Ever have a delicious meal you hesitate to put on your blog because it’s not “pretty”? Or one that was almost too easy but just so good you had to share anyway? Our barbecue this weekend yielded a plate that exceeded both of the aforementioned qualifiers, and I couldn’t help but share.
Our meal started as so many do. A hodgepodge of leftovers and random ingredients we’re trying to clear from the fridge ahead of our trip out of town to Kansas City this weekend and a anticipated stop at Trader Joe’s. We don’t have one, it’s like going to Disney World.
I chopped two randomly discovered sweet potatoes into wedges and started playing with some ideas. I plucked a sweet onion from the back of the pantry and diced into a bowl with the sweet potato along with 1/4 cup coconut oil, 2 teaspoons of sea salt, 1 tablespoon freshly ground coriander, 2 teaspoons sweet paprika and 2 teaspoons chili powder. I also added some fresh cilantro and lime juice.
Meanwhile, Neil prepped his beloved bunch of asparagus (I’m pretty sure we’re eating a trees worth a week now) with olive oil, garlic salt and sweet paprika. We wrapped everything in foil and placed our dinner packets in a circle around the edges of the grill. In retrospect, we should have placed the sweet potatoes right on the grill, but I was worried they’d fall through the slats. We also got some…
Tiger Tails! After having them for the first time this summer, we’ve been completely obsessed, and have gotten many of our friends hooked as well. They were not leftover, but I believe them ever being so is an impossibility.
While Neil was out manning the grill, I got a wild hair and convinced him to char a pepper we had leftover from dinner the previous night. I sliced it up and threw it in the food processor with some cannellinis:
Convinced that I was onto something, I added 1/4 cup basil, 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar (it might have been more, I’m an addict), a minced garlic clove, olive oil and freshly ground salt and pepper. Although it wasn’t particularly pretty (green, but not green enough if you know what I mean), but it tasted great! Lightly sweet and fresh with a little kick. I poured it into our little crock warmer and let it warm for about 20 minutes or so until the rest of our meal was off the grill. Then we threw everything on a plate and well, it looked pretty random.
An above shot. Random isn’t it?
The tiger tail with spicy mustard and peppers sauce I made. Told you, green, but not green enough…
Beautiful asparagus with speckled hints of the paprika that we love so much.
And my sweet potatoes. Again, wish I had put them directly on the grill, but they still turned out great, just not as charred as I originally pictured. I think a lot of people think of them purely as sweet and something you make sweeter or more decadent, however coupled with onions, they become more savory, which I love.
So there you have it, our deliciously un-styled-not-very-attractive-but-still-delicious meal from this weekend. We had fun bumming around in the kitchen and we used up a lot of the random ingredients we had leftover from last week. I call that a win!
Have you ever had a meal like this, or is there one you enjoy frequently that just doesn’t photo well? We’d love to hear about it!
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