Anguilla

Anguillian Beef and Pineapple Kebabs with Rice and Peas

I made this meal on Wednesday, July 29 for Andy and me. I learned that rice and peas is Anguilla's national dish, and therefore had decided to make it. I thought that the meal might not be filling enough with just that though, so I did some further research and found the kebab recipe.

This meal was a success! The marinade for the beef for the kebabs was delicious. The molasses gives an almost soy sauce-like flavor, but was also sweet. I marinated the pieces for about 2.5 hours, and the result was incredibly flavorful, tender meat. I don't have a pastry brush, so it was difficult to baste the vegetables and meat throughout the broiling. I bet it would taste even better if it were more continually and better applied. I also like this dish because the ingredients are common; I had most of them in my cupboards and refrigerator already. I made very minimal changes from the original recipe.

While the http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/view/74/1/99 for the rice and peas called for pigeon peas, I wasn't able to find them at Kowalski's, so I substituted black-eyed peas. The rice and peas dish was delicious as well. It was surprisingly savory; it almost tasted like it had been made with chicken broth instead of water. This is probably because it is cooked in the liquid from within the pea can and also because of the addition of the corned beef.

All in all, this meal only took about 30 minutes to prepare, including chopping time (not including marinating time). I would highly recommend it. It is simple, delicious and nutritious!

Beef and Pineapple Kebabs

Ingredients:
-1 lb. sirloin steak, cut into 24 pieces (about 1-2")
-3 medium tomatoes, each quartered (12 pieces)
-2 onions, each cut into 6 pieces
-1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 12 pieces
-12 pineapple chunks
MARINADE
-1 T. molasses
-4 T. pineapple juice
-2 T. white distilled vinegar
-1 T. olive oil
-1 garlic clove, minced
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:
1) Mix all marinade ingredients together well.
2) Add steak pieces to marinade. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 2.5 hours (or at the very least one), turning the meat pieces every so often.
3) Remove steak, reserve marinade.
4) Preheat broiler
5) Thread 12 skewers in the following order: steak, onion, pepper, pineapple, tomato, steak.
6) Dip skewers into reserved marinade.
7) Broil about 10 minutes, turning once and basting often.

Rice and Peas

Ingredients:
-1/4 lb. corned beef, cut up into small pieces
-1 c. basmati rice
-can of black eyed peas, liquid from can separated and reserved
-water
-pinch of salt
-1 T. margarine
-1/4 tsp. thyme
-dash hot pepper sauce
-pinch of black pepper
-splash of lime juice

Directions:
1) Put reserved liquid from pea can in a 2 c. measure. Add enough water to equal 2 cups.
2) Bring peas, water/can liquid mixture and corned beef to a boil in a medium saucepan.
3) Add remaining ingredients. Stir and cover.
4) Lower heat. Simmer until all liquid has been absorbed (about 20 minutes).
5) Let sit for about 5 minutes.