Happy 10th Birthday Pineapple Princesses !!!

Ann and I recently had a quiet get together to reminisce over the last ten years of being Pineapple Princesses! 

Starting in July 2012 we cooked our way through Ruby Borrowdale’s “Golden Circle Tropical Recipe Book” and then kept going! We’re still cooking new pineapple recipes from many different sources – some retro, some contemporary. 

The oldest recipe we used, for Pineapple in Rum, was from Australia’s first cookbook, “The English and Australian Cookery Book” by Edward Abbott published 1864 in London.

We have posted recipes each week over the ten years which has amounted to almost 800 posts including over a thousand recipes. This is definitely your go to pineapple recipe collection!!

To celebrate, Ann cooked us a delicious pineapple salmon curry and maple syrup pineapple upside down cake! Woo hoo!!! Anne

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

Thai Salmon and Pineapple Curry (based on a prawn recipe)

Serves 4

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; 280g chopped salmon; 440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces in Juice, drained; 8 cherry tomatoes, halved; steamed Jasmine rice, to serve; coriander 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 salmon, pineapple and cherry tomatoes and simmer for a further 2 - 3 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through.

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

Red Curry Paste

1 tblspn coriander seeds; 2 tspn cumin seeds; 1 tspn black peppercorns; 2 tspn dries shrimp paste; 1 tspn ground nutmeg; 12 dried or fresh red chillies, rough chopped; 1 cup French shallots, chopped; 2 tblspn oil; 4 stems lemon grass (white part only) finely chopped; 12 small cloves garlic, chopped; 2 tblspn fresh coriander roots, chopped; 2 tblspn fresh coriander stems, chopped; 6 kaffir lime leaves, chopped; 2 tspn grated lime rind; 2 tspn salt; 2 tspn turmeric; 1 tspn paprika

1. Place the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan and heat for 2-3 minutes, shaking the pan constantly.

2. Place the roasted spices and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or clean coffee grinder and work them until they are finely ground. Wrap the shrimp paste in a small amount of foil and cook under a hot grill for 3 minutes, turning the package twice.

3. Process the ground spices, roasted shrimp paste, nutmeg and chillies in a food processor for 5 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and process for 20 seconds at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula each time, until the mixture forms a smooth paste.

Makes approximately 1 cup.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake (based on a Margaret Fulton recipe)

Line a cake tin with paper and grease with butter.  Pour in ¾ cup maple syrup. Lay half slices of canned pineapple rings in a circle around the tin on top of the maple syrup.                                                                                                                                                                              60g soft butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, 3/8 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup self raising flour and ¼ cup milk

Process the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy, beat in the egg, then pulse the flour and milk alternately until just mixed. 

Pour or dollop on top of pineapple, smooth top and bake in mod oven until cooked for 30 minutes.

And here are a couple of little tropical beauties from the recent 

                                              Dungog Tea Party Exhibition NSW!!