What's On the Side: Pineapple Salsa

Brighten up your taco night with this recipe for a sweet and savory Pineapple Salsa. 

Salsa is one of my favorite condiments. Of course, it's an ideal partner for tortilla chips, but it also makes for a delicious accompaniment to scrambled eggs, brats, or breakfast burritos. Salsa is also a great way to add a little pizazz to a boring chicken entree.

While I tend to go for the simple combination of tomatoes, peppers, onion, and cilantro in pico de gallo, the other day I opted to branch out for a sweeter version and made some pineapple salsa from scratch. The result is a delightfully sweet – yet spicy – salsa that can add just the right amount of sweet and savory flavor to any dish. While I scooped up plenty of the salsa with tortilla chips for a snack, it also made its way onto fish tacos we ate for dinner – yum!

Pineapple Salsa (printer-friendly version)
makes about 2 cups

1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 small jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1. In medium serving bowl, stir together all of the ingredients. Serve immediately, or chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

(lightly adapted from this Betty Crocker recipe)

What's Baking: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

It was D's birthday earlier this week, and he requested a pineapple upside down cake for his special day. I searched through a variety of recipes before settling on one from Smitten Kitchen. Since Deb's recipes never let me down, I felt pretty confidant that this cake recipe would be no different from the rest. I have to admit I was kind of hoping to find some fresh pineapple rings in the produce section of one of our grocery stores, but to no avail. I knew that canned pineapple would just not do, so for the first time in my life, I bought a whole pineapple. (Wild and crazy, I know!)

So, step one of baking my cake was searching YouTube for videos instructing how to slice a whole pineapple into rings, since I don't have one of those fancy pineapple coring/slicing tools. The process was actually fairly simple -- cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple, then carefully slice off the eyes. Then cut the pineapple into circles, and either use an apple corer, a (very) small round cookie cutter, or a knife, to cut the core out of each circle to form a ring.

Prepping the pineapple was the most difficult part of making this cake. (And really, cutting the pineapple wasn't really hard at all.) After that, it was just a matter of making a caramel, then making the cake batter. D requested the cake have maraschino cherries, but since only one whole pineapple ring fit on my cake, I just used one in the center pineapple ring. 

Perhaps the most nerve-wracking part of making this cake was flipping it out of the pan at the end. I was quite nervous that it would stick and my hopes for a perfect birthday cake would be ruined. (Let's just say that I have a history of birthday-cake disasters; back in our Laramie days I attempted to make D a carrot cake for his birthday; it ended up a mushy partially-baked mess -- baking at high-altitude is not easy!) Happily, the pineapple upside-down cake slid right out of the skillet without incident. 

Even more importantly, the cake turned out fabulously -- and D thoroughly enjoyed his special homemade birthday cake.  

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (printer-friendly version)

makes one 10-inch cake 

For the topping:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, sliced into 3/8-inch circles, and cored to make rings
1 (or more) maraschino cherries, optional

For the cake batter:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon dark spiced rum
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 - 1 tablespoon dark spiced rum for sprinkling over cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a well-seasoned 10-inch cast iron skillet. Add the brown sugar, and, while stirring constantly, simmer over medium-heat until slightly darkened and bubbly, 4 minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Place a pineapple ring in the center of the skillet, then add halved pineapple rings around the center pineapple ring (arch-side facing out, see photo). If desired, add quartered pineapple pieces around the edges of the skillet (again, see photos). Place a maraschino cherry in the middle of the central pineapple ring, if using.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and sea salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
5. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the granulated sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla and spiced rum.
6. Add half of the flour mixture to the mixer and stir on slow speed to combine. Stir in the pineapple juice. Then beat in the rest of the flour mixture.
7. Spoon the batter evenly over top the pineapple pieces in the skillet. Bake the cake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in the skillet for 5 minutes.
8. Place a plate over top the skillet, then carefully flip the skillet over, inverting the cake onto the plate. Place any pineapple pieces that stuck to the skillet back onto the cake if necessary. Sprinkle the cake with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of rum, then let cool on the plate set on a wire rack until ready to serve.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature. Any leftover cake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

(adapted from this Smitten Kitchen recipe)

What's Baking: Dump Cake

The name may not be appetizing, but the resulting cake sure is. This recipe belongs firmly in the not-exactly-less-processed-well-okay-not-less-processed-at-all camp, but hey, I like to make exceptions every once in a while. This cake is firmly planted in my childhood, and commonly made an appearance when my parents hosted bridge at our house. I was always happy when there were leftovers after everyone had left for the evening. This super-easy-to-bake cake is yummy served on its own, or add a dollop of whipped cream to make it an extra-special treat.

Dump Cake (printer-friendly version)
makes 12-16 servings

1 package yellow cake mix
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 20-oz can cherry pie filling
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into thin slices

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Dump the undrained pineapple into the baking dish and spread evenly.
4. Dump the cherry pie filling into the baking dish and spread evenly over the pineapple layer.
5. Dump (does the cake name make sense now?) the dry cake mix over top the cherry pie filling layer; spread evenly.
6. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the cake mix layer.
7. Distribute the slices of butter evenly over the top of the pecans.
8. Bake for 48-53 minutes, or until golden-brown and bubbly.
9. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream, if desired.

(recipe courtesy of my Mom)

Cocktail Hour: Pineapple Fizz

Let's pretend it's still the weekend, shall we? And if it's still the weekend, it's the perfect time to enjoy another cocktail, right? Another pineapple-flavored cocktail is on order for today -- this time inspired by a recent happy hour at Salt in Boulder.

Pineapple Fizz

makes one cocktail

1 1/2 oz rum

2 oz pineapple juice

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

seltzer water

1. Add ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. Pour in the rum, pineapple juice, and lime juice. Shake to combine.

2. Pour into a highball glass.

3. Fill the remainder of the glass with seltzer water. (Slowly! Or it may, um, overflow. Not that I have any experience with that, or anything!)

Cocktail Hour: Pineapple Margarita

Tonight's cocktail hour was inspired by an episode of the Barefoot Contessa. In the episode, Ina made a pitcher full of pineapple margaritas; I downsized and adapted the recipe a bit to make just two servings.

Pineapple Margarita

makes 1 cocktail

1 1/2 oz tequila

1/2 oz triple sec

1/2 oz lime juice

3 oz pineapple juice (I used a frozen (100% pineapple juice) variety)

coarse sea salt (I think turbinado sugar would be an excellent option as well)

ice cubes for shaker

1. Rub the edge of a martini or margarita glass with a damp paper towel. Dip the glass into a dish full of salt or sugar to rim the glass. Set aside.

2. Add the ice, tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and pineapple juice into a cocktail shaker.

3. Shake to combine.

4. Pour the contents into the prepared cocktail glass.

5. Drink up!