Grilled Jerk Pineapple

I hate fruit. Yes fruit. My nemesis. Well not actually my nemesis, but I'd pretty much eat most other food groups before fruit. But I'm trying to be healthier so I will make myself eat some fruit pretty much daily. But the real breakthrough is that I LIKED this fruit. Really, what's not to like about this fruit? It's grilled and marinaded and topped with ice cream. Yummy.

See while I was in Meijer's last week picking up an assortment of vegetables, they had a big pile of pineapples. This happens to me fairly frequently that I think a fruit is pretty and I pick it up and then I have no idea what to do with it. I actually had a pommelo go bad in my fruit bowl because I simply was clueless about it. So after about 5 days when the pineapple was starting to get really fragrant I knew my time was limited. Fortunately a helpful gentleman last year taught me how to pick a good, almost ripe pineapple. So I got on the trusty Internet and found this fabulous recipe from Health magazine on My Recipes.

It's spicy. It's a little boozy. It's tart. And it's creamy. I did manage to refrain from licking the plate this time, but I definitely thought about it. I've never had grilled fruit before so that was a new experience for me. The Brain even jumped in and grilled it for me. I varied from the recipe at one point because I had lots of marinade left over and so I reduced it in a small saucepan for a little bit. Overall it was a delicious, healthy, fairly elegant, and super easy dessert. I might pick up a pineapple again next week...

Grilled Jerk Pineapple

adapted from Health magazine

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup dark rum

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground cloves

8 (3/4 inch thick) slices fresh pineapple

Cooking spray

1 1/3 cups low fat ice cream*

1. Prepare grill.

2. Combine sugar, rum, thyme, cinnamon, salt, red pepper, ginger, allspice, and cloves in a large Ziploc bag. Add pineapple, and chill 1 hour, turning occasionally.

3. Remove pineapple from bag, reserving marinade. Place pineapple on a grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill 4 minutes on each side or until thoroughly heated, brushing with reserved marinade.

4. Reduce marinade in small saucepan until thick and hot.

5. Arrange 2 slices on each of 4 dessert plates; top each with 1/3 cup of ice cream. Drizzle marinade over ice cream.

*Yeah, I had some Haagen Daz in the freezer. I'm not so big on low fat ice cream. If you're going to have ice cream then have the good stuff. The Brain had his without ice cream and proclaimed it some "Damn good pineapple".