Friday, September 17, 2010

Chicken with Pineapple - Poulet a l'ananas

We love fruits in our family. My children request their piece of fruit at the end of each meal and if I hide berries, kiwis or  banana in their yogurt, somehow this does not count as "fruits" to them. I try to diversify what fruits we purchase depending on what's in season, what's available, and what's affordable. Living in the US where fruits are grown year-long in Florida and California or where international agreements with countries like Mexico, Chile, and Costa Rica, we are spoiled. We have access to more "exotic" fruits at a more competitive price than in France. And I feel lucky but I always double check the place where fruits & vegetables are grown! I can't purchase tomatoes grown in Canada, sorry. I'd rather eat tomatoes grown at latitudes more South (OK, not too South, do they grow tomatoes in Patagonia?)
A few months ago, I was talking with a friend who lived in Ireland for a few years. He was on his way to Florida and made stop-over in Philadelphia to visit us. We were talking about where he'd like to live after Ireland. Being European, he had a lot of options (Europeans can work in most European countries without a work visa) but one thing he said struck with me. He said that "he'd rather live in a country where fruits and vegetables grow mature on trees/plants with natural sun before they reach their markets" He was tired of eating beautifully-shaped-green-house-grown-and-tasteless tomatoes from Holland while in Ireland! That's when I realized that I would have a hard time living in a country where cold weather or natural location make it difficult to eat fresh fruits and vegetables all year long! In other words, I'd have a hard time to live in Sweden but would not mind living in Italy!!

Pineapple (or ananas en français) is a fruit I enjoy only if cooked. If I eat too much of it fresh, I get minor aphtous ulcers which are definitively not pleasant. So I don't resist the temptation and eat it fresh just cook it! I cook it with brown sugar as dessert or, like in this recipe, I cook it as a vegetable. I personally love it and so do my children. It's always a new and fun experience when I serve them "un fruit comme un légume": apples (like apples in the Rôti de Porc aux Pruneaux et aux Pommes), mango, figues (why are they sooo expensive??), quinces, coconut, grape... we pretty much cook all of them as vegetables  in sucré-salé dishes. It's delicious, it's original (unless you eat a lot of Asian food already) and a great add-on to make your easy-to-cook dinner look fancier and healthier! It's also a great way to feed young children fruits before they can digest them raw!  Bon Appétit!
- Chicken breast, cut into small pieces
- 1 onion minced
- 1 small pineapple, diced
- Green beans
- Cashew nuts (optional; not recommended if you are feeding a young child)
- Olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste
- Cayenne Pepper (optional)

  • Pre-heat oven to 400F (200C).
  • Put the pineapple dices on a baking dish and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes (until cooked)
  • Cook the green beans (boil them, steam them, cook them in the microwave...)
  • In s pan, over medium heat, saute the onion and chicken in olive oil.
  • Once the chicken is cooked, add the pineapple dices, the green beans and cashew nuts and saute for another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and Cayenne Pepper to taste.
My Personal Comments:
  • If you want, you could use Soy sauce to season this recipe
  • You could serve it with Basmati Rice but with green beans and pineapple, I find that's enough for us.


  1. mmmm, looks delish! i rarely add fruit to make sucre-sale dishes.

  2. Sweet and sour flavours always go so well together

  3. This looks fantastic! I bet it would be good with pork of beef instead of the chicken too.