But, is it art?

My sister-in-law, Colleen, sent this recipe which she describes as a “most truly disgusting pineapple recipe”:

This is from musician Richard Rodney Bennett's contribution to ‘Food of Love’ a compilation of menus from musicians edited by Adrian Ball and published in 1971.

Bennett wrote 'I have for a long time been keeping a look-out not, as is customary, for the most delicious, but for the most unappetising recipes I can find. Here are three of the nastiest; they are absolutely genuine.'

Colleen has sent us Bennett’s Lighthouse Salad which features . . . tinned pineapple.

Take a whole tinned pineapple and stick a peeled banana through the centre. Slice about an inch off the bottom of a green pepper and remove the seeds. Stand the pepper on top of the pineapple, cover the whole with mayonnaise, and top with a glace cherry.

Colleen goes on to say “I have to admit that of the whole book which we have owned for some thirty seven years, it is the one recipe that I have never forgotten having read! I think the mayonnaise is the killer ingredient.”

Les was responsible for this engineering feat. Don’t worry no food was wasted in its construction. All the ingredients were eaten, just not in this combination! Anne.

Uluru Oysters.

“Ayer’s Rock Oysters”, as Ruby Borrowdale called them in the 1960s, are both a wholesome breakfast and a great use of leftovers. I called my husband Les down from his shed to cook up these fritters this morning, using some lamb we had for dinner last night. We made smaller ones for the second batch and I served them up with a Golden Circle Sweet and Sour Sauce. These oddly named fritters would be wonderful camping fare, Anne.

Ayer’s Rock Oysters.

1 jar Golden Circle Sweet-Sour Sauce, 2 cups self-raising flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 beaten egg, 1 ½ cups milk, 1 tblsp tomato sauce, 1 cup diced cooked meat, 1 rasher crisped bacon, chopped, 1 tblsp chopped onion.

Sift together dry ingredients. Gradually add combined egg, milk and tomato sauce, beating until smooth. Stir in meat, bacon and onion. Drop from tablespoon into hot buttered pan, fry until golden brown. Heat the Sweet-Sour Sauce and spread over the fritters. Serve hot.

A hearty dinner.

I think I used every pot and pan in the kitchen to create tonight’s dinner, but it was worth all the dishwashing as both dishes were very tasty. The pineapple, mustard and raisins were a great addition to the usual corned beef/cloves flavours. Although my Tropical Checkers didn’t have quite the look of Ruby’s I was pleased with the combination of ingredients. I’m looking forward to the leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch, Anne.

Corned Beef-Pineapple Glaze.

44-0g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 1 1/2 kilo to 2 1/2 kilo corned silverside, 1 dozen whole cloves, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup vinegar, 2 tsp mustard, ¼ tsp pepper, 2 tblsp chopped raisins.

Drain pineapple. Simmer corned beef slowly until tender, adding syrup drained from pineapple during last hour of cooking time. Place corned beef in casserole. Stick surface with cloves. Mix together half of pineapple pieces, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper and raisins. Pour over meat. Bake 30 minutes in moderate oven, basting with syrup from bottom of dish. After last basting, sprinkle with fine browned breadcrumbs. Remove corned beef to serving dish. Heat pineapple pieces in hot syrup in dish, pierce with toothpicks and insert in beef as a garnish. The corned beef can be served hot or cold. Ham can be prepared in the same way.

Tropical Checkers.

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 3 cups mashed potato, ½ grated tasty cheese, ¼ cup each chopped onion, parsley and celery, 1 bunch silverbeet or spinach, required number of fried or poached eggs.

Drain pineapple pieces. Reserve liquid. Add half pineapple to mashed potato together with the grated cheese, chopped onion, parsley and celery. Season to taste. Wash silverbeet or spinach. Slice off white stems, steam til tender and place in bottom if buttered casserole. Top with potato mixture and bake in moderate oven until browned. Top with the required number of fried or poached eggs and steamed green tops of the silverbeet. Garnish with the remaining pineapple pieces heated in their own liquid.

An edible Olympic torch!

A mini Olympic Torch to celebrate the skill and diligence of all the Australian athletes competing in the 2012 London Olympics!

Arrange Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple and chopped red jelly in a sundae dish so that the front side will show an inverted cone shape. Bring pineapple right up to the rim. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and pile generously with lightly whipped cream. Add a thick dusting of chipped toffee (I used barley sugar for its vibrant colour) for the “flame”.

And don’t forget as Ruby Borrowdale says “You’re a magician with quick, sunny sweets when your frig holds cans of Golden Circle’s vitamin-rich Tropical Pineapple.”

More meals apart.

Once again Ann and I created the complete Golden Circle meal in our distant homes. The Polynesian Meat Rolls were moist and filling, the sweet-sour sauce tangy and the broccoli . . . healthy. Ann’s Pineapple Shortcakes looked great, she thought maybe she served them with a little too much cream, but I’m sure that’s not possible!

Polynesian Meat Rolls.

1 jar Golden Circle Sweet-Sour Sauce, 750g topside mince, 1 egg, ½ cup uncooked rice, ½ cup soft white breadcrumbs, ½ cup milk, ½ cup chopped celery, ½ cup chopped onion, 1 crushed garlic clove (optional), 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, 1 tblsp soy sauce, 475ml stock or water.

Place all the ingredients except sweet-sour sauce and stock in basin. Mix well. Shape into serving-size rolls and arrange in single layer in shallow casserole. Pour over cold stock or water, cover with lid. Bake in moderate oven 180°C about 1 ½ hours. Remove lid, spoon over the sweet-sour sauce, masking each meat roll. Bake, uncovered, another 15 minutes. Serve with buttered carrots and broccoli, corn-on-cob, tiny onions as desired; additional sweet-sour sauce if you wish.

Pineapple Shortcakes.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, drained, 1 tblsp butter, 6 Maraschino cherries.                                                                                   

Melt butter in a seamless sponge roll pan. Add drained pineapple slices with cherry in centre of each. Top each with a circle of sweet scone dough, pour pineapple-caramel syrup over pineapple and bake in a moderate oven 180°C about 25 minutes. Serve warm upside down, with a topping of cream or ice cream.

Sweet scone dough: Sift 2 cups self-raising flour, ¼ tsp salt, 2 tblsp icing sugar into basin. Work in 2 tblsp butter. Beat one egg in a cup and add ½ cup milk. Add to flour mixture to make soft dough. Knead lightly, roll to about  3mm thickness, cut into 9cm circles and place on top of each pineapple slice.

Pineapple-caramel syrup: Combine and bring to the boil syrup drained from the pineapple , ½ cup brown sugar, 1 tblsp lemon juice. Pour hot over the contents of the pan.

Meals apart!

The other night, with about 500 kilometres between us, Ann and I created a complete Golden Circle Tropical meal. Ann cooked Devilled Kidneys with Pineapple, and I made Frangipani Pie for our friends, the Thompsons.

Devilled Kidneys with Pineapple.

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 6 lamb kidneys, 1 level tblsp butter, 1 level tblsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 level tblsp fruit chutney, 1 level tblsp wine vinegar, 1 tblsps plain flour, 1 tsp beef extract, 1 tsp mustard, 1 onion, ¼ cup hot water, a few leaves fresh garden sage, salt and pepper to taste, bacon rashers.

Skin kidneys, cut into halves and coat well with plain flour. Melt butter in saucepan, add the chopped onion and fry lightly. Add the kidneys and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend beef extract into hot water and add with all the remaining ingredients except the pineapple. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Fry the required number of bacon rashers in pan and when crisp, remove and add the drain pineapple pieces, heat thoroughly. Serve kidneys with bacon rashers and pineapple pieces, plus egg and tomato if desired.

The devilled kidneys were surprisingly delicious. As you can see from the photo I cut them smaller than Ruby, I like to remove all of the core. They were quite strongly flavoured, I guess from an older sheep.  However, the devilled sauce with the pineapple pieces (Golden Circle of course) was a winner.  Next time I would add the pineapple to the gravy just before serving rather than as a separate vegetable. Because I was serving them for dinner, not breakfast, I added potato, broccoli and tomato rather than egg and bacon, Ann.

Frangipani Pie.

1 cooked 22cm pastry or crumb pie shell.

Pineapple layer: 440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, ¼ cup cornflour, ¼ water, 2 eggs (separated). Bring contents of pineapple can to boil. Blend cornflour, water and egg yolks. Add to pineapple, stirring until thick. Set aside.

Coconut cream layer: 1 ½ cups milk, ¾ cup sugar, ¼ cup cornflour, ¼ cup water, 1 cup coconut, 1 tblsp butter, 1 tsp vanilla.  Place milk, sugar and pinch of salt in saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolved. Blend cornflour in water, add to milk, stirring til thick. Remove from stove, stir in coconut, butter and vanilla.

Spoon half coconut cream mixture into cooked pie shell. Add all pineapple, then remaining coconut cream. Top with meringue (use 2 egg whites and 4 tblsp caster sugar) and bake in moderate oven 180°C about 15 minutes.

As Ruby didn’t give instructions for the pie shell I Googled a biscuit crumb pie shell which was super easy to make – 8oz crushed sweet biscuits (I used Arrowroot), 4 tblsp melted butter, 3 tblsp sugar. Mix well, press into a lightly greased flan dish and refrigerate. Served with cream this dessert was totally delicious, very light and a bit too easy to eat, Anne.

Dawn’s Sunny Pineapple Recipe!

This recipe came to me from my sister's mum-in-law. I was told it is American and supposed to be served as a side dish at Thanksgiving or Christmas, not as a dessert, Dawn.

Ambrosia.

Ingredients: 1 450g can crushed pineapple in syrup, 1 310g can mandarin segments, Only the white marshmallows from a 250g pack of pink & white marshmallows, 1 300g container sour cream, 1 cup shredded coconut.

Method: Open and drain crushed pineapple and mandarin segments well, place in large bowl. Snip marshmallows in half with kitchen scissors, add to bowl. Tip sour cream into bowl and add shredded coconut. Stir gently together, being careful not to break up the mandarin segments, until all combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for flavours to mingle.

Note: only use white marshmallows because the pink ones have a strawberry flavour and this (and the colour) just won’t work. Marshmallows have to be cut in half so the cut sides absorb flavours and add sweetness to the mix.

There seem to be lots of variations on the ambrosia theme on the interweb, I have only tried this one.

Happy eating, Dawn :-)

Thanks Dawn I can't wait to try this Ambrosia! Anne.

Junior Master Dessert Chef

During the week I received this email from a friend, Jane.

Hi Anne, Here is an artwork I did in 1999 called “Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces” 40 x 30 cm made from bits of metal found at Cobar, NSW, and some gold leaf. I have always liked the very first pieces I did with Cobar metal, because they’re so simple and have a Japanese feel. And I have always thought that this was one of the best names I have EVER thought of for an artwork.

Here is a recipe of Mum’s - she doesn't know where she got it or if she made it up, and in fact doesn't remember making it. I bet she made it up herself. So, I will embellish.

June's Pineapple Pieces Pudding

Ingredients: Pots and pots of whipped cream, pots and pots of Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, pots and pots of marshmallows.

Method: Throw them all together in a large bowl. Serve in individual bowls and all will be gobbled up immediately. 

Well, that's it, Jane.

To help me create this dessert I enlisted three friends Pascal, Raffaellu and Angelica.

The junior chefs’ responses to this treat were "delicious", "it would make a lovely summer dessert", "tasty", "I give it a big tick", "the pineapple was my favourite flavour" and "we even had it for breakfast" !!!

Big things in Australia ONLY

These great views of Queensland’s Big Pineapple appear on Flickr’s Big OZ (Big things in Australia ONLY) page. The page contains many unusual creations, well worth a look! Many thanks to the camera enthusiasts who have allowed us to use their photographs.

Rae Allen  http://www.flickr.com/photos/raeallen/7971284/in/pool-bigoz/

Jumpinjack   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jumpinjack/

 

The Central Scrutiniser http://www.flickr.com/photos/hojucandy/374433565/in/pool-bigoz/

wiccked http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiccked/174166893/in/pool-bigoz/

 williewonker http://www.flickr.com/photos/87791108@N00/2198657947/in/pool-bigoz/

brettm8 http://www.flickr.com/photos/81602598@N00/1230310655/in/pool-bigoz/

Golden Circle

Many people have asked us about the Golden Circle company. So here is some info from their website: http://www.goldencircle.com.au/

"Golden Circle began as a grower cooperative in the 1940s with the pineapple cannery commencing production in Northgate in 1947 – initially producing around 40,000 tonnes of canned pineapple annually, in addition to some canned fruit salad, tropical fruit chutneys and fruit juice cordials. Today the Northgate cannery produces over around 180,000 tonnes per year of canned pineapple, fruit juices and cordials.

Pineapples have been at the heart of the Golden Circle brand since its earliest beginnings. It is thought that pineapples were first grown commercially in Queensland in the 1840s. With its rich soils and near perfect growing conditions, Queensland has become synonymous with Australian-grown pineapple. With new techniques such as Living Mulch and Conservation Tillage producing benefits such as reduced soil erosion, improved soil structure and less fuel usage, Golden Circle products are also minimising their impact on the environment.

Golden Circle was acquired by Heinz Australia in 2008, allowing for additional investment in new product development and marketing."

Did you know there has not been one, but at least five, ‘Big Pineapples’ gracing the world’s skylines!

Woombye, Queensland – this 16m tall tourist attraction on the Sunshine Coast is the most well-known Australian ‘Big Pineapple’ and was opened in 1971.

Gympie, Queensland – had a ‘Big Pineapple’ on top of a disused petrol station until it was demolished in 2008.

Ballina, NSW – has a small ‘Big Pineapple’ in front of a petrol station.

The Hawaiian Pineapple Co - erected an over-12m tall pineapple shaped water tower over the cannery building in Honolulu in 1928, but sadly it was dismantled in the 1990s.

South Africa - has a 16.7m fibreglass Big Pineapple containing a gift shop.

The Big Pineapple, between Port Alfred and Bathurst on the R67 in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, photo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_Cape-Big_Pineapple-001.jpg

Sunny Dinners for Healthy Families

Sunday lunch for my mother, Moira, and Les - Sweet Potato Casserole and Banana Boat Dessert. The photo accompanying the first of these two delightful dishes in the Golden Circle Tropical Recipe book showed the pork chops topped with gravy. As it didn’t miraculously occur during the cooking I suggest you make and add one in. Although the meal wasn’t dry I think gravy would be a tasty addition. The amount of salt in Ruby’s recipe seems excessive (!) so I suggest you use your own judgement there . . . I chose to use whole grained mustard as that’s my favourite. Anne.

Sweet Potato Casserole

440g can of Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 6 medium sized sweet potatoes, salt, pepper and mustard, ½ cup brown sugar, 4 pork chops.

Scrub sweet potatoes and cook in boiling salted water until tender. Cool and skin them, cut into 1cm slices. Drain pineapple pieces. Put a layer of sweet potato in buttered casserole. Sprinkle a spoonful of pineapple pieces over layer and sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and brown sugar. Repeat layers til ingredients are used. Brown the pork chops in a little melted butter, seasoning with salt, pepper and mustard when you turn them. Arrange chops in casserole over the sweet potatoes and pineapple. Cover and bake in moderate oven 1 hour, or until chops are very tender. Serve hot.

Banana Boat Dessert

4 bananas, ½ cup Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, chopped small, ¼ cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup whipped cream, 8 Maraschino cherries.

Make 2 lengthwise slits in the bananas, curl strip back and secure with toothpicks. Scoop out fruit and mash. Add pineapple and walnuts. Fold in the whipped cream and put back into banana boats. Granish with cherries. For attractive appearance, have ingredients ready and prepare at the table.

I have hunted high and low for maraschino cherries but was unable to find any so I used glace cherries instead.

Sunny Sausages

What choices the chapter "Starting the Day ..." offers us! Skipping past the Devilled Kidneys with Pineapple (I'll leave that one to you Ann) I instantly recognised a familiar weekend breakfast in the Sunny Sausages. My husband Les offered to cook up the treat on our new Weber Q and it was great! Anne

Sunny Sausages (for 2)
4 slices of  Golden Circle Sliced Pienapple, 4 thin sausages, 2 eggs, 2 tomatoes  and parsely.
Cut a lengthwise slit along each of the sausages, grill until richly brown. Fry the eggs. Cut the tomatoes in half and grill alongside the pineapple slices. Serve together with a garnish of parsely.

Ruby Borrowdale, author of the Golden Circle Tropical Recipe book c 1960s.

The following biography accompanies Ruby’s archive held in the National Library of Australia.

From 1932 Ruby Borrowdale was the Chief Instructress, later the Superintendent of the Test Kitchen of Warwich and Brisbane millers Simpson Bros, the makers of baking powder. Ruby Borrowdale wrote a weekly cooking column for the Brisbane Telegraph under the nom de plume of Patricia Dale, as well as wrote cooking segments for many country papers from Cairns to Maitland. Ruby Borrowdale also appeared on radio and was the first Queensland cook to appear on television - her first TV Week article appeared between the 2nd to the 8th June, 1960. Later she established her own "independent" test kitchen at 25 Chester St, Fortitude Valley and became the director of Judith May Clinic of the Queensland Butter Board.

She was married to Ambrose Jones and the couple lived at Hampstead Rd, Highgate Hill. Ruby Borrowdale died at the age of 84 on the 13th June, 1997. This biographical history has been compiled with the assistance of a short biographical sketch written by Ruby Borrowdale's husband Ambrose Jones in the late 1960s.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/157225302?q=%22Borrowdale%22&c=collection&versionId=171381576

“Crazy About Cakes” is a youtube video about Ruby with wonderful illustrations.  

                                                                                                                           

Another day, another dinner party.

This meal was prepared for our friend Julie, which was very brave as she is a dietician. Julie did seem to particularly enjoy the pre-dinner sputniks and the dessert, well who wouldn’t, it was pineapple set in jelly! Ann thought that the meal was lacking in refinement, this could be because she (the cook) was absent from the kitchen during those crucial moments when the meat loaf was actually baking. She had hoped that the pineapple would caramelise, which it may have done if it was on the top rather than the base of the dish. The assistant cook, Anne, thought it was all yummy.

Ann’s recipe for Upside-down Pineapple Meatloaf

500g minced beef, 500g sausage mince, 1 finely chopped onion, ½ cup rolled oats, 1 egg, ¼ cup tomato sauce, 1 tspn dried basil, salt and pepper, pineapple rings and extra tomato sauce

Grease and line a loaf tin, spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, arrange the pineapple rings in a decorative pattern on the sauce. Mix the rest of the ingredients together by hand and press into the loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour at 170°C. Turn out onto a platter and garnish with parsley. Serve slices at the table with vegetables.

Jellied Pineapple Slices

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Slices, 1 pkt lime-flavoured jelly crystals, boiling water.

Drain syrup from pineapple and measure into saucepan. Add sufficient boiling water to make 1 ½ cups liquid. Bring to boiling point, remove from stove and stir in jelly crystals until dissolved. Cool. Return pineapple slices to can and pour the cooled jelly into can around slices. Chill until firm. Run hot knife around slices and unmould onto serving plate. Serve sliced with cream or ice cream.

Act One. Scene One.

Ruby Borrowdale says in the Golden Circle Tropical Recipe book that “Your meal table is a stage” and there are “many parts pineapple can play”. We kept this in mind planning a dinner party for our friend, Ric, and Anne’s daughter, Ella. The evening’s performance began with a refreshing punch and a Sputnik created by Ann in celebration of entertaining during our 1950s/1960s childhoods. This was followed by a delicious Fish ‘n’ Pineapple Loaf with green beans and carrots. The finale was a fabulous Brown Velvet Pudding with cream.

Orange-Pineapple Punch Bowl

Empty 2 litres Golden Circle Pineapple and Orange Juice into punch bowl. Add large bottle chilled Ginger Ale and a cup of cold tea. Float thin slices of banana, seedless orange and a couple of sprigs of slightly crushed mint leaves on top. At serving time add large tray of ice cubes. Garnish each serving glass with half a slice of orange.

Sputnik

Cut a thin slice off the bottom of an orange and place it on a dish. Into the orange insert toothpicks threaded with a slice of cabanossi, a pickled cocktail onion and a small square of cheddar cheese.

Fish ‘n’ Pineapple Loaf

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 2 cups cooked fish or large can fish fillets, 2 eggs, salt and pepper to taste, 4 boiled potatoes.

Drain pineapple, set three sliced aside for top of loaf, and chop remaining slices. Hard cook one egg and chop fine. Flake fish, blend together all ingredients except the three whole pineapple slices. Place these in a buttered loaf pan and pack fish mixture on top. Bake in moderate oven about 45 minutes. Invert onto serving plate and garnish with peas and rice.

Brown Velvet Pudding

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Thins, 1 tblsp butter, 2 tblsp dark brown sugar, 1 ½ cups plain flour, ¼ tspn salt, 1 tspn baking soda, 1 tspn ground ginger, 1 tsp cocoa, ½ tspn cinnamon, 60g butter, ½ cup sugar, 2 tblspn Golden Syrup, 1 egg, ¼ cup pineapple syrup drained from thins.

Spread the tblsp butter over bottom and sides of the pudding mould, sprinkle with dark brown sugar, then arrange drained pineapple thins around sides and on bottom of mould. Sift flour, salt, soda and spices. Cream the 60g butter with sugar, beat in egg. Blend in golden syrup. Add flour mixture alternatively with pineapple syrup. Beat smooth. Spoon into mould, cover with lid and steam for 2 hours. Serve with custard or cream.

I followed this recipe even though I thought it was wrong. I was pleased with the result although  the texture was a little dense. The subtlety of the 1 tspn of cocoa complemented the cinnamon and ginger, Ann.