LUAU PINEAPPLE CREAM
Fresh pineapple and craisins cooked with ginger, sugar and lemon in a thick glaze flavored with cloves and smoke. The pineapple is cooked till it tastes glazed and fatty, then it’s combined with Tofutti sour cream and chilled. We serve it with a thin vanilla and ginger Tofutti sweet sour cream sauce floated on top of each serving!
Serves 5
1 fresh pineapple
1 c. water
1 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. juice of fresh squeezed lemon
1/3 c. craisins
1 t. powdered ginger
1/2 t. salt
3 T. cornstarch mixed in cup with 1/4 c. water
1/2 t. liquid smoke
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/2 c. from a 12 oz. container Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
Topping:
the remainder of the sour cream in the container
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. powdered ginger
nutmeg
Cut off the top and the bottom of the pineapple; discard.
Stand the pineapple on its end, then using a sharp knife going from top to bottom, run the knife between the prickly outer peel and the yellow fruit beneath it. Do this around the entire pineapple. When done, go back and redo the spots you missed, this time cutting a little deeper into the pineapple, so that there are no brown ‘eyes’ visible.
Now, cut the pineapple in half from top to bottom.
Lay each half flat side facing upward. You’ll see that in the center of each half, running from end to end is a hard core that is colored a little differently than the rest of the fruit, about an inch wide. Slide the knife along the edge, from end to end, cutting into the fruit at a slant going beneath the core. Do the same with the other side of the core, then lift core out. Cut the piece that remains in half from end to end, then crosswise into wedges the thickness you desire.
I don’t throw the core away any more. I slice it into thin wedges and keep them in a bowl on the counter and throughout the day eat them. Sure they’re more fibrous than desirable, but they’re still tasty and the fiber is good for you. Then for the recipe I have the primo piece of fruit that I will thoroughly enjoy.
In large skillet, over medium heat, combine pineapple wedges, water, sugar, lemon, craisins, ginger and salt. Bring to boil and boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring nearly continuously.
Pour cornstarch liquid into skillet, stirring till thickened.
Add liquid smoke and cloves. Stir to blend.
Reduce heat to medium-low to low, and cook till most of pudding part has evaporated leaving more of a thick glaze than pudding, about 15 minutes or till pineapple becomes very tender with rounded edges.
Add 1/2 c. of the soy sour cream to pineapple. Mix well. Spoon into 5 dessert cups and refrigerate with a piece of wax paper laying over the five dishes till thoroughly chilled.
Combine topping ingredients, except nutmeg, in bowl. Stir well till sugar dissolves and becomes creamy.
Spoon a little over each chilled dessert. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve.
Notes: We’re all about flavor here. Texture too. On a blind test, if you didn’t know you were being tested, you would think you just ate a dish of fatty pig. No cruelty, just the flavors and textures we associate with the cooking of a pig, only we’re cooking pineapple!
This is a rich dessert that satisfies every corner of your pleasure-seeking taste buds. Don’t pass this one up, and remember to cook the pineapple long enough to achieve the fatty texture.
CHEF DAVIES-TIGHT™ 