish sauce and bring to a gentle simmer.

2. Add green beans and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken, pineapple and cherry tomatoes and simmer for a further 2 - 3 minutes, or until the chicken are cooked through.

3. Remove lime leaves and transfer curry to serving bowls. Serve with rice and garnish with basil leaves if desired.

Pineapple for breakfast

Sydney Kindergarten Training College Recipe Book, Waverley, Sydney compiled by Mrs Una Venn Brown, Miss Dorothy Francis and Miss Muriel Woodhouse for use with young children c 1950/1960

Fruit Brown Betty

25 servings (1/2 cup)

2 litres stewed fruit e.g. apple, rhubarb, pineapple; 6 cups soft breadcrumbs or cereal flakes; 225g sugar, brown; 1 tspn cinnamon; 225g melted butter or margarine

Method:

Drain fruit before measuring. Arrange fruit in greased dishes. Mix breadcrumbs, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Cover fruit with mixture. Bake in a moderate oven until crumbs are well browned and crisp 30 – 40 minutes.

I combined stewed pineapple, apple and raisins and topped it off with a breakfast cereal mixed with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. A delicious breakfast served with strawberries and yoghurt! Anne