Asian style beef stuffed pineapple

Its August now and we are still living in the surreal world of Covid, its kind of like an alternate universe, something you’ve seen in a sci-fi movie and can’t believe its really happening to you. For months now I work from home and fate had it that I had to drive into the office this week – ghost town Seattle with almost no cars and no people on the road, Wholefoods and other stores barricaded up with plywood, temperature scanners at the entrance of Amazon, office completely empty – everything seemed very post apocalyptic.

Then there are the “spurs” of normality, e.g. when we took another road trip to Lake Roosevelt, to look for our dream retirement property. Beautiful countryside, hanging out in a local brewery with friends – where you don’t have to wear a mask when you sit at the table, and looking at properties, envisioning a life where no alarm goes off and the biggest decision you have to make is which bathing suit to wear for the day. Luck though was not on our side this time – we had found the perfect property but when the local brewery sign says this…then you know something is up – and did I learn a lot about smelting! Long story short, we found the exact property we were looking for on the waterbut a Canadian Company, just 15 miles up north from the place we were eyeing as our future residence, had dumped toxins into the air and water for a lot of years and as a result heavy metals have been found in the soil in this area which leads to an increased health risk when living in this particular part of the Columbia River. Needless to say, we passed up the property and now are investigating new areas…I’ve heard the Bahamas are very nice ;-). Other than that, we just fixed up the pond nicely and the dogs benefit from a daily walk in the neighborhood, since there really aren’t a lot of other things you can do these days, but I am not complaining, I don’t have to wear a mask when I walk the dogs, since we live out in the country and there is plenty of space to spread out during a walk.And since going out to restaurants is also kind of a pain in the you know what, why not cook something a little bit more fancy at home? Mike, found this recipe online, it was very tasty and also a very beautiful looking dish, you should make when you want to visually impress your guests (after they show you their negative Covid test or holding a dinner party in the garden ;-)). Asian style beef stuffed pineapple (recipe courtesy by Taste of Life)Ingredients:

2 fresh pineapples (cut one into chunks and the other into 2 half’s – right through the middle of the stem and hollow out)
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium piece of ginger, minced
2 bell peppers cut into cubes
2 pounds of “stir fry” beef cut into cubes (anything that fries up fast like steak or Tri Tip)
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon (or more if you like it hot) Siracha sauce
Coconut Oil
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds
Rice
green onion, diced for garnish

Directions:

Boil water for the rice and cook rice according to the instructions
In a wok/pan heat up 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
Season the meat with salt and pepper and fry the beef 2-3 minutes on each side on medium to high heat
Add the onion, ginger and garlic and fry for a couple minutes with the meat
Add the pineapple chunks, bell peppers, brown sugar, soy sauce and siracha, stir well and let simmer for 5 minutes
In the interim, cut the 2nd pineapple into half’s (leave the stem on and cut right through the middle, it looks very decorative when you serve the pineapple with the stem on) and hollow the half’s out. When the rice is ready, fill in 1/2 – 3/4 cup into each half and top with the meat and sauce sprinkle with the green onions and sesame seeds!
If you want it a little bit more sauce, add 1/2 a cup of beef broth. Also if you find its not “seasoned” enough, add a tablespoon or two of stir fry sauce.