David Ferguson is doing what so many people would love to do: starting the meal with dessert.

The chef/owner of Le Jolifou, a Montreal restaurant that has garnered raves for its innovative California/French cuisine, is giving a grilling class -- one in a series of cooking classes that ended recently.

There's salmon on tonight's menu -- the class includes dinner -- and so he wants to grill the fruit that will figure in his luscious crepe dessert before the fish is cooked.

"You don't want the fruit to taste like salmon," he told the students.

Nor does he want to scrub the grill down between the main course and dessert. He'll assemble the dessert at the last minute, right before we eat it -- after the grilled asparagus and red onion salad, after the grilled salmon with mango and avocado salsa. But right now, he's brushing the fruit lightly with canola oil and grilling it.

Why grill fruit in the first place? For the flavour the cooking method imparts, Ferguson explained.

Fruit has lots of natural sugar, and the intense heat of grilling caramelizes it. It makes for a deeper, more complex flavour, an intoxicating aroma and a golden colour. And it causes the fruit to get slightly charred, with a crust that tastes like candy -- only better.

Many people don't realize how much one can do with fruit on a grill, said Montreal chef Elliott Cohen.

"People don't think of grilled fruit salad," he said. But fruit can be grilled in chunks, cooled slightly, cut into pieces and served in wine glasses with a bit of whipped cream. "And people will say, 'Wow! I have never had a grilled fruit salad!'

"You could do it the morning of a dinner party and put the glasses in the fridge," he said. "It's an easy dessert . . . and it looks so elegant in a wine glass; so unexpected."

Watermelon is nice on the grill, he said. So are bananas -- and he likes to marinate pineapple in fruit juice and rum.

MARINATED GRILLED PINEAPPLE WITH VANILLA MASCARPONE

1 medium ripe pineapple, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch (8 mm) slices

3 cups (750 mL) orange or mango juice

1/4 cup (60 mL) dark rum

1 cup (250 mL) mascarpone cheese

2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons (30 mL) sugar or to taste

2 tablespoons (30 mL) icing sugar

1 bunch fresh mint

Place pineapple slices in a glass bowl and cover with fruit juice and rum. Marinate, covered, in the refrigerator, at least 30 minutes and up to four hours. Meanwhile, combine mascarpone, vanilla and sugar in a small bowl. Preheat gas barbecue to medium, if using, cover down, for 15 minutes. Using tongs, lift pineapple slices, shake off excess marinade and transfer to barbecue or to grill pan and cook two to three minutes or until golden, then flip to the other side and cook for a further two or three minutes. Place two or three slices on a plate with a dollop of mascarpone. Using a fine-mesh sieve, dust pineapple and plate with icing sugar, garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and serve.

This recipe works well with apples, pears, plums or peaches that are not overly ripe.

Serves 6

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See how to make these delicious recipes: grilled fresh fruit in a crepe with Pastry cream and Chocolate sauce, Grilled Bananas in Their Peels with Honey-Rum Glaze. go to vancouversun.com