Thursday Nights Test Kitchen...What a HOT mess!



What a HOT mess!



Yep! I'm still cleaning this mess up
.

Sometimes the unexpected is good. Sometimes...not so much. Take for instance Lady E's Thursday Night Test Kitchen. Sometimes culinary creations aren't immediate masterpieces.

I'm in the midst of participating in our Churches annual Daniel Fast. I've decided to Fast and eliminate "meats & sweets" from my diet for 21 days. So, no red meat, chicken, turkey, sausages, or cakes, cookies or pies. My waistline might love this Fast, but the Blog is gonna suffer. Anyway... I decided to transform my evening fruit snack into a culinary wonder, with the direction of one of my favorite celebrity Chef Giada De Laurentiis.

A couple of weeks ago I watched her, diligently I might add, grill fruit. Yes, fruit. It sounded yummy. So, I embarked on the venture. Grilled pineapple with raisin and toasted almonds topped with whipped cream...this was going be my culinary mark! My twist on genius. WRONG! It wasn't a twist...it was more like an ugly tornado!

First, whenever using a recipe, be sure to go back to the original recipe. The Chef tested it ... so don't assume you know best. Giada used "light brown sugar". Me? I used dark brown sugar. First mistake. The dark brown sugar has more molasses....hence the charred marks on the pineapple instead of lightly roasted grill marks. Not to mention the ugly clean up of the grill itself. Trust me... dark brown sugar didn't work. It tasted more like burnt pineapple, than grilled.

Second mistake...the inside grill was way TOO HOT! The poor little fruit didn't stand a chance. It was on medium high, rather than a lower temperature to create those juicy grill marks and enhanced natural juices.

Third mistake... I used plain ole whip cream to top off the dessert and didn't wait patiently for the grilled pineapples to cool down. BUMMER! The original recipe combined whip cream and GREEK YOGURT. Duh! The topping has to have some substance to it or it will run ... like Dorothy back to Kansas! The poor carefully whipped clouds of air into the cream didn't stand a chance against the heat.

Fourth mistake.... the taste. Not awful. Not horrific. Just WRONG. With runny whipped cream, charred pineapple and raisins that don’t' belong on the same plate. This was a culinary disaster.

Enough said. On the bright side... the pineapple on its own was simply delicious. No fancy draping, dripping or roasting required. Sometimes less is more.

Remember... Cooking with love makes any dish taste better. Even charred pineapple!

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