What’s On Your ‘cue?

No, not that queue, your barbecue!

First there were pretty bridesmaids… Now, let’s get on to the ugly brides; grilled meat!

Example A: Harissa Marinated Lamb Leg Steaks with a cucumber yogurt salad on the side. Definitely not pretty, but sublimely delicious.

Walking around the Greenmarket a few weekends ago we concocted this meal on the fly*. We got home, threw some harissa and olive oil in a bag, crafted the base of the salad, let things macerate and marinate and a few hours later threw it all together, grilled the lamb on the stove, sat down and feasted.

A few bites into the lamb the boy looked up at me and said, “Seriously, this is the best thing you’ve ever made. You should stop cooking now!” The lovely lamb-y gaminess shone through the subtle, spicy heat of the harissa to become a medley of flavors made in heaven. If you have some of this exotic spice paste in your fridge make this ASAP!

But, did I stop cooking? Oh heeeells no!

Example B: Gingerale, Ginger & Jerk Pork Skewers.

This past weekend tired of “grilling” on the stove-top, we decided it was time to get ‘hoodie with it and grill on the sidewalk.

There was some ginger ale in the fridge and so I thought, why not take a cue from Nigella’s trashy classic, ham cooked in cola, and use the ginger ale as a marinade. To the soda I added a huge chunk of grated ginger, a few cloves of garlic passed through a garlic press (I know, I know), a glug of citrus flavored vinegar, salt, pepper and a healthy heap of jerk seasoning to a Ziploc bag and added beautiful chunks of Dines Farms‘ goregous pork roast.

I let the pork marinate for a few hours while I concocted the Grated Kholrabi & Carrot Slaw. Our original plan was to take the whole mess down to the East River Park and grill but it seemed too far to walk, and not having done this in a long time (no outdoor space in our apartment building) we decided to just join our neighbors out on the sidewalk celebrating the Dominican Day Parade and grill on the “stoop”.

We got lots (and lots) of funny looks, a few jealous looks and probably some disapproving looks, but you know what?

Who gives a flying rat’s ass! We had the most delicious freshly grilled, gorgeously caramelized, gingery, garlicky, spicy pork skewers and they didn’t.

So, will we do it again? Oh hell yeah! Anyone wanna stop by?

*It dawned on me a few hours after dinner that I’d seen a meal like this before, somewhere…. and then it hit me I’d seen a far more complicated version over on Grant’s fabulous blog!

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