Nothing like fresh pineapple for breakfast! Don't eat the canned stuff, it doesn't even taste like real pineapple, and don't be intimidated by the ones still in their skin with scary spiky leaves either! Letting it ripen and cutting it up yourself is the way to go, even if buying it ready cored and cut seems easier. It's also cheaper this way. A pineapple is ripe when you can smell 'pineapple' at the base, and if a leaf comes out easily when you gently tug on it. If you have yank it out, it isn't ready yet. Leave it on your windowsill until it is ready, sometimes this can take several days.
Lay it on its side and cut the top and bottom off, then stand it back upright. Starting at the top, cut sections of the skin off, curving your knife with the shape of the pineapple. You will need a fairly large knife for this. Work your way around in small sections . If there are any little dark rings or spikes left, use a smaller knife and remove them. You want to cut the two sides away from the core, cut about half a centimetre either side of the visible core circle and you should avoid the hard centre piece. Then lay the remaining rectangle down and cut the other two small sides away from the core. You can then cube it and have it ready to eat in a container. I remember asking my Mum, when I was growing up in Zambia, if I could eat the core when she was cutting one up for fruit salad, like you would ask to lick the baking spoon (which I did also!). She assured me it wasn't very nice, but I ate it non-the-less. Still tastes the same, just not as strong, and very chewy. You may notice the pineapple has a different colour at the bottom compared to the top - it ripens from the bottom up, so the bottom could be a deeper colour and sweeter. If you have left the pineapple until it is almost too ripe, separate the bottom from the top and eat that first. I will cube the top part first and just have the bottom part on the top of the bowl so as to eat it first.
This morning I had my pineapple with blueberries, thick Mediterranean yoghurt (with strawberries in it) and home made granola. It was wonderful. I had a glass of berry smoothie on the side, which I tipped the last bit of into my breakfast bowl and mushed it all together! My husband thinks this is disgusting, but it tastes lovely.
Am making a Thai curry tonight. Well, after I open a jar of lovely Sharwoods 'Indonesian Satay Sauce' I will make it all my own thank you very much! I use boneless skinless chicken thighs as they are far more moist than chicken breast meat, and cheaper. You can add any manner of things to make it delicious, including peppers, mushrooms, beans, sprouts, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, zucchini, onions. It can be beautifully colourful with yellow zucchini, red peppers, green beans and some good textures from shoots and sprouts. You can also stretch the sauce with a can of coconut milk. Tonight I am going with what I have at home; green beans, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and onions. Looking forward to the creaminess of the coconut, the nutty flavour and the kick of the chillies! It works well as a vegetarian dish too, minus the chicken, you can have as many veggies in it as you like, there are already peanuts in the sauce and you can add further nuts such as almonds at the end. Now to decide whether to have it on rice or quinoa?
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