A super snack.

Super Snacks from Ruby Borrowdale's "Golden Circle Tropical Recipe" book.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, drained, 6 slices sandwich bread, 6 slices cheese, 6 steakettes or hamburger patties, prepared mayonnaise, lettuce radish roses.

Toast bread on one side only. Spread untoasted side with mayonnaise, top with a slice of cheese, a lightly browed steakette, then a slice of pineapple. Sprinkle with melted butter and reheat under griller before serving. Serve each on a crisp lettuce leaf and top with a radish (or tomato) rose.

From our correspondents in Kenya.

Our neice Alice and her husband Clinton are working on agricutlural projects in Kenya for 12 months, here is their personal insight into the splendors of local pineapple cuisine.

Pineapple has mostly been in traditional fruit platters. It is super sweet and delicious here.  In other forms, it has really only been in a salad of mostly grated carrot (which we have at least once a week at the work kiosk with lunch!) and once it was in an apple crumble.  Which was delicious to be honest, with lots of coconut and raisins etc.  A tropical version of the colonial classic. They love roast chicken here, so any roast chicken and pineapple dishes, while we haven't had them yet, would be quite appropriate! I will keep an eye out!

 

Last weekend we went to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant with some friends. All the food was amazing, and we ate ourselves into a bit of a meat coma for the next few days.  But the best course of all was a BBQ'd pineapple coated in cinnamon. They cooked them and served them on long metal skewers/spears and sliced off pieces directly onto your plate. It was DIVINE! I don’t know how they kept it so juicy... here are some photos to get your mouth watering, Alice and Clinton.

Mmmmmm, Spam.

A terrifically useful tip from Ruby Borrowdale in the ‘Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book’:

“Improve the flavour of boiled tongue by adding a teaspoon each of whole cloves and whole peppers, two bay leaves and a diced onion to the cooking water. Serve slices with Golden Circle Pineapple.”

Thanks for that Ruby, Anne.

Family Salad.

2 X 440g cans Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 440g can Golden Circle Beetroot, luncheon beef or camp pie, lettuce, carrot, hardboiled eggs, tomato, cheese, onion, cooked green peas, potato salad, celery.

Arrange sliced luncheon beef or camp pie in the centre of a lettuce lined platter. Pile grated carrot each end and rim with sliced eggs. Arrange sliced tomato along sides, garnish with cheese shapes, onion rings and peas. Drain pineapple, mounting slices in pairs round four sides of mound of potato salad. Make “nest” in top with celery curls and fill with chopped beetroot.

What could be a better location to enjoy a can of Spam than the Hawkesbury River!

When Mumford and Sons came to town

The population of our little country town was at least quadrupled this weekend when Mumford and Sons and other fabulous musicians performed at the Showground – but even better than that our kids, Ella and Ky, came home for the concert with a band of friends. They were so encouraging about Ruby Borrowdale’s “Golden Circle Tropical Recipe” book that I chose one of the more unique recipes to taste test - the Crispy Franks were surprisingly well received, or they were very hungry, I’m not sure.

Ella was (who isn’t) keen to try Jellied Pineapple Slices and the shared perception was that they tasted like “jelly and pineapple”, Anne.

“Pineapple party time . . . fruity fun starters.”

Island Sparkler.

Place contents of 440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple in saucepan with ½ cup sugar. Cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Remove from stove, add grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon. Cover, cool and refrigerate. To serve, place dstsp syrup in glass, add soft drink and scoop of ice cream.

Crispy Franks.

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 6 frankfurts, ½ cup tomato or mustard sauce,n1 mcup fine dry breadcrumbs, small wooden skewers.

Slice frankfurts almost through from side to side. Insert wooden skewers. Spread each with sauce and then roll in fine, dry breadcrumbs. Arrange in foil-lines pan. Press pineapple pieces into the slits in frankfurts. Bake in moderate oven (150°C) about 20 minutes. Serve hot with additional sauce. Can be pan-fried at barbecue in melted butter for about 10 minutes on each side.

Savoury Kebobs.

440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, ¼ cup soy sauce, 1 clove garlic, crushed, 1 tspn chopped green ginger, ½ kilo round steak, cubed, 20 stuffed olives.

Reserve ½ cup syrup from pineapple and combine with soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Pour over meat cubes and set aside for at least 1 hour. Thread meat cubes on skewers, alternating with pineapple pieces and stuffed olives. Grill 10 to 20 minutes and serve very hot. Allow two skewers per serve.

Pineapple Butter Tarts

Three mothers and their daughters for Sunday lunch at June’s home. I grabbed the opportunity to take along something . . . with pineapple!

For these tarts I used frozen pastry sheets but in the future would use pre-made pastry shells. I was far more generous than Ruby with the strawberry jam! Using 1 tspn in each shell, Anne.

Pineapple Butter Tarts.

440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 2 rounded tblspns butter, 2 tblspns lemon juice, 1 egg, 1 cup plain cake crumbs, 2 tblspns jam, rich, short pastry for tart shells.

Line deep patty pans with thinly rolled pastry and place about ¼ tsp jam in each. Drain syrup off pineapple. Beat the egg and stir it into the softened butter together with lemon juice, cake crumbs and drained pineapple. Place a spoonful of this mixture on top of the jam in each tart. Top filling with pastry twists and bake in a moderately-hot oven (220°C) about 20 minutes, or until pastry is crisp and filling set. Serve plain, or topped with whipped cream.

Well, what else would you call it?

Inventing the names for the colours of a Revlon lipstick range or Dulux colour chart or the recipes in Ruby Borrowdale’s ‘Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book’ would be a wonderful occupation! How did she arrive at "Eggs Flamenco" for this breakfast dish? Anne.

Eggs Flamenco.

440g Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 220g can spaghetti in tomato sauce, 2 rashers bacon, 2 to 4 eggs, parsley, butter, salt and pepper.

Butter individual heatproof dishes and line with cooked spaghetti. Break one or two eggs into the centre of each. Season with salt and pepper. Place a trimmed bacon rasher on either side of the eggs. Add a spoonful of drained pineapple pieces to each dish. Bake in moderate oven (180°C) about 30 minutes, or until eggs are set. Garnish with parsley and serve hot. Serves 2.

Polynesian Meat Rolls.

The Polynesian meat rolls were good. My variations: I cooked the rice before mixing it with the meat, from the picture in the book Ruby’s rolls look a bit crunchy.  I made a sweet and sour sauce because the Golden Circle one is not available here.  I used pineapple juice from the can, some fresh ginger, pineapple, carrots, celery, onion, a little tomato sauce for colour and a touch of vinegar for “bite”.  Thickened with a little cornflour. I would have put in some capsicum but I didn’t have any and as this was a spur of the moment recipe I wasn’t inclined to go out to the shop.  As I had already cooked the rice I cooked the rolls in the oven without a lid, there was a lot of stock. They might not look too glamorous but they were very tasty for a family dinner, Ann.

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.

Rice cream a taste sensation for some …

Since I’ve started following Kylie’s Blog ‘Lucy Violet Vintage’ I’ve undergone a strange transformation in my op shop-ping habits and have started walking out with some objects that I would have previously thought tacky but now consider very beautiful! I’ll be using them in future Pineapple Princesses photo shoots!

This tea towel belongs to a friend, June, who I suspect has more treasures in her cupboards! I chose it as a background for a portrait of a can of rice cream to answer Kylie (the tea towel connoisseur)’s query. There are many brands of canned ricecream but my husband Les says the cheapest (99c can) is the most delicious. It contains rice, milk, sugar and vanilla, and I create homemade variety for breakfast occasionally with left over rice. Ruby was quite keen on it herself it seems, Anne.

Sadly, not recommended.

At last I’ve found a dessert I can’t eat! It’s just too much! Too sweet! But, luckily Les loves ricecream and he even went so far as to say “I like it” and I think he meant it! I was disappointed as I’d hoped it would look just like Ruby’s but the after the jellies came out of the mould the ricecream stubbornly remained behind and had to be scooped out. I’d sat the mould in warm water but it was in there to stay, maybe realising that it wasn’t the taste sensation it’d hoped either. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a photograph at that stage, Anne.

Jellied Pineapple and Ricecream.

2 x 440g cans Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces, 1 cup canned ricecream, 1 tspn gelatine, 1 tblspn cold water, 1 pkt orange-flavour jelly crystals, 1 pkt lime-flavour jelly crystals.

Drain syrup from pineapple pieces and measure into 2 equal parts. Soak gelatine in cold water then dissolve over hot water. Stir into ricecream. Turn into jelly mould. Chill. Add sufficient water to half the pineapple syrup to make 1 ½ cups. Bring to boil, stir in orange jelly crystals. Cool, add half pineapple pieces, spoon into jelly mould over ricecream, chill. Prepare lime jelly in same way, adding remaining pineapple pieces. Set in 20cm cake pan. Chill all until firm. Unmould lime layer on to serving plate, then unmould the ricecream and orange jelly on top of lime jelly. Garnish top with cherry.

Ruby's

Anne's

Mmmm, and crackling.

Roast Pork with Pineapple Sauce.

440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 1 boned shoulder or small loin of pork, 1oz shredded green ginger, 2 tblsp vinegar, salt and pepper, 1 tblsp chopped red capsicum, ½ cup chopped eschalots (including green tops), 2 tsp cornflour.

Dust the meat with salt and pepper, and fill with well-seasoned bread stuffing moistened with pineapple syrup. Roast uncovered in a moderate oven, allowing 40 to 45 minutes per lb. Drain pineapple and add ginger and vinegar, ½ tsp salt, dash pepper, plus capsicum and eschalots. Bring to boil then thicken with cornflour blended in ¼ cup cold water. Serve as sauce over the roast pork.

A taste of Mozambique.

My friend Elsa swept through my kitchen like a whirlwind to create a beautiful pineapple cake quite like she would make back home in Mozambique (she would have preferred fresh pineapple, also I set the oven too hot unfortunately, so the caramel was a little darker than intended). But it was truly delicious with a lovely texture! Elsa Licumba has started a catering business in Newcastle NSW if anyone is interested in a special event with an African flavour elsalicumba@gmail.com 0413538959, Anne.

Elsa’s Pineapple Cake.

1 X 225g can Golden Circle Pineapple Slices, 2 cups sugar, 100g butter, 4 eggs, 3 tspns vanilla essence (or optionally 1 tspn of cinnamon), 2 cups plain flour, 4 tspns baking powder.

Have butter and pineapple at room temperature.

Melt 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan on the stove. Swill around a warmed 20cm cake tin until evenly coated with caramel. Line the base of the cake tin with pineapple rings and let the tin cool.

Cream butter and one cup of sugar with an electric beater. Mix in eggs and vanilla essence. Add plain flour and baking powder. Mix well. Make sure this mixture is not too runny, but if it is too thick add a little pineapple syrup. Pour the mix into the cake tin on top of the pineapple and place in an oven preheated to 180°C for 45-50 minutes. Don’t open the door for at least the first 20 minutes of cooking.

 

 

 

A favourite with Kookaburras !

Never leave your croquettes unguarded!

Fish and Pineapple Croquettes.

For these croquettes I used a large can of Red Salmon, which made up 9 croquettes, and no anchovy paste! I also left out the knob of butter in the potatoes, Anne.

440g can Golden Circle Sliced Pineapple, 2 cups cooked fish or 1 large can fish fillets, 2 eggs, few leaves dill, pepper and salt, 4 boiled potatoes, 1 tblspn anchovy paste (optional), 1 cup fine, dry breadcrumbs.

Cut 2 drained pineapple slices into small sections. Hard-cook 1 egg and mash finely. Flake fish into basin, add cooked egg, seasonings and sauce. Mash potatoes, adding a nob of butter and remaining egg. Add to fish and blend evenly. Shape tablespoons of the mixture around pineapple cubes, roll in fine crumbs, and bake or pan-fry until golden brown. Pan-fry the remaining pineapple slices and serve with the croquettes and tossed green salad.

Classic Salad Dessert.

Golden Circle Tropical Fruit Salad with a swirl of whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Follow the Pineapple Princesses.

On request I have included a “gadget” for anyone who would like to follow this blog – just write your email address into the box on the right hand side of the page and submit.

jamesahaigh has given us permission to use his atmospheric photograph of the amazing Dunsmore Pineapple in Scotland. He says “It is a very unusual building, and apparently was built during the Victorian times as the area was actually a pineapple grove (not sure if that’s the correct term) but they used to grow them there. It’s a shame it wasn’t a nicer day but it was in January and very very cold.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesahaigh/

Evoking sunny Queensland.

An impromptu dinner party, some friends of my pal Robert in town from NZ and Ballarat for a dog show in Canberra.  I invited them for dinner and now the party has grown. 

Purchased two 6 inch pastry cases (sorry Ruby, I failed pastry at school) they were the only ones I could find.  I planned to use the individual Sara Lee sweet pastry cases but they were nowhere to be found.  Made up the filling as per the recipe but added another egg white to the meringue, plus another ¼ cup sugar and ½ cup coconut.  I tinted the meringue a very delicate shade of pink, the beetroot hue of the book would have put us all off our dessert, Ann.

Coral Reef Pie.

Pie filling: 440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 2 tblspns cornflour, 2 egg yolks, 1 tblspn butter, 1 baked 20cm pastry shell.

Heat pineapple and syrup in saucepan. Blend cornflour in ¼ cup cold water, stir into hot pineapple mixture and bring to boil. Remove from stove, stir in beaten egg yolks and butter. Turn into pastry shell, top with pink coral macaroon, bake in slow oven 180°C about 30 minutes or until topping is firm.

Coral Macaroon Topping: 2 egg whites, ½ cup castor sugar, 1 cup desiccated coconut, pinch salt, pink food colouring. Beat egg whites with salt until frothy. Gradually beat in sugar, beating until meringue is firm. Add few drops pink food colouring, then the coconut. Flavour to taste.

Pineapple filling in the shells.

Before the oven.



Out of the oven.

One slice gone.



One slice of Coral Reef Pie.

The Pineapple Princesses were recently contacted by a fan of all things vintage who had created a Coral Reef Pie of her own. Kylie and her family, who live in Perth, weren’t that impressed by the pie which is why Ann decided to have a go at creating not one but two herself!

See Kylie’s very funny tribute (?) to Ruby Borrowdale at

http://lucyvioletvintage.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/golden-circle-magic-or-should-that-read.html#links