It has been a longtime since I had a chance to sit down and write. The first inspiration in a longtime, roasted pineapple, a recipe of Heston Blumenthal, who spent a whopping amount of money on creating a vertical pineapple spit.

A week ago we were cleaning our “Mykonos lab” which is more of a well-equipped 60sqm kitchen, and I found a small-sized shawarma machine, a rotisserie with which a Levantine Arab meat preparation is prepared. If you have never tasted shawarma before, it can be made with various meats, i.e. chicken, beef, lamb, etc.

The point of this story is not about shawarma at all, it is about the rotisserie that I was given by a close friend. The machine is no more than 50cm by 50cm and easily sits on a table counter. Gas operated it has a mesh where the heat is evenly distributed.

The desert was prepared by Mitja, our resident chef who is always digging into the books. Our library makes it pretty easy for any food lover with over one-thousand books. Inspired by the machine, he slow roasted a pineapple after using sous vides to infuse the pineapple, and then basting it for several hours.

As a side note, pineapple contains bromelin, a powerful enzyme that breaks down protein. Kiwi is also useful in tenderizing meats, a notation for other applications. Following this theory, you can inject beef, lamb, with fresh, uncooked pineapple juice are tenderized to varying degrees.

Back to the desert, while the chef roasted his fresh pineapple, I had a chance to spin some harsh chocolate ice-cream in our Carpigiani Labo12e, a commercial batch freezer that takes less than 5 minutes to make the perfect gelato.

I take equal parts of cream, milk 250 grams and 500 grams of chocolate, and 5-6 eggs yolks. I use the thermomixer to make the gelato base and after it cools down and before I spin it, I use the Vitaprep to aerate the mixture.

This wonderful dessert is the magic of our resident chef, the taste amazing and the preparation simple yet time-consuming.

Roast pineapple

3 vanilla pods
125g caster sugar
225ml water
1 dssp (desert spoon) dark rum
1 ripe but firm pineapple

Scrape out seeds from the vanilla pods and set aside. Put the sugar in a casserole and place it over medium heat. Ideally, having a pastry brush. While the sugar is caramelizing, generously

When the caramel has taken on a lovely dark amber color, add the vanilla pods and seeds and the ginger, then pour in the water to prevent the syrup from becoming any darker. Be careful not to take the sugar too far, or the caramel will become bitter.

Bring the mixture up to the boil and, after a couple of minutes, add the rum, then remove the pot from the heat and set aside. Next, strain the syrup through a fine sieve.

Peel the pineapple, then roast it in one piece for an hour, basting regularly with its own syrup.