Grilled Pineapple and Onion Salad
Try this Grilled Pineapple and Onion Salad recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Grilled Pineapple and Onion Salad recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 5.778 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.162 g
- Fiber 2.53799989700317 g
- Protein 0.648 g
- Saturated Fat 0.02106 g
- Serving Size 1 1 - 4 (54g)
- Sodium 38.4602864583334 mg
- Sugar 3.24000010299683 g
- Trans Fat 0.08694 g
- Calories 11 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat your grill.
- Prepare your pineapple by slicing off the fronds on the top and cut a slice off the bottom. You will have two flat ends. Stand it upright. Use a sharp knife and slice off the eyes by cutting from the top to the bottom in a slow motion following the lines of the pineapple. Scoop out any little pieces of eyes that remain. Now cut thick ½ inch rings trying to keep them even.
- Peel the onions and slice them into ½ inch rings. Keep the slices together even though separating the rings is fun and hard to resist.
- Spray the pineapple and onion rings with olive oil spray or brush them lightly with bottled oil.
- Grill your pineapple for about 5 minutes per side. They will have pretty grill marks and soften slightly. Do the same with onion. Depending on your grill it might take a different amount of time to do this. Let your eyes and nose guide you.
- Cut each slice into quarters and toss with quartered tomatoes, lemon juice, some of the lemon rind (don't grate into the white pith as it's bitter). Add in your basil leaves or other herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
- Served as a side you will get 4 servings. Served over lettuce leaves, grated carrot and celery you will get 2 mains.
Swapping Citrus and Alliums
Replacing Vidalia onions with red onions introduces a sharper bite and deeper anthocyanin pigments that alter both the visual presentation and the pungency of the finished dish. Vidalia onions bring high sugar content and low sulfur, which mellows considerably upon contact with direct heat. Utilizing a standard grill pan indoors works adequately if an outdoor charcoal or gas grill is unavailable, provided the surface reaches medium-high heat before any produce touches the metal.Maillard Reactions on Fruit
Sugars present in tropical fruit caramelize rapidly when exposed to open flames, requiring careful supervision to prevent acrid black carbonization. Pineapple rings should remain on the grates for approximately 5 minutes per side until distinct charcoal lines form and the internal moisture concentrates. Maintaining a thickness of half an inch prevents the rings from collapsing between the grill grates during this high-heat exposure.Balancing Acid and Herb Oils
Fresh citrus zest contains volatile aromatic oils that elevate the dressing, but grating requires precision to avoid the bitter white pith located directly beneath the yellow epidermis. Tossing the warm grilled components with cold tomatoes and torn basil creates a thermal contrast that releases essential herb aromatics into the olive oil coating. Allowing the mixture to rest for 10 minutes prior to plating lets the salt draw out excess moisture from the tomatoes, concentrating the juices into a cohesive dressing.
