Where I Catch The Pineapple Express

Let me start off by saying that I never win anything. I've had lottery tickets, made it into the finals and sometimes been nominated for things, but the actual real winning...not so much.  Ok, when I was 12 I was on the San Francisco City Champion Girls Netball Team, and I even have a medal to prove it. Except I can't find it.
  However about a month ago I got an email from Foodie Blogroll. Finally I was a winner!!
   See, Winner! Finally.

   Well, they sent me a VacuVin Pineapple Slicer.
I was eager to try one of these because I have been cutting pineapples for as long as I've been cooking Indian food and that's a long time. I thought, hmmmmm pineapple slicer?? I've always done this by hand. Sure, there've been a few "accidents" but hey, that's the price of admission, right? Right. Wrong.
    The VacuVin is an amazing little device. I was stunned and shocked when I saw it in action.
  Two nifty little pieces that snapped together in a flash and voila I was coring pineapple bay-bay!!! It was fast.


 Clean.


 and no blood was shed.


    Perfect perfect rings.


Every damn time!!! Woot!
   So what to do with all those super duper pineapple rings. Amend that, what to do with a bunch of pineapple rings on a lazy rainy day with company coming for lunch?
    I was serving a simple roast chicken with lemon and rosemary, fingerling potatoes, my friend Vegetable Matters' roast cauliflower with sage salt, spinach with shallot  and a green salad. For dessert I was thinking about home made vanilla ice cream.
  David Leibovitz in his book A Perfect Scoop has a wonderful recipe for  Candied Pineapple as an ice cream topping. Perfect for someone with a boat load of pineapple rings and no idea what to do with 'em.
  So that's what I did. It was a simple recipe made in about 20 minutes. Here's my adaptation of his recipe.
    Candied Pineapple with a Difference
1.)  Take one fresh pineapple and peel it with one of those nifty VacuVin pineapple peelers.
2.) Put it in a pan along with  1/4 cup of sugar and
3.) a dash of vanilla.
    Turn the heat up to medium and stir, letting it cook for about 20 minutes.


Keep stirring of course, so that it doesn't stick or burn. After about 20 minutes most of the juice will have evaporated and the syrup will have thickened. When that happens:
4.) add a dash of smoked dried chipotle pepper powder, check  and add it bit by bit so that you don't get too much of a burn.
   Let it cool to room temperature,



then enjoy over ice cream.


If there's any left keep it covered in a bowl in the fridge.
     I thought I knew all there was to know about cutting pineapple and VacuVin schooled me good.
  So what did I learn? That VacuVin makes a damn fine pineapple peeler, and candied pineapple rocks vanilla ice cream something fierce!