Pineapple carpaccio with a mint & lime dressing recipe

This recipe for pineapple carpaccio with ginger, mint and lime dressing is a delicious and refreshing summer salad. On hte savoury side it will pair with grilled chicken or fish, and on the sweet side, it makes a light dessert or addition to a brunch table

I came home from a TV shoot last week armed with a box of the most incredible pineapples. The client required a specific Costa Rican pineapple, but since Cayenne and Queen pineapples are the only varieties grown in South Africa, I scoured Cape Town to find the biggest and greenest Cayennes on offer which was the closest I could get to matching the brief. As it turned out they had shipped a few cases of the said Costa Ricans which fortunately arrived in the nick of time on set.

When I have a lot of excess produce around, I like to develop recipes.

So over the last few days, I’ve whipped up frozen pineapple daiquiris, made loads of pineapple juice and I assembled this salad of pineapple carpaccio with spicy ginger, mint, lime and chilli dressing. It was delectable. I have a few other pineapple recipes up my sleeves so watch this space.

The inspiration for this dish came from Gordon Ramsay who just happened to make it on an episode of ‘Ultimate Home Cooking‘ which I watched last week. His version was served with a vanilla-infused salt which I think sounds amazing, but I wanted a little more.

I adapted my favourite dressing for a fruit salad, adding chilli to the infusion to give it a kick. Pineapple and chilli go so very well together. I garnished it with finely shredded fresh mint, pomegranate seeds and a smattering of Maldon salt flakes. The salt really does add value here.

Prep Time:10

Cook Time:5

Total Time:15

Ingredients

I medium pineapple very thinly sliced

dressing

50 ml water
20 g sugar
1/2 red chilli sliced
small bunch of mint
5 cm piece of ginger peeled and sliced
juice from half a lime
6 - 8 mint leaves very finely shredded
1/4 cup of pomegranate seeds
pinch or two of sea salt flakes

Instructions

Make the dressing in advance.
Bring the water, sugar and chilli to a boil in a small pit and cook it for about 5 minutes until it starts to thicken into a syrup. Remove the chill.
Pour the hot sauce over the ginger, mint and lime juice and allow it to cool. Strain and store in the fridge until required. Overnight is good.
Finely slice the pineapple as thin as you can and arrange the pieces in a fanned out shape on a platter.
Drizzle the dressing evenly over the pineapple and scatter the mint and pomegranate to garnish.
Sprinkle the salt - optional

Notes

The prep time does not factor in the time the dressing takes to chill

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17 Comments

Beautiful – summer on a plate

Oh My Word Sam this looks stunning, i just love pineapple and often eat it with a sprinkling of chilli powder and crushed cumin

Thanks Ushay, I love the sound of that. sweet and spicy combo.

Looks very delicious and super healthy. What a very good idea and what a palatable looking snacks. By the look alone, my kids will love this. I will go easy with the chili. Thanks.

Beautiful pics! Looks and sounds delicious.

Congrats on the big score Sam! This dish looks absolutely delicious. Pineapples are my favorite summer treat. I love grilling it with cinnamon and sea salt…. So good! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try.

Hi Shay, I love the idea of cinnamon and sea salt, and just discovering so much about pineapples lately. A few friends recommended grilled pineapples with a few drops of tabasco to chase a tequila. I like the sound of that very much too 🙂

Thanks Cheri 🙂

Beautiful carpaccio, I love the flavors!

Looks tempting!!

Someone on Facebook is using your photo!! PRIVATE CATERING BY VINCE POTTER

Thanks for letting me know Eric

A kind of geeky question. What was the focal length of the lens used for the cut pomegranate, please?

Hi – I shot those on F3.5 except the one thats slightly more side-on was shot at F2.8. Pom on F3.5

Thanks for the reply. I really do sound geeky. i was expecting an answer like 85mm or 100mm . You have kindly provided me with the the aperture size…which is useful too.