There is a show on a couple of networks that deal with Hoarding. It makes me think of my cookbooks. I have a lot. I mean A LOT! Most of which I have never opened other than the day they came in my house. Some I have had since I was a kid. My first cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens
New Cookbook, is still around. It is old, I am sure it was old when my mom gave it to me all those years ago. Back to the hoarding shows. I rarely use any of these cookbooks so why do I keep them? Byrd doesn't know, I don't really know, except there maybe an outstanding recipe in one of them I can't live without. The answer to why I keep them is the same response from the people on these shows. I can't live without something I don't use, that's just silly. This kind of freaks me out. So in order to not think of myself as a hoarder of cookbooks I have made a deal with Byrd. I will find a recipe in each one of them that is worth keeping, if I don't find one we can give it to whoever takes used, or hardly used cookbooks. All of the kitchen gadgets are safe for the moment, they aren't in plain sight. I hoard those too. Now where the hell do I start? After deliberating on this Byrd and I decided that on the nights we cook from a book, she will pick the book and I will find a recipe. This being the first time she couldn't decide. She handed me two. Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes
Grill It! and Shall We Gather(This is a regional cookbook from my childhood home town of Wetumpka, AL). I looked through both and decided to go with Grill It! Dave at
MYOTG has been using pineapple in several recipes and they all have looked great. With that in mind this recipe jumped off the pages. Jerk Steak Kabobs with Pineapple Salsa.
Jerk Marinade
2 green onions, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Mix all ingredients together.
I used a 1 1/2 lb boneless sirloin cut into 1 inch cubes. I put the steak in a zip top bag and then poured on the marinade. The recipe says to marinate the steak for 15 minutes, I had more time than that so it bathed for 2 hours.
After smelling and making the marinade I decided to make a second batch to use with some vegetables. I sliced red onion, squash and zucchini and marinaded those for an hour.
I put everything on my little hibachi.
The recipe said to serve the Jerk Kabobs with a pineapple salsa. I made this first and let it sit in the fridge while everything else was prepared. I made a few changes to the salsa for my tastes. I added extra cilantro.
Pineapple Salsa
2 limes
1 ripe pineapple (rind removed) cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 green onion, sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
I pulled the meat off the grill first to let it rest while I finished the second batch of veggies. Now all together.
With the salsa now.
First things first, this was delicious. The meat was tender and full of flavor. Byrd normally doesn't like allspice due to its cinnamony taste, but it was subtle enough and with everything else worked well. It had just the right amount of sweet and heat. The vegetables as well. Although next time I would leave the cayenne out of the veggie marinade, all together it was a little spicy. The pineapple salsa was fantastic, a great accompaniment to the meat. A bite with all three was even better. I will be using this marinade for all sorts of things in the future. There were a lot of tasty looking recipes in this book and I can't wait to try more. 1 cookbook saved.
