Caramelized Pineapple With Ginger Crème Anglaise Recipes

CARAMELIZED PINEAPPLE WITH BROWN SUGAR-GINGER ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Preheat broiler. Line large baking sheet with foil. Arrange pineapple wedges side by side in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Pat pineapple wedges with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Using fingertips, press 1 cup brown sugar through coarse sifter over pineapple. Broil pineapple wedges until brown sugar caramelizes, watching closely to avoid burning and rotating baking sheet to broil evenly, about 3 minutes.
• Arrange 3 wedges of warm caramelized pineapple in triangle on each of 6 plates. Place scoop of Brown Sugar-Ginger Ice Cream in center of pineapple triangle. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon coconut over each dessert and serve.

CARAMELIZED GINGER AND GINGERED CARAMEL

Steps:

• Caramelized Ginger: Cut a ginger root to fit into a plastic bowl with a lid.
• Cover the ginger root pieces in sherry.
• Let this sit until the ginger is fully soaked through with sherry, which can take a month or more.
• The ginger will be dark tan in color and firm and somewhat stringy in texture.
• It will be almost translucent.
• Remove the ginger root from the sherry and set the sherry aside for later.
• Cut the rind off of the ginger root and cut the inner portion into pieces about the size and thickness of 1/2 a dime.
• Put the small ginger pieces into a bowl and cover completely with sugar.
• I had about 1/4 cup of ginger and I put in about 3/4 cup of fine grained white sugar.
• Add back about 2 tablespoons of the sherry.
• The resulting mixture, with the ginger pieces in it, is a thickish but runny syrup.
• Put a mound of sugar (at least a cup) on a plate or in a small bowl and set it aside where you can reach it when you are standing at the stove.
• Cook the ginger/sugar/sherry mixture on the top of the stove until it boils but not until it darkens, (i. e., remove it from the heat before the sugar starts to burn).
• Stir a couple of times while the mixture is heating.
• Use a slotted spoon and remove the ginger pieces from the boiled liquid and plop them onto the sugar mound, keeping them separate from each other as much as possible.
• Spoon more granulated sugar over the top and let this sit for about 1 minute.
• Then stir the whole thing to coat the ginger with sugar.
• Let it sit for 5 minutes, then remove the ginger pieces and set them on a piece of baking paper to air dry.
• Gingered caramel: The boiled sherry/sugar stuff that's still in the pan can be boiled up again for about 30 seconds.
• Just as it starts to brown, remove it from the heat and add two or three tablespoons of butter.
• Let it cool for a few minutes and then pour the now very thick caramel onto more baking paper.
• This is fantastic caramel!
• Notes: This recipe starts with about 2 four inch pieces of ginger root and the yield is about 1/4 cup of caramelized ginger and about 1/3 cup of gingered caramel.
• I happened to have cooking sherry on hand so that is what I used.
• I had purchased two or three small (maybe 4 inches long) pieces of ginger root and I had not used them for anything.
• I had heard that you can soak your ginger in sherry to preserve it so I had cut the roots into 2 inch pieces, give or take, and covered them in sherry in a plastic bowl with a lid.
• I forgot about the ginger and it sat on my kitchen counter for 4 or 5 months.
• Possibly it would have been ready to caramelize a lot sooner than that but it was in perfect condition for this recipe after months of sitting.

GINGER CRèME ANGLAISE

Steps:

• Cut gingerroot into 4 pieces and smash with flat side of a knife. In a small heavy saucepan bring half-and-half and gingerroot just to a simmer over moderately low heat, about 10 minutes (do not let boil). While mixture is heating, in a bowl whisk together yolks and sugar until smooth. Add hot half-and-half mixture in a slow stream, whisking, and transfer custard to pan. Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until a thermometer registers 170°F, about 5 minutes (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and cool. (Crème anglaise may be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring crème anglaise to room temperature before serving.)