Flambéd Pineapple and Rum

I am not a sweet person. I am not cantankerous and bitter either. What I am alluding to is that I have no craving for anything sweet, and a desert is the course I am most likely going to skip on. I am not a fan of sweets, sugary drinks etc – so much so my dentist told me not to bother coming back for a couple of years as people like me would put him out of business.
I am a huge fan of fresh fruit though, and rather contrary to what I have written above do like the natural sweetness found in fruit, so a bit of hypocrisy there – sorry.
Fresh and ripe pineapple is really one of my favourite things. Getting a ripe one is sometimes a little tricky. The colour of the skin is not necessarily the indicator of ripeness. Smell the base of the pineapple – if there is a mild pineapple smell, it is good to go. If there is a strong odour, it is most likely starting to ferment, and will probably start to develop a layer of mould. The best method I have found to determine if it is ripe enough is to pull (or try to) one of the centre leaves – it it whips out without effort, it is good. If it hangs on for dear life, it it not ripe yet.

Ingredients

• 1 x large ripe pineapple
• 1 x tbsp of demarara sugar
• 1 x 15g knob of butter
• 1 x generous glug of Rum (my favourite in dark Havana Club – reminds me of my time in Cuba)
• Strawberry yoghurt ice-cream (or similar) optional

Instructions

1. Top and tail the pineapple, and carefully cut away the outer skin with a sharp knife. Make sure you remove the rough knobbly bits. Then, cut the pineapple in half and, by making a V-shaped insertion, remove the inner core. Cut into slices, then nice bite-size chunks.
2. Warm up a pan and melt the butter over a medium heat.
3. add the pineapple, and fry for a couple of minutes until browned on one side.
4. turn over (tongs are good) and brown the other side.
5. sprinkle a small amount of sugar over the top of the top of the turned over pineapple pieces.
6. pour a good glug of rum over the pineapple, let it heat through, then set alight to it (I use a chef’s torch) and stand well back.
7. After the mild act of pyromania, and the flames have subsided, serve up with a scoop of yoghurt ice-cream (optional)