Mexican Shawarma

Well, it's not exactly Mexican Shawarma, but apparently that's where it comes from.  And some guy named Al Pastor.  This week's recipes came from a special Ultimate Mexican issue of Better Homes and Gardens which is a pretty comprehensive chunk of information.  It's also got full page pictures of everything which is important for those of us who eat with our eyes first.  Let's face it, recipe books of all text don't exactly inspire you to cook.

So make sure your machines are well oiled and see what happens as we check out Tacos al pastor and Chayote salad.

Since we used a legit pineapple instead of some store-bought pineapple cylinder, I had to cut it into wedges rather than rings.  It didn't seem to inhibit the recipe at all - the wedges held together on the BBQ just fine.  You cut this thing up and then ignore it until you're ready to cook everything.  We ignored ours in the fridge.

 Pasilla peppers after having been reconstituted in some hot water for half an hour.  There are eight of them in there with the seeds and stems removed.  Now, pasilla peppers aren't really that hot but be warned, rubbing your eyes after dealing with them will have you running to the eye-wash station.

So in the measuring cup is some orange juice, vinegar, minced garlic, salt, ground cumin and ground cloves.  It was a fresh pineapple so there wasn't any juice 'left in the container'.  So I threw one of the wedges into the food processor with a little bit of water and tada: pineapple juice.

As James Barber used it call it - the whizzer.  You put your liquids and your peppers in the food processor and blend until smooth.  Slice your pork loin into half inch slices and lay it out, covering it in the marinade.  Then go garden for like 24 hours.

The chayote gets chopped and then blanched and then marinated along with some chickpeas.  The marinade is lemon juice, olive oil, some water, basil, garlic, sugar and salt.  You can go and garden as well while this is marinating.

Before dinner we slapped the rest of the salad together in preparation for the chayote.  In there is some lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, and olives.  After that was done, onto the hot grill went the marinating pork and the pineapple wedges. The tortillas also got made ahead of time and then stacked and wrapped in foil.  This packet got added to the upper deck of the BBQ while things were grilling below.  Now granted, if this was real tacos al pastor, it would be cooked on a vertical spit.  But having never seen a vertical spit outside of a shawarma restaurant, I think we did okay.

There is the salad with the chayote and chickpeas added.  The marinade gets set aside to be used as extra dressing for those in need.

After grilling, the pineapple and pork loin get sliced into bit sized morsels and tossed all together on a serving plate.

Zing!  Tacos al Pastor with Chayote salad.  White onion serves as a garnish on the tacos, as does lime and cilantro (see last week's post for the whereabouts of cilantro).  The salad was very light and crunchy and a good counterpoint to the warm sweet / savoury tacos.