Pineapple Prawns

 Doyle’s Fish Cookbook, Alice Doyle, 1989 Sydney

Pineapple Prawns

Serves 3-4

2 tblspn vegetable oil; 1 brown onion, finely chopped; 1 tspn salt; freshly ground pepper; 2 large stalks celery, strings removed and chopped finely; ½ capsicum (green pepper), chopped finely; 1 cup tomato sauce; 1 cup canned crushed pineapple; 1-1.5kg (2-3lb) cooked prawns, shelled

Heat oil in a large pan, add onion and cook until tender, being careful not to burn the oil. Add the salt and pepper, celery, capsicum, tomato sauce and pineapple, stir well. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the prawns, mix well, and heat through, remembering that the prawns are already cooked.

Serve over a bed of rice.

Mrs Doyle’s recipe was quite delicious. I followed the recipe exactly but I did add some chili for a bit of a kick. It was close to an old fashioned Australian sweet and sour except the vegetables were cut smaller. I left the capsicum a bit larger because I was afraid the whole thing would look like mush otherwise. It actually was very sweet with the pineapple and so much tomato sauce but the sauce was vinegary so that counteracted the sweetness. Steamed jasmine rice was a good foil, Ann

Pineapple and caramel cakes

http://www.foodiful.com.au/recipes/118216/pineapple-caramel-cakes?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=pineapple-caramel-cakes&utm_campaign=editorial

Thanks for the link Robyn, they were delicious!

Pineapple and caramel cakes

Makes 4

Enjoy a sweet treat with the unique combination of pineapple and caramel flavours. Your guests will be begging for the recipe!

Ingredients: melted butter for greasing; 125 g unsalted butter, chopped, at room temperature; ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed; 2 eggs; 1 cup self-raising flour; ¾ cup fresh breadcrumbs; ½ cup milk; 440 g canned pineapple chunks in juice; double cream, to serve

Caramel sauce: 300 ml tub thickened cream; ½ cup brown sugar firmly packed

Method:

Grease four ovenproof dishes (1¼-cup capacity) with melted butter. Line bases with baking paper. Place on an oven tray.

Beat chopped butter and sugar in a small bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until just combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in flour, breadcrumbs, milk and pineapple. Divide among dishes.

Cook in a moderate oven (180°C) for 30 minutes, or until cooked when tested. Remove. Stand cakes for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the inside of each dish to loosen cakes.

Meanwhile, make sauce. Stir cream and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat until sugar dissolves. Gently boil, stirring, for about 8 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Turn out cakes. Serve with warm sauce and cream

Pineapple on Show

Congratulations to Annie for winning the new 2018 Dungog Agricultural and Horticultural Show  Pineapple Upside Down Cake category!

And if you'd like to make your own . . . 

Pineapple upside down cake

Ingredients:

For the topping: 50g softened butter; 50g light soft brown sugar; 7 pineapple rings in syrup, drained and syrup reserved; 7 glacé cherries

For the cake: 100g softened butter; 100g golden caster sugar; 100g self-raising flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 eggs

Method:

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

For the topping, beat 50g softened butter and 50g light soft brown sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20cm round cake tin. Arrange 7 pineapple rings on top (reserving the syrup for later), then place 7 glacé cherries in the centres of the rings.

For the cake, Place 100g softened butter, 100g golden caster sugar, 100g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 eggs in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the reserved pineapple syrup. Using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency.

Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it’s level. Bake for 35 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. 

This year was the Dungog Show's 125th Anniversary!

Wow! Friends, Sue and Paul have just presented me with this marvelous bespoke (not sure if that's the correct usage of "bespoke" but I've always wanted to use that word ... so I did) Pineapple Upside Down Cake tin. Thanks so much, can't wait to start baking! 

Sue and Paul also found these great salt and pepper shakers in their fave op shop! Anne

Golden fruit cake with pineapple

The Jean Bowring Cookbook 1970 Sydney

Cakes: Golden Fruit Cake

1 tblsp butter; ¼ cup golden syrup; ¼ cup brandy; 220g glacé pineapple; 110g glacé apricots; 220g sultanas; 110g mixed peel; 110g glacé cherries; 220g butter; 1 1/3 cup (firmly packed) light brown sugar; grated rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon; 4 eggs; 110g ground almonds; 2 ½ cups plain flour; ½ level tspn baking powder; a good pinch of salt; 1 level tspn cinnamon; 1 level tspn ginger

Combine the tablespoon of butter with the golden syrup and brandy in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the butter has melted and the syrup softened. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Cool.

Cut the fruit into uniform-sized pieces. Line a 20 cm cake tin with two thicknesses of brown and two of white paper.

Beat the 220 g butter and the brown sugar to a soft cream and add the orange and lemon rind. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the ground almonds. Add half the fruit and half the brandy syrup to the mixture.

Sift the flour with the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger and add half to the mixture. Add the remaining fruit and syrup, then the reminder of the flour. Blend thoroughly.

Place in the prepared tin and bake in a slow oven, 135°C for 3 to 3 ½ hours.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle AND Pineapples

My fabulous friends in Dungog's branch of Boomerang Bags make reusable shopping bags - the ones with pineapple motifs are especially terrific - thanks Fran and Stephen! Anne

Pineapple toasties

Breville Eight Up Snackmaker: Instruction book and thought starter recipes, Sydney c1970s

Desserts: Fruit Layer Dessert

As I don’t have a Breville Eight Up Snackmaker I dug out the old campfire jaffle iron from my childhood to create the Fruit Layer Dessert for myself and a toasted sandwich of chopped pineapple, banana and cheese for Les, yum, Anne

Makes 4 Brevils

1 banana, sliced; 2 slices pineapple, fresh or canned; 2 tspn brown sugar; 4 slices thick raisin toast, buttered

Place two slices bread, buttered side down, onto preheated scallops. Place half the banana onto each bread slice. Top with a slice of pineapple and remaining banana. Sprinkle each sandwich with brown sugar and top with bread slices (buttered side uppermost).

Lower lid and toast for two minutes.

Serve hot with cream or ice-cream.

My fruit layer dessert

Les's pineapple, banana and cheese toastie

This is an upside-down pineapple noodle kugel

In case you’ve been wondering !

The Myrna Rosen Cookbook 1986 Cape Town, South Africa

Upside-Down Noodle Kugel

I made a scaled down version, Les loved it but found the noodles on the outside a tad crunchy until it had sat in the fridge overnight, Anne

60g margarine; 100g brown sugar; 8 slices canned pineapple, drained; 8 glacé cherries; 500g broad, flat noodles; 5 eggs, beaten lightly; 50g white sugar; ½ cup raisins (optional); 250g margarine, melted; ½ tsp salt; 1 X 113g tin apricot nectar

Method: Melt margarine in a 23cm square or round ovenware dish or pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Arrange pineapple rings on top of sugar mixture and place a cherry in each centre.

Cook noodles in salted water until tender. Drain well and mix with remaining ingredients. Spoon over the pineapple rings. Bake in 180C oven for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool and invert carefully onto a serving platter.

Serves 12