Hello everyone,

John is a creative chef. He rarely uses recipes (only sometimes as guidelines) and usually prefers to make it up as he goes. And of course, the outcome is usually fantastic. This week’s recipe is no exception.

We were at Save-On the other day trying to figure out what we wanted for dinner. John paused in mid-step (in a very dramatic fashion at that) and stared intensely ahead. After a few seconds I asked him what he was up to. He responded that we should have stuffed grilled pineapples for dinner, and then proceeded to select two ripe pineapples from the shelf in front of him.

Well, I have had a few things stuffed before – turkey, peppers, potatoes – but stuffed pineapples? That sounded crazy…but intriguing!

So we went through the grocery store, selecting items we thought would go great in a stuffed pineapple. Corn, red peppers, jalapenos, black beans all ended up in our cart. After grocery shopping, we went home to get this crazy experiment underway. John started to core and scoop the fruit out of the pineapples while I got all of the stuffing ingredients into the frying pan. We tasted what was in the pan and decided it needed something more. After a quick discussion,  I ran to the basement and grabbed a jar of our homemade sweet and sour sauce (a bi-product of our barbecue sauce.) The sweet and sour sauce was the perfect touch. After stuffing the pineapples and grilling them for about half an hour (with tops on and all) we were very excited about the delicious dinner these silly looking things yielded!

Core Pineapples – and preserve fruit!

Fry ingredients in pan. Add pineapple fruit and sweet and sour sauce (optional)

Stuff pineapples with filling

Put stuffed pineapples on BBQ. Grill pineapples for about 30 minutes

Eat stuffing  – and throw some Jamaican Jerk pork chops in there for good measure

IPS:

–      –  We used a homemade sweet and sour sauce in one pineapple, and left the other sauce free just to see how it would turn out. If you don’t feel like making the sauce, it will turn out just great without!

–      – Serve on a bed of rice, garnished with cilantro and green onion

Ingredient I can’t live without:

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
When John and I canned our own BBQ sauce, this was a by-product that we love. We frequently use it in stir fires and as a marinade for grilled vegetables.

So here’s to a successful wacky experiment! Kudos to John on the great idea. I am excited to see what other tasty treasures will be created this summer!

Bon appetit,

Julie

Click here to view printable Word version of recipe:
Stuffed Pineapples with Sweet and Sour Sauce

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Stuffed Pineapples with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Serves 4 – 6

2 pineapples
1 cob corn
1 can black beans
1 red pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (leave ½ seed for spicy if desired)
1 onion, diced
Sweet and sour sauce (see recipe below)

Cilantro and green onions to garnish

Directions:

1. Cut tops of pineapple. With long knife, cut out core and pineapple fruit, leaving the pineapple as empty as you can.
2. Remove pieces of core from your pineapple and preserve fruit.
3. Parboil corn cob.
4. Heat oil in large pan. Add onions and jalapeno pepper. Cook. Add red pepper. Cook. Cut corn off cob and add corn. Add black beans. Cook. Add ½ of pineapple.
5. Add sweet and sour sauce. Start by adding a few tablespoons, and continue to add to your liking.
6. Spoon as much of the ingredients as you can into pineapples. Cover pineapples with their tops.
7. Grill pineapples upright on barbecue at around medium-low, for about 30 minutes.
8. Serve on a bed of rice, and garnish with cilantro and green onions.

Sweet and sour sauce

½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
½ tsp ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in water
¼ cup oil

Directions for dressing:

1. Place all ingredients in pot (except cornstarch, water and oil) and simmer on medium to reduce acidity, about 10 minutes.
2. While simmering, dissolve cornstarch in water.
3. Add cornstarch in simmer pot until dressing thickens. Remove from heat and mix in oil.