SKEWERED GRILLED FRUIT WITH GINGER SYRUP

Skewered Grilled Fruit With Ginger Syrup image

This is a melange of quickly grilled fruit, brushed with a ginger sauce that itself takes about five minutes to put together. The sauce is a simple sugar syrup -- half sugar, half water, boiled together until the sugar melts -- and is infused with a lot of ginger. You could use other flavors instead (mint, lemon verbena, thyme, even chili), but ginger seems perfect to me.

Provided by Mark Bittman

Time 30m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 5

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh ginger (don't bother to peel it)
4 unpeeled bananas (not overripe)
1 small pineapple
1 starfruit (carambola), optional

Steps:

Heat a gas or charcoal fire; it should be quite hot, with the rack positioned 4 to 6 inches from the source of heat.
Combine the sugar, fresh ginger and 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let sit while preparing the fruit. (Refrigerate if you're not using this right away; it will keep for at least a week.)
Cut the unpeeled bananas into 2-inch-long chunks, and make a shallow vertical slit in the skin for peeling at the table. Peel and core the pineapple, then cut it into 2-inch chunks. If you're using starfruit, cut it into slices 1/2 inch thick.
Skewer the fruit. Strain the syrup, and brush it on the fruit lightly. Grill the fruit until the pineapple is nicely browned, 2 to 4 minutes to a side. While it is grilling, brush it occasionally with the syrup.
When the fruit is done, brush once more with syrup. Serve hot or warm.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 289, UnsaturatedFat 0 grams, Carbohydrate 75 grams, Fat 1 gram, Fiber 6 grams, Protein 2 grams, SaturatedFat 0 grams, Sodium 4 milligrams, Sugar 56 grams