Grilled Pineapple Skewers / Grilled Tropical Salad

I combined 2 recipes that each called for ½ pineapple. What a dinner it was!!


Grilled Tropical Salad
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, July? 2008
It called for shrimp and tofu, but lacking that, I subbed chicken. Soak 12 skewers early in the process.

1/2 pineapple
16 oz. cole slaw mix
½ English cuke
¼ c. rice wine vinegar
ginger powder
drizzle of honey or agave syrup
marinated lemon pepper chicken breasts from Costco

Cut off ends of pineapple, cut off peel. Cut lengthwise in half and remove core. Cut lengthwise into spears, about 24. Half will be in each recipe.

Salad: cut English cuke in 1/4s lengthwise, and slice. Mix with coleslaw. Add vinegar, ginger to taste, mix well and refrigerate. Stir again a few times while the rest is being done.

Fire up the grill. When ready, cook ½ of pineapple spears on med. heat until browned. Turn often. 4-5 minutes. At the same time, grill the chicken (to use shrimp or tofu, follow basic grilling techniques for the ingredient). When done, remove both, cut into bite size pieces, and let cool. When cool-ish, stir into coleslaw mixture and refrigerate.

Pineapple Skewers with Coconut
Adapted from Sunset magazine, July 2008

1/2 pineapple
1 c. sugar (I use ½ Splenda)
¾ c. coconut milk, unsweetened
¼ c. unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix ½ c. water with the sugar. Heat to boiling and let boil until thickened and like honey. Remove from heat and wisk in the coconut milk. Meanwhile, bake the coconut to toast it. Watch carefully, as when it starts to brown, it goes fast. Remove and cool.

When the first round is done on the BBQ, take the remaining ½ pineapple. Cut the spears in ½ crossway. Stick on skewers that you have soaked in water. Put the skewers in a large flat dish. Pour the sauce over all. Put the skewers directly onto the BBQ. Save the sauce for dipping. Turn pineapple often, cooking until starting to brown. Remove to a clean plate, sprinkle with coconut, and serve with sauce for dipping. Very messy but tasty.