A passion for the tropics

Last year around this time as I passed a neighbor’s house, a powerful sense of deja vu overwhelmed me and, out of nowhere, I was filled with pleasant memories of island vacations. Hawaii? What was it about this unremarkable stucco house with the sago palm and high hedge?

The green shrub surrounded by fallen yellow fruit -- that was it. Some of the fruit had squashed when it hit the sidewalk in front of me, and the air was filled with an aroma so evocative of the tropics it made me want to run home and slip into a sarong.

Shamelessly I gathered the windfall fruit, scrabbling under the hedge on my hands and knees and filling my pockets with what I eventually identified as a kind of guava. (I was glad the neighbor didn’t appear. I didn’t feel criminal, but I couldn’t quite imagine explaining why my covetousness was causing me to root around in this forgotten corner of their yard.)

At home, I was at first thrilled with the pretty pink flesh inside the luscious-smelling fruit, then disappointed because there were so many seeds and so little pulp. The guavas didn’t taste at all like they smelled but were bitter, almost astringent. But I experimented a bit and discovered that they made a delicious preserve -- deep persimmony-orange in color, with a texture like apple butter and a fruity essence that lingers on the tongue.

I still have some jars of my road-kill guava butter, so this year when the tropical hankering hit me as I passed my neighbor’s house, I decided not to repeat my urban foraging but instead to head for the produce market. No doubt I’d be able to find some interesting recipes using whatever tropical fruit I turned up.

Tropical fruit is available year-round, of course, but supplies vary with the growing seasons. Have you noticed the mini Sugar Loaf pineapples from Maui that have just come to town? They’re sweet and meaty, and you can eat all the fruit, including the tender core. Big Maridol papayas from Mexico, with dark orange-hued flesh, are in markets. Mangos -- sweet, with a nice hit of acid and not too fibrous -- are coming in from Peru at the moment. Passion fruit, those wrinkly little purple guys filled with an intensely tropical flavor, are around for a short time too. And young coconuts, with flesh that’s softer, sweeter and milkier than the mature ones, are showing up; a few Latin markets even sell them with the hard shell already chiseled off.

It wasn’t hard to turn up compelling recipes.

From Miami restaurateur Norman Van Aken’s book “New World Kitchen” (Ecco, $34.95) I found one for parfaits of candied papaya, a Venezuelan delicacy. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, so I just had to try it. Fresh papaya strips are simmered in a syrup made with piloncillo (solid brown sugar available in Latin markets) then chilled and layered with queso blanco and garnished with toasted coconut and an improvised creme fraiche. The combination of lightly preserved fruit and lightly salty cheese is delicious, as it turns out -- not unlike Manchego cheese served with membrillo (quince paste). And the papaya can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator.

Nancy Silverton’s unusual recipe for coconut cupcakes is in “Cooking From the Heart” (Broadway Books, $29.95), a compilation of recipes sold to benefit Share Our Strength, the anti-hunger agency. The cupcakes have a texture like angel food because they’re made with egg whites. But they’re somewhat denser and more tropical than what you normally think of as cupcakes, their flavor deepened with Thai coconut powder. There’s no icing; instead the top has a wonderful toasted-coconut crunch.

Passion fruit recipes, it turns out, are not a dime a dozen. Seeking one that would take full advantage of their amazing flavor, I turned to the Times Test Kitchen. Test Kitchen Director Donna Deane and recipe tester Mary Ellen Rae collaborated on a dessert that turned out to be a real winner: macadamia-guava tea bread topped with tropical fruit salad. The tea bread is made with guava paste; it has an elegant richness and appealing crunch thanks to the macadamias. The tropical flavors come to the fore when the bread is served with an all-yellow combination of pineapple, mango and banana in a passion fruit dressing, punctuated with the black seeds of the passion fruit.

But what to drink? Table 8 restaurant on Melrose has been serving pineapple mojitos. A snap to make, these cocktails are paradise in a glass.

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Pineapple mojito

Total time: 5 minutes

Servings: 1

Note: From Table 8

6 ice cubes

2 tablespoons diced fresh

pineapple

2 ounces white Bacardi rum

1 ounce lime juice

1 ounce pineapple juice

2 teaspoons sugar or to taste

1. Place the ice and pineapple in a cocktail shaker and pour the rum, lime juice and pineapple juice over. Add the sugar.

2. Shake to combine; chill. Pour the mixture into a tall, narrow glass and serve immediately.

Each serving: 196 calories; 0 protein; 18 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 1 mg. sodium.

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Candied papaya parfaits

Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes plus overnight chilling

Servings: 8

Note: From “New World Kitchen” by Norman Van Aken. To serve this, you’ll need eight martini glasses or similarly festive glassware. Piloncillo is solid brown sugar, available in Latin markets. You can substitute three-fourths cup packed dark brown sugar. Queso blanco, white cheese, is available in Latin markets.

6 cups water

1/2teaspoon baking soda

2 not-quite-ripe papayas (about 3 pounds total), halved, seeds scraped out, peeled and cut into 2-inch-by- 1/2-inch strips

5 whole cloves

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated piloncillo brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cinnamon stick, cracked in half

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup crumbled or grated queso blanco

1/2 cup unsweetened grated coconut or

Mint leaves for garnish

1. Combine the water and baking soda in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the papaya pieces and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. With a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the fruit strips to a platter lined with paper towels; set aside.

2. Meanwhile, toast the cloves in a small skillet until fragrant, about 1 minute, and lightly crush them. Add the crushed cloves, piloncillo, granulated sugar and cinnamon to the papaya cooking liquid and cook over medium-high heat until the syrup is thick enough to thinly coat the back of a wooden spoon.

3. Return the papaya to the pan and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. The syrup will turn a very dark amber. Let the papaya cool in the syrup, then transfer it, along with the syrup, to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. The next day, put the heavy cream in a cold mixing bowl and whisk or beat, slowly adding the powdered sugar, until it holds soft peaks. Fold in the sour cream.

5. Drop 1 tablespoon of the queso blanco into each of 8 chilled martini glasses. Lay 4 slices of candied papaya on top. Add another tablespoon of crumbled queso blanco, then 4 more papaya slices. Drizzle some of the syrup over each, then spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top. Garnish each parfait with grated coconut, toasted for 13 to 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven, or mint leaves, as desired.

Each serving: 382 calories; 4 grams protein; 61 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 15 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 40 mg. cholesterol; 311 mg. sodium.

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Coconut cupcakes

Total time: 1 hour

Servings: Makes 24 cupcakes

Note: From Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery; published in “Cooking from the Heart” (Broadway, $29.95). Cream of coconut powder from Thailand is available in Asian markets.

2 1/2scant cups sugar, divided

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2cup cream of coconut powder

1 1/2cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 tablespoon almond extract

3 cups self-rising flour

10 large egg whites, divided

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (thick strips preferred)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in muffin tins.

2. Blend together three-fourths cup of the sugar and the nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside.

3. To make the batter, cream the butter, coconut powder and 1 cup of the remaining sugar in an electric mixer fitted with a flat paddle.

4. Mix together the coconut milk and almond extract. Alternate additions of the flour and the coconut milk to the butter mixture, beating until smooth.

5. In a separate bowl, whip 8 egg whites with one-half cup of the remaining sugar until they form soft peaks. Fold a third of the whipped egg whites into the batter. Add the remaining whipped egg whites and fold until thoroughly combined.

6. Fill the tins three-fourths full with batter. Sprinkle each cupcake with one teaspoon of the sugar-nutmeg mixture.

7. To make the topping, stir together the remaining 2 egg whites, the shredded coconut, and 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Evenly spread the topping on each cake.

8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the tops are golden. Cool the cupcakes and then remove them from the muffin tins.

Each serving: 275 calories; 4 grams protein; 31 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 16 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 21 mg. cholesterol; 209 mg. Sodium

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Macadamia-guava tea bread with tropical fruit salad

Tropical fruit salad with

passion fruit dressing

Total time: 15 minutes

Servings: 12

Note: From Mary Ellen Rae. Ripe passion fruit is deep purple with slightly wrinkled skin. Smooth-skinned fruit will need to ripen for a day or two.

6 ripe passion fruits

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon thinly sliced mint leaves

Pinch of salt

1 fresh pineapple

2 ripe mangoes

2 ripe bananas

Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out the pulp. Place it in a small bowl and whisk in the lime juice, mint and salt. Set aside.

2. Slice off the top and bottom of the pineapple and remove the skin. Cut in half and remove the core. Cut into three-fourths-inch pieces. Cut off the flat sides of the mangoes. Place a large spoon inside the peel and scoop out the mango flesh in one large piece. Cut into one-half-inch pieces. Place the pineapple and mango pieces in a bowl. Peel the bananas and cut into one-fourth-inch diagonal slices; add to the bowl. Spoon the passion fruit dressing over and toss to coat the fruit. Chill.

Macadamia-guava tea bread

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 12

Note: From Donna Deane. Guava paste is available in Latin markets; cut it into half-inch cubes.

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

(medium fine)

1/2cup cubed guava paste

1/2cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

2. Fold in the 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts and the cubed guava paste, separating the pieces of guava paste (which tend to stick together) so they will be evenly dispersed in the bread.

3. Spoon the mixture into a buttered 9x5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle the coarsely chopped macadamia nuts over the top. Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until the center tests done. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it stand until warm on a wire rack.

4. To serve, top with the chilled, dressed tropical fruit salad.

Each serving fruit salad: 69 calories; 1 gram protein; 18 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 15 mg. sodium.

Each serving bread: 391 calories; 5 grams protein; 45 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 22 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 59 mg. cholesterol; 105 mg. sodium.