This is a recipe I adapted from the Thai magazine Food Stylist.  It’s from the pastry chef, Shannon Moeran, at The Metropolitan Hotel.  The recipe calls for smaller and younger pineapples that I can’t find anywhere.  I used the smallest one I found instead.  And the result is still decadent.  Thanks chef!

I love the way how pineapples are peeled in Thailand.  The tough green peel is thinly removed, leaving the eyes intact.  Then the eyes are removed in slanted slits, resulting in a lovely spiral of a fruit gem.

I remember the first time seeing how pineapple was peeled on American TV and was shocked.  The skin was thickly cut to remove all the eyes.  So much of the fruit wasted!  I found out later other Southeast Asian countries do the same spiral thing and pretty much elsewhere good pineapple is wasted.  Which then made me wonder how difficult is it to “spiral remove” the eyes?

Not much at all!

Ok, mine didn’t turn out perfect like what the street vendors can do but, hey, they have more practice than I do.  But it was great fun and a lot easier than I thought.

The recipe stuffs the pineapple with dry mango, tamarind and pineapple cooked until jam-like.  I stuffed mine simply with candied Chinese dates but I am thinking dried persimmons would be a better choice.  I didn’t like the tough skins of the dates.  I also adjusted the amount of sugar and water used.  The original recipe calls for “600 grams of water to 250 grams sugar to 4 baby pineapples.”  It doesn’t say how many grams those pineapples are but 250 grams is about 1 cup of sugar………..yea, I really had no idea how to figure out.  Ha. Ha. Ha.  In the end, I decided to use 3 cups sugar to 8 cups water.  Just enough to cover my non-baby-but-not-big pineapple.  I topped it off with a vanilla bean since the chef serves his with vanilla ice cream.  I am serving this as it is.  Haven’t invested in an ice cream machine, yet………….

I used my Staub for this dish because it requires two hours of baking in the oven.  I am also planning to make this again as a topping for shaved ice to be served with cold, cold, cold plum sake……….yummy!

Adapted from Food Stylist.  Recipe by Chef Shannon Moeran

1 small pineapple (mine is about 500 grams)

1 medium knob of ginger

3 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean

5 candied Chinese dates

8 cups of water

1. Peel the tough green skin of the pineapple thinly.  The pineapple is actually an interesting fruit.  The eyes grow in slanted rows all around the fruit.  Make slanted slits on the top and bottom of the eyes to remove.  This can be done individually but I find that if the eyes are removed in multiples, it makes for a prettier spiral.  Trim away the bits and pieces of the tough skin as needed.

2. Core the pineapple.  This is just about the only difficult part for me as it doesn’t work with my apple corer.  I had to use a small fruit knife to cut it all around.  Stuff it with Chinese dates and set aside.

3. Make the ginger syrup by adding the ginger and sugar to boiling water.  Slit and scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean. Add to the syrup.  Infuse for 5 minutes. Remove from stove.

4. Put the pineapple into the syrup.  Make sure there is enough water to cover the fruit.  Top with a lid and bake in the oven for 2 hours at 120 Celsius.  The pineapple should be soft but maintains its shape.

5. Remove the pineapple and reduce the poaching liquid to a caramel consistency.  Slice the pineapple into 2 cm thick pieces or leave it whole to be cut at the serving table.  Pour caramel over pineapple.

6.  Alternatively, the fruit can also be served with the dried persimmon cooked in the poaching liquid until a thick sauce-like consistency.