Breathtakingly beautiful, this tropical fruit stack actually is about as simple as a recipe can be.

When I wrote this post, we were five months into our adventure of finding our new home. We thought it would be a one year adventure. (Cue laughing.) It took us just over four years to figure out where home would be. As I type this, we are two days away from having all of our items in storage delivered to our new home. So, maybe in the near future, I’ll use that ring mold!

The original post from June 2020

So often on cooking shows and in restaurants, I see dishes presented as stacks formed by a ring mold. I always am amazed at how just a little bit of an effort make a dish so much more appealing to the eye. I even own a ring mold, although it’s currently in storage, and yet I don’t make dishes like this often.

A month or so ago I began planning my recipes for June and decided to focus on tropical fruit for a few weeks. Instantly my mind went to creating some sort of stack. Of course, as I thought that I remembered that my ring mold is in New Hampshire, and I am in Arkansas. I wasn’t going to let that little piece of data stop me.

No, I didn’t go and buy a ring mold. I don’t need to have one more item to pack when we move to our next location. What I did was consider what I could use as a substitute. The answer was right there as I shopped for this recipe’s ingredients.

With the whole pineapple sadly unripened, I checked out the case of pineapple that already had its skin removed but was still intact. Yes! There were many that looked delightfully ripe AND came in a nice, cylindrical container. Cut off the bottom (after removing the pineapple and its juice), invert the container, and you have an instant ring mold.

This tropical fruit stack is a perfect summer recipe for so many reasons. First, it’s best served cold, and who doesn’t want a cold dish when the temperatures are soaring? Second, it takes almost no time to make. A little bit of dicing, mashing, mixing, and finally stacking, and you have your dish. Third, you can serve this stack as an appetizer, a side dish, or even a lunch, if you accompany it with some crackers.

No matter how you serve it, be prepared for the reception it will get. It’s truly beautiful to look at. Even better than that it is fully of sweet, salty, savory, and spicy flavors to please all of your taste buds. This is the sort of dish that is sure to charm.

Tropical Fruit Stack

Michele Pesula Kuegler

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Salad

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 1-1/3 cup diced pineapple
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 avocado
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 cup diced mango
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped salted macadamia nuts

Instructions

 

• In a small bowl combine pineapple, chili powder, and salt.
• Stir until pineapple is fully coated.
• Remove skin and pit from avocado.
• Place avocado and lime juice in a small bowl.
• Using a fork, mash until avocado is creamy.
• Place a 4-inch ring mold on a small plate.
• Spoon half of the pineapple mixture evenly as the bottom layer.
• Spread half of the mashed avocado on top of the pineapple.
• Spoon half of the diced mango over the avocado.
• Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of macadamia nuts over the mango.
• Carefully remove mold, and repeat for second serving.
• Serve immediately.

Keyword tropical fruit