It’s no secret that we love to barbecue on board and we recently installed an even better grill than we had before! Grilled fruit is a simple way to finish a light summertime barbecue. Firm fruits like pineapple are best because they keep their shape and texture. In the summer months, the winds are usually very calm after the sun sets, so cooking dessert in the cockpit is a great excuse to linger under the stars and enjoy the peaceful anchorage.

You will need:

1 whole fresh pineapple
¼ cup butter
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Glaze: In a small pan, melt the butter and cook until it just begins to turn light brown.  Add the brown sugar and stir until it dissolves.  Add the orange juice and simmer until the mixture becomes syrupy.  Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and season with salt.

Peel the pineapple, removing the eyes and the bottom but being careful to keep the crown of leaves attached.  Cut the pineapple, through the crown, into quarters.  Pour the glaze over the pineapple.  Grill the pineapple for about 10 minutes, turning once, until golden brown.  Pour any remaining glaze over the pineapple and serve warm.

John’s Wine Selection:
The high sugar content of this dessert makes pairing a wine with the pineapple quite a challenge. Do you go for something dry to contrast? Or a sweet Muscat to enhance and focus the flavor? You might prefer a digestif to a wine: a grappa or an armangnac whose fiery strength ‘cuts’ the pineapple’s sweetness, or, if you’re more inclined to that sweetness, a Sambucca or one of the orange family of liqueurs: Cointreau or Grand Marnier. But, thinking on it more, I might recommend neither wine nor liqueur for this particular dish. Let it stand on its own.