The evening after Andy and Sugi’s wedding, the newlyweds were off at a family dinner so Tawn and I invited Andy W and Kenny over to our condo for dinner. Sugi’s family had sent us home the night before with a pair of very ripe Maui Gold pineapples, so Tawn offered to make pineapple fried rice.

Chef Tawn busy in the kitchen. We had to buy a few items such as the raisins, the pack of which I carried with me back to Kansas City to leave with my sister’s family, since the friend we’re staying with in San Francisco doesn’t like raisins.

Dinner started with a fresh mango and pineapple smoothie. Healthy treat to whet the appetite.

Filling the hollowed-out pineapple with the fried rice. The top shell is placed over the rice and then it is baked in the over until fragrant.

A short video of Tawn removing the top of the pineapple!

The finished product! It was really tasty.

For dessert: green tea ice cream.

The only gifts we’ve ever had appear on our doorstep are pineapples, and both have been left by givers unknown in the past month.  About three weeks ago we returned home to discover a medium-sized pineapple, a variety that is very juicy but also a bit tart, sitting on our doormat.  No card, no message, no hint of who left it.

No wanting to waste a perfectly good pineapple, Tawn decided he would make pineapple fried rice.  While you don’t see it much in my blog, Tawn actually cooks and is quite proficient.  When we lived in the United States and he was going to school, he prepared a lot of our dinners.  Since we’ve moved to Thailand, I do most of the dinner preparation so you have precious few opportunities to see his culinary skill.  Let me use this opportunity to fix that.

Iron Chef Tawn, armed and ready to cook.

Today’s challenge ingredient: pineapple.

First off, fry some Chinese sausage.  Once starting to brown, add some crispy pork and fry for another few minutes.

Add the pineapple and fry for a few minutes until it begins to brown slightly.

Add rice.  We like using whole-grain rice cooked the night before.

Mix rice into other ingredients on high heat.  Add turmeric.  You can add other spices if you wish to customize the flavor.

Once almost finished, add some raisins.  We added some pine nuts, too.

Finished dish, carefully plated to look like a pineapple.  Very tasty weekday evening treat.  This week’s champion: Iron Chef Tawn!