‘Tis the Season to Celebrate

By Sonia R. Martinez

In Hawai‘i, as everywhere else I have lived, the holidays are a time of celebration and entertaining.

Opening our homes to guests is always a daunting experience; I have found, however, that by keeping the menu simple, limiting the number of guests (a few) and the number of parties I host (two or three), the events can be enjoyable instead of an ordeal. This is particularly true since I can use the same decorations and menu each time.

Here is my approach: my rule of thumb for a “mixing party,” rather than a sit down dinner, is to serve a few simple appetizers: three is a good number. I create a cheese, fruit and nuts tray, prepare one spectacular dessert, and either wine, champagne, a fruit punch or a bowl of eggnog. Then I am set to go.

The cheese board features three different cheeses (one soft, one blue and one hard cheese); three different types of fruit (for example pears, apples and figs); and three types of nuts (toasted macadamia, almonds, filberts, pecans, etc.). The cheese tray can also contain a small pitcher or bowl of local honey to serve dribbled over cheese (so good!) or a reduced Balsamic vinegar to dribble over the fruit, or both!

For the “spectacular dessert” component for the holidays this year, I went back many years to a time when I owned a cooking school in South Carolina. One of our visiting teachers taught a class on “Easy Entertaining,” in the course of which she introduced a recipe for “Pineapple Charlotte.” This special dish consisted of crushed pineapple, egg, sugar, butter, whipped cream, and chopped nuts, all encased in layers of soft, cake-like lady fingers. Delicious!

Pineapple Macadamia Charlotte Russe with Liliko‘i Coulis

The classical term Charlotte Russe (‘shär-lət) refers to a dessert consisting of custard enclosed in sponge cake or a casing of ladyfingers; a “charlotte,” is any type of dessert or trifle that can be served hot or cold. It may also be known as an “ice-box cake.”

To begin to prepare this dish, bread, sponge cake or biscuits/cookies can be used to line a mold, which is then filled with a fruit purée or custard. Since living in Hawai‘i, I use fresh pineapple instead of a can of crushed pineapple in the original recipe.

Charlotte
1 pineapple
1 stick sweet butter, room temperature
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C macadamia nuts, chopped and toasted
1 (8 ounce) container whipping cream
1/2 C confectioners’ sugar
1 package soft ladyfingers (*)

(*) If no ladyfingers are available, pound cake, cut in thin strips will do.

Place a stainless steel bowl and whisk or beaters in the freezer to get them very cold for whipping the cream. Keep them there until ready to use.

Peel and cut pineapple into small pieces and place in blender or food processor; give the machine a few short on and off whirls—you want to ‘crush,’ not liquefy, the pineapple. Place the ‘crushed’ pineapple in a fine mesh colander and drain as much as possible without drying it too much.

Cream butter and sugar, and blend into the crushed pineapple; add vanilla and mix. Add most of the chopped and toasted macadamia nuts, save a few for garnishing.

For making the whipped cream, take the bowl, whisk and beaters out of freezer; add the confectioners’ sugar and then pour in the cream; beat until doubled and soft peaks form. Carefully fold into the pineapple mix.

Coulis
2 C fresh liliko‘i juice (15–20 passionfruit cut in half, pulp and juice scooped out)
2 C granulated sugar

In a medium, non-reactive saucepan, combine liliko‘i pulp, juice (straining the seeds if you prefer), and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and simmer for about 20 minutes to reduce by almost half; if you want the syrup to be denser, then simmer a bit longer. Set aside to cool. Pour into a plastic squirt container and refrigerate until needed.

If making one large charlotte, use a glass trifle or other bowl with high sides and layer the ladyfingers on the bottom and sides (if desired); then add the pineapple filling and dribbles of the coulis until all is used. Top with a scattering of the macadamia nuts.

For our dessert, I decided to make individual stand-alone charlottes and spooned the pineapple mix carefully to the top in several small vegetable cans, washed and saved for the purpose. Place in the freezer until frozen. For this batch I used three 8-ounce cans.

When ready to plate your dessert, squirt some of the coulis off-center of plate, take the cans out of freezer, cut the bottom open, push the pineapple mix out of the can and place in center of plate. Line the outside of the frozen pineapple mix with ladyfingers—if ladyfingers are longer than the radius of the can, cut them to size and use the cut end on the bottom of
the charlotte.

Tie with a small decorative ribbon and bow, sprinkle with the leftover chopped and toasted macadamia nuts and a small dribble of the coulis.

If you have room, keep in refrigerator, plated, until ready to serve; if not, plate at the last minute.

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