Pineapple Powder

I regularly make homemade pineapple juice at home, but inevitably I always have a large amount of pineapple puree left at the end of every juicing session. What do I do with this? Initially, I threw it out, a waste. Eventually I put this in blended drinks. However, before I learned to do this, I had no idea what to do with all my puree.

One day I figured it out. I would make pineapple powder! Theoretically, you can make any flavor of powder. Popular examples are tomato, fennel, mushroom, etc.. The ingredients are simple and it's easy to make.

The basic idea is to take some puree of whatever you are making powder of (in this case, a lot of pineapple pulp), squeeze as much water out of it as possible in a clean dishcloth, and dehydrate it in a dehydrator. Unfortunately, most normal people do not own a dehydrator machine in their homes, so I jerry-rigged a microwave to do the same thing by using the lowest possible setting for heat over an extended period of time. Since microwaves work on the principle of using water in a substance to produce heat, this works.

First, I took some pineapple puree and squeezed the water out as best I could.


Next, I spread the puree in a thin, even layer on top of a sheet of parchment. I trimmed the parchment into a circle shape so it would sit evenly in my microwave.

I set my microwave on 20% power and "cooked" the pineapple puree on the parchment for about 20 minutes. When I took it out, it was leathery and dry.

I think I might've overdried the pulp because there were some char marks and the flavor of the pineapple was extremely faint. I think overdrying the pineapple muted the flavors.

I put this all in a spice mill and grinded it up until no large pieces remained. It was a fine powder when I took it out.

Finally, I bottled the powder. It should be good for about three to five days. Afterwards, the flavor diminishes.


Now comes the million dollar question. What the hell do you use these powders for?

I have no idea. Anyone care to comment?

P.S. My friend likes to call this "pineapple nose candy."

Shrimp with Avocado Salsa

One of the reasons I love summer so much is because it's a great season to have salsa. I don't mean your horrible, factory-produced, canned salsa, good for those with bland palates and a taste for food that's jarred and frozen. I love, love, love original salsa, even though it might not be the healthiest thing you could eat!

Avocado is a terrific fruit rich with fiber, potassium, and of course, fat, but it makes a terrific avocado salsa that I've used more than once. It goes great with seafood (I've used it on red snapper before, with some minced chili peppers). Today, I decided to make Shrimp with Avocado Salsa.

First step was to make the court bouillon, an acidic poaching liquid which has flavors of anise and lemon. I combined water and aromatic vegetables in a large pot and heated it. The aromatics were carrots, leeks, and onions. The recipe called for fennel, but I don't really use it that often and I didn't feel like paying $5 for a single bulb, so I substituted a small amount of Pernod. I also added a bouquet garni, which is thyme, parsley, and bay leaves tied inside three leek greens.

Once that came to a boil, I reduced it to a simmer and added the white wine, white vinegar, and halved lemon.


Once it was simmering again, I added the shrimp. I got the shrimp from Pescatore in Grand Central Market once again. I opted for medium-sized shrimp with shell-on because I figured it would help keep in the flavor while it poached. Shopping at Pescatore is nice because they have one of those "customer loyalty cards" they punch out every time you purchase a pound of shrimp or fish. Once you get ten punches, you get a pound of ANY FISH for free. I've done the math for purchasing ten pounds of the cheapest carp and getting a free pound of tuna and it's not bad. Nice, eh?

I let it cool on the counter which took about half an hour, then I peeled and deveined the shrimp. In retrospect, I don't know if the whole court bouillon business did much. I tasted only a slight acidity and anise flavor in the shrimp, but I wasn't wowed. At least my compost bin is happy from the ordeal.

While this was all happening, I made the avocado salad. This was the easiest part. I used my brand-spanking new food processor and finely chopped some red onion and cucumber, then I carefully folded in the cubes of avocado, taking care not to break up the fruit. I also drizzled in some olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper to taste.

I had some tomato diamonds in the fridge from the previous day, so it was time for plating. I took a large fork and speared a shrimp on the end. On the tines, I added a heaping spoonful of avocado salsa and placed a few tomato diamonds on top. Here's the final canape plating:

Doesn't that look great? I would definitely make this again, but maybe without the court bouillon step. I think you can simply poach the shrimp in white wine and lemon, and it would come out fine. Also, the Pernod worked extremely well; I could taste a little anise flavor, and it was absolutely a cinch to do. Buying a whole piece of fennel, chopping it up, and letting the unused remainder go bad in your fridge is just a waste.

Happy summer everyone!

Sources:
Shrimp from Pescatore in Grand Central Market
Produce from Greenwich Produce in Grand Central Market

Curry with Thai Eggplant

When I want to find interesting and extremely fresh produce, I like to take a trip to Chinatown. Not only are the wares incredibly fresh, but there is a wide variety of vegetables and fruit. Everything is dirt cheap to boot.

A few weeks ago, I was walking past a vegetables stand and saw Thai eggplant, small green golf-ball--sized pellets. I couldn't resist and purchased a pound of the eggplants.


When I got home, I was perplexed. I had never cooked with Thai eggplant before and had no idea how to cook them. I decided to taste the vegetable. I cut one open -- it was incredibly seedy. The flavor was similar to normal eggplant. I noticed that the flesh seemed porous and absorbent. Then it hit me. Curry! A delicious curry sauce would be sopped up by the flesh of the eggplant. I had used normal eggplant in curries before and so I knew it would work.

I modified a standard recipe for curry that is the basic archetype from which all curries are built; you probably already know it. Turmeric root, cumin, and coriander are toasted until fragrant, then grounded up with garlic and peppers in a spice mill. You can add ginger too. Then diced onions are fried until translucent. Lastly, tomatoes and coconut milk are added. The result is Curry with Thai Eggplant.

I looked in the fridge hoping for some chicken, but no luck, only half a chicken breast. I prayed and hoped and crossed my fingers and opened the freezer. Eureka! I found a packet of snowy halibut. I had just stuck it in the freezer a mere few days ago, and I vacuum sealed it so it didn't suffer from freezer burn in any way.

First, I toasted some of the spices. Here we see cumin, coriander, and turmeric being toasted in a small saucepan.

I love my spice mill. You can make "dry" sauces so easily with one. Instead of chopping herbs, garlic, ginger, spices, parsley, cilantro, et cetera etcetera etcetera, just dump it all in the spice mill and coarsely grind. The more finely you grind it up, the more flavorful it will become. I'm not sure if they start to react after a certain point though, so I only ground until it was a coarse paste.

In a medium skillet, I heated some oil and added the chopped onion, cooking a few minutes until it softened.
I added the curry paste and cooked some more, trying to break up large pieces as best I could (it starts to stick together since it's a dry paste).

I added chopped tomatoes (You can peel the tomatoes if you want; I didn't) and cooked a minute or two. If desired, you can always remove the large pieces of tomato skin. I don't really mind it.

I added about a cup of coconut milk (same amount as the tomatoes), and mixed. I loved the melding of the colors.

I let this simmer (on medium or low) for about 10 minutes so that the tomatoes were breaking down. Meanwhile, I cubed chicken breast and the halibut...

I also quartered the Thai eggplants and mixed them into the curry. They benefit from extended cooking time as the curry has a chance to soak into the eggplants and give them a more flavorful characteristic.

I tasted the curry and deemed it worthy of the protein I was about to add. The chicken and halibut were added to the curry mixture and I cooked it thoroughly, until the fish and meat were cooked. If you are worried about overcooking the fish, I would add the chicken first, cook a few minutes (not completely), then add the fish.

For a finishing touch, I added chopped cilantro and incorporated.


The end product had a terrific kick. The Thai eggplants were the star of the dish; the seeds provided fun texture and the flesh soaked up the zingy curry flavor. The curry was both spicy and cooling. There was also well-balanced counterpoint between the spice of the peppers, the spice of the ginger, and the coolness of the coconut milk.

Sources:
Thai eggplant from Chinatown
Produce from Whole Foods
Halibut from Costco