Meatovation
The celebration of our Twentieth Meativersary left me reminiscing about those early days and I found myself looking back through my photographic history. I noticed that at the second Meatwave ever, I decided to serve up some skewers and figured why not do another menu that connects back to that first year. I tend to put together menus stay within a certain cuisine because there's both financial and time saving advantages of doing so, but this time around I threw together a hodgepodge of skewer ideas I've jotted down over the years, and while they didn't all fit together flavor-wise, that ended up being kind of a plus because the variety was a refreshing change from the norm.
I've been sitting on al pastor skewers for a long time mainly because I've had them at a couple restaurants and was not left impressed—the earthy flavor of the marinade didn't hold up great when not in taco form. So when I went to write a recipe for these, I thought of ways to change things up enough so they taste great on their own, but they remained distinctly al pastor at the same time. It turned out not that many adjustments were needed—I upped the chiles a bit and increased the sweetness with pineapple juice and dark brown sugar—and these ended up being the al pastor skewers I always wished I had.
For me, the al pastor skewers were going to be the piece de résistance of the day and I didn't want my vegetarian constituency to miss out, so I also made them in tofu form. Since tofu is such a blank slate, the marinade popped even more than on the pork, so I was happy that it ended up working well in two different variations.
Peruvian chicken skewers were also an idea I've had for a long time because when I first worked on the traditional rotisserie chicken version, I wondered how the marinade would fair in a scenario where it would be even more prominent. That answer was astoundingly well and these skewers had a great earthy and garlicky flavor that actually tasted pretty different than how it comes out on rotisserie birds. I'll also take any chance to make Peruvian chicken because it means I get the make the addictive ají verde that goes along.
I needed another hearty vegetarian option and turned to cauliflower, as I often do. I've had a jar of harissa in the fridge waiting for a good use for awhile now and marrying that with the cauliflower felt like a good idea. Some lemon juice, mint, parsley, and garlic were the primary helpers to build an even deeper flavor and give this usually unassuming veggie a really big taste.
After doing chicken, wings, beef, and meatballs, I feel like I'm now in a mode of just seeing what else is good done up yakitori-style. After this past Meatwave, I can now add king oyster mushrooms to that list. The woodsy touch of the mushroom actually might have been my favorite pairing to date with the super savory and sweet tare sauce.
Last, but most definitely not least, were these
The Twentieth Meativersary sure brought out a crowd, and I figured since almost everyone showed for that, we'd have a sparse showing this time around, but my friends came out in droves once again to make the day even better than I was expecting. Here we have Chelsea, Christina, Cat, and Adam
Next we have Bryan and Patrick enjoying what was a truly perfect weather day for a cookout.
And here's Bryan's better half Jenny with Lindsay, Jessica, and Eric.
Lauren showed up with Josh and her parents even though they had a great dinner at M Sushi on tap just a couple hours later.
Kim came in tow with John who came in tow with his brother Tim, who was a new Meatwaver and we were happy to have him join in the fun.
As the sun began to set, we transitioned to an evening of patio karaoke, something we tried to do a couple months ago but the plans fell apart. We got bonus dance performances from Bryce and Anika on top of all the excellent singing.
And how can I not end with a shot of Betty, relaxing and enjoying her time as we all did at another great day of food, friends, and the best of times.
