Grilled Pineapple Mojito

Grill your steak and your cocktail too this summer with this grilled pinapple mojito!

It’s the third day of #CookoutWeek and my second recipe! I clearly could not wait until Friday to share this cocktail. It’s Wednesday it’s close enough to the weekend, especially since I am taking Friday off for my bachelorette party! But I will save all that for another day. Today we continue the celebration of all things cookout-related so be sure to check out the list of recipes from everyone else today at the end of this post and enter the giveaway!

Let me tell you a story. Last summer, despite knowing that mint is an invasive plant I decided it was a good idea to plant it in the ground between all of our peppers and herbs. Grew great, didn’t use it nearly enough, and then winter came and went.

Spring finally decided to join us and things started to regrow, such as the mint. Only it wasn’t regrowing where it existed last year but instead covered almost half of the plot in which it was planted! Remember when I said I knew better?

That my friends is what we call a pregret, when you do something you know you are going to regret later but somehow still go ahead and do it anyway. This term changed my life when it first popped up as the urban dictionary word of the day years and years ago, causing me to change my course of action to avoid the pregret turning into regret. But alas this was not one of them.

So back to the mint infestation. I decided to rip it all out and replant it all into 4 pots in the hopes that some of it would survive the rough job I did. Here we are a few weeks later and I don’t think a single shoot wilted which means I have 4 pots bursting with mint!

Which brings us to this recipe at last which is obviously a mojito. But when I made the mint simple syrup, instead of adding the mint to sugar and water, I used straight up pineapple juice so I guess what I really made was mint-infused pineapple juice? Still sounds good to me! But then I had a brilliant idea of how to make this already perfect summer cocktail into a cookout cocktail.

You add grilled pineapple of course! Along with corn and my new found love of grilled avocado, pineapple is one of my favorite things to grill. How can you say now to those beautiful grill-tan lines? Oh my goodness. And I even brushed them with a cinnamon-brown sugar-butter. Oh heck yea. Take a couple slices of that along with slices of lime, more mint, and muddle it up into the bottom of your glass before pouring over the mint-pineapple juice and rum. Now you’ve got a grilled mojito in your hand my friend!

If you love this one you should also try my honey kumquat mojitos.

Two years ago: Grilled Tomato Pesto Pizza

Four years ago: Sesame Chicken & Cauliflower

Five years ago: Bobby Flay’s Crunchburger

Six years ago: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

GRILLED PINEAPPLE MOJITOS

Makes 1 large or two small mojitos

Ingredients:

MINT-PINEAPPLE JUICE

1 cup pineapple juice

10 fresh mint leaves

GRILLED PINEAPPLE

1 pineapple, cored and sliced into spears

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

MOJITO

6-8 fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish

1/2 pineapple spear, sliced

1/4 lime, cut into 4 wedges

2 fl oz. mint-pineapple juice, divided

2 fl oz. white or pineapple rum

2 fl oz. club soda

Directions:

1. For the mint-pineapple juice, add juice and mint to a small saucepan and heat over medium just until it bubbles. Turn down to low for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let sit for 15-20 minutes. (After using, store leftovers in air-tight container in the fridge.)
2. Lay the pineapple spears in a pan. Whisk together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread on top of the pineapple.
   Grill for about 5 minutes per side or until it turns golden brown. Remove from grill and allow to cool.
3. In the bottom of a glass, place mint leaves, sliced pineapple, 3 lime wedges and 1 ounce mint-pineapple juice. Crush with a muddler (or something blunt).
4. Add ice to the glass and stir in remaining ounce of juice and rum. Top off with club soda. Serve with an additional sprig of mint and lime wedge.

Source: Adapted from my Blueberry Coconut Mojitos.

Disclosure: Sponsors provided bloggers with complimentary product to use as we saw fit in our recipes. I was not otherwise compensated. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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