Grilling or barbecuing fruit is a brilliant way of bringing out its natural sweetness, particularly if the fruit isn’t completely ripe. I’ve given you one of my favourite combos below, but feel free to swap in your own favourite fruits and whatever’s available – mango, apricots and even bananas work well.

serves 6

Ingredients

• for the fruit
• • 1 pineapple
• • 4 peaches or nectarines
• • 2 big handfuls of strawberries
• • vegetable oil
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• for the syrup
• • a large knob of butter
• • 1 orange
• • 3 tablespoons runny honey
• • optional: 2 cloves
• • optional: 1 cinnamon stick

To prepare the fruit

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• Top and tail the pineapple
• Stand it on your chopping board on the flat base, and use a knife to trim down the sides, cutting off all the skin
• Get rid of any remaining gnarly bits
• Cut into quarters lengthways and carefully cut off and discard the core from each quarter

To prepare the fruit

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• Chop the pineapple into nice chunks (for step-by step pictures see How to prepare a pineapple)
• Halve or quarter your peaches or nectarines and get rid of the stones, then cut into quarters (for step-by-step pictures see How to prepare a peach)
• Pick the top leafy bit off the strawberries

To cook the fruit

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• Make sure your barbecue is clean – give it a scrub with a wire brush or crunched up foil
• Rub the bars of your grill, barbecue or griddle pan with a little vegetable oil
• Get the grill, barbecue or griddle pan screaming hot (for further advice see the Setting up a barbecue, Barbecue cooking guide and Barbecue safety guide fact sheets)
• Lightly drop the fruit on the bars and let them cook away for a few minutes – you may need to do this in batches
• Remember that different fruits will cook in different times so keep checking by lifting the fruit up with tongs and looking underneath
• If something is soft and cooked, get it off the heat
• Don’t worry if anything chars slightly because it will still be delicious to eat

To make the syrup

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• Melt the knob of butter in a pan over a medium heat
• Finely grate over the zest of half the orange, then cut it in half and squeeze in all of the juice

To make the syrup

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• Add the honey, cloves and cinnamon stick, if using
• Warm through for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally

To serve the fruit

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• As soon as you’ve got nice gentle bar marks on both sides of your fruit, and it is soft and warm through, use tongs to transfer it to a bowl and pour your lovely warm syrup over straight away
• Very gently toss everything together until nicely coated
• Discard the cloves and cinnamon stick
• Serve the warm fruit on a platter so that everyone can help themselves, or divide between plates
• Delicious with a scoop of good-quality vanilla ice cream or a big dollop of natural yoghurt.