Pineapple with rum syrup and lime crème fraîche

By Delicious

This hot and fruity dinner party-pleaser only takes 30 minutes to make. It’s sweet, citrusy and drowned in a boozy rum syrup – it’s sure to go down well!

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 large pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 8 long wedges (see tip)
• 20g unsalted butter

For the rum syrup

• 200g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out and added
• Finely grated zest and juice 1 lime
• Finely grated zest ½ orange
• 1 star anise
• 2 cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 bird’s eye chilli  (optional)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 100ml dark rum

For the lime crème fraÎche

• 200g full-fat crème fraîche
• Finely grated zest and juice 1 lime
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Directions

1. First make the rum syrup: put 200ml water and the sugar in a pan, then bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar. Add the rest of the syrup ingredients except the rum. Bubble for 1 minute, then cool for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add  a drizzle of vegetable oil, then add the pineapple wedges and cook for 5 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Turn the wedges over and add the butter, reducing the heat to medium. Fry the pineapple until golden all over and cooked all the way through. Transfer to a bowl or plate, then pour over the pan juices.
3. Put the frying pan back over the heat and add the rum (be very careful as it may flame). Use a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits from the base of the pan. Bubble until reduced by half.
4. Add the cooled syrup to the rum in the pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a coating consistency. Strain the liquid, remove the spices (discard), then pour 2cm of the syrup back into the pan with the pineapple and juices to warm through.
5. Mix the crème fraîche with the lime juice and icing sugar. Serve the pineapple with a dollop of lime crème fraîche, a sprinkling of lime zest and the remaining syrup and lime crème fraîche on the side.