Dessert – Page 19 – Myfrenchkitchen

Today was a romantic day. A soft rain was misting over the Loire, colouring the light to a translucent gray. It was a monochrome painting, a grisaille, an underpainting preparing the canvas for colour. Much like art. It was a day of tones and values. The shadows were deep, the lights were light, the air was soft, feathered. A day of dimension whithout hues.

And so I took out the colour palette and started painting. A spattering of bright reds and luscious velvety burgundies, a drop of sensual translucent syrup. A dollop of stark white cream…a highlight…a shadow. Making food is preparing the canvas. Serving food is painting the canvas. Eating is appreciating the art.

…grisaille…

I had a crazy craving for pineapple yesterday, so I went on a hunt and found the sweet Victoria from South Africa, the big green andwatery pineapple produced in Costa Rica, coming from Miami, Florida????…. and lastly the heavy, bland one from the Ivory coast. First painting them(and in the meantime eating some), I afterwards made a carpaccio from the small , sweet Victoria, which has a beautiful dark yellow colour and an intense flavour.

…Pineapple carpaccio with saffron syrup and pine nuts…

Take a pineapple of your choice(I prefer the small dark yellow Victoria), peel and cut into thin slices.
Arrange on dessert plates.
In the meantime, bring a 1/2 cup of water to the boil, add 1/4 cup of sugar, a pinch of saffron threads, juice of half a lemon and zest of a lemon. (Be careful fro too much saffron, it is very powerful. Two to three strings on 1/2 cup water is plenty) Reduce until syrupy, about 15 minutes. If you want a thicker syrup, simmer for longer.
Leave aside to cool down.
Dry roast a handful of pine nuts in a pan, leave to cool.
Spoon some juice over the pineapple slices, decorate with some pineapple leaves and sprinkle with the roasted pine nuts.

One Victoria pineapple serves 2 people

…Gigi…