Roasted Pineapple

Easy and delicious both warm and at room temperature

• Servings: 4 to 6.

This simple method for cooking pineapple brings out its natural, sweet juiciness.  Adjust the amount of sugar depending upon how sweet and ripe your pineapple may be.

Ingredients

• 1 large, ripe pineapple
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (taste the pineapple for sweetness and use less if possible)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F.
2. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper.
3. Prepare the pineapple by peeling it completely, removing its thick, prickly skin. This is most easily done with a serrated bread knife. Make sure you remove all the brown eyes and that the pineapple is completely yellow, with no blemishes.
4. Slice the pineapple lengthwise into 4 segments. Cut off and discard the inside part of each segment that was the thick, fibrous core so that the segments are only soft, edible pineapple.
5. Slice these 4 segments again into 4 pieces so that in total you have 16 segments, each the length of the peeled pineapple and about 3/8" to 1/2" in thickness.
6. Place the strips onto the prepared sheet pan.
7. Using a pastry brush, coat each piece with melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar, using only half the sugar.
8. Place in the preheated oven and roast for 10 minutes.
9. Turn each pineapple piece over, brush with more melted butter, and sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar, using less if the fruit was very sweet to begin with.
10. Bake until the pieces are bubbling in the pan and the fruit is gold, another 5 to 10 minutes, or about 20 minutes in total.

The Versatility of Roasted Pineapple

A slice of roasted pineapple is delicious on its own, although adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a brilliant finish.

Other ways to serve it include:

• Serve with a scoop of coconut sorbet (achieving the taste of a piña colada)
• Drizzle with a little butterscotch or caramel sauce
• Make pineapple shortcakes by buying or making biscuits and adding a generous spoonful of whipped cream
• Purée in a food processor or blender, chill, and use an ice cream maker to turn it into roasted pineapple sorbet
• Fold chunks into your favorite coffee cake recipe
• Add to a pre-baked tart shell that's been filled with pastry cream or vanilla pudding for a quick roasted pineapple tart

If you want another way to serve cooked pineapple as a special dessert, we've added a link to a recipe for Pineapple in Ginger Rum Syrup, from Gourmet magazine.