Tom’s Pineapple Surprise

Cross the pineapple lengthwise with a sharp long knife. With a small knife, carefully empty the contents of pineapple. I recommend to go round with the knife and create an outline cutting through carefully the shell on the inside of the pineapple and then using the knife again divided along three sections and carefully emptying every section to keep the whole of the fruit. Transfer to the refrigerator until serving.

Cut the emptied pieces of pineapple into cubes and place in a bowl. Peel the kiwi, cut into equal cubes. Peel the mango and cut into cubes. Clean the strawberries and cut into quarters. Add the remaining fruits and pour over the sugar and rum. Mix and transfer to the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Prepare Meringue

Pour the egg whites, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer. Transfer the bowl over a pot with boiling water at 2-3 cm (bain-marie). Continue to whip the meringue continuously until you get a creamy flexible texture, about 8-12 minutes. Remove from heat and continue beating for about five minutes. Transfer the mixture to piping bag bag with a pointed tip.

Upon serving- 

Fill the pineapple halves with fruit salad mixture, forming a mound of salad almost to re-create the complete round shape of a pineapple. Pipe dense meringue kisses to cover the entire fruit salad and complete the thorny shape of pineapple.

Transfer the pineapple to a pre-heated oven (430 degrees) in the grill mode to brown the meringue kisses. It takes several seconds to two minutes, so have a look at the dish in the oven and make sure the meringues do not burn.

Serve immediately with coconut, berry or any other flavored sorbet you love.

Photo by Dan Peretz