Willing Cook-A-Long: Steak and Pineapple Skewers

The Willing Cook has started a new feature where each Friday she posts a link to a recipe, sometime during the week we make the recipe, adapting it to our family’s dietary and budgeting needs, and then at the end of the week we report. Besides getting out of a rut, it is also a good way to see how other people adapt recipes based on their needs.

So this week’s original recipe was Steak and Pineapple Skewers by Guilty Kitchen. She had me signed up at “grilled pineapple”. I’ve been in love with it ever since I had it at Tucanos. I’ve made my own skewers before, but with chicken, so I was excited for this change in the challenge.

The Changes

The first change I made was the cut of meat used. I feel that unless you need to use up steak quickly, this kind of recipe calls for a less expensive cut. So, I got a family pack of petite sirloin steaks, which were $3.99/lb.

Next, I had to reinvent the marinade. Not only does soy give my son diarrhea, but using it as the (almost) sole ingredient in the marinade sounded boring. So, I combined Willing Cook’s soy sauce substitution with this marinade for flank steak from Our Best Bites.

Also, the original recipe called for grilling. We actually own a grill, but it’s just a small charcoal grill. I’m not motivated to spend the time to let the coals heat up and then clean everything up when I’m just cooking for 2 1/2 people (yes, my children eat so little that they count as 1/4 each at dinner. Ok, it depends on the meal, but it’s true in this case). So, I used my broiler.

The Method

Prepare the marinade by whisking together pineapple juice, sugar, spices, and other things nice.

Cut steak into bite size pieces, then toss in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Mine marinated for between 3 and 4 hours.

Cut up the pineapple, and toss with olive oil, basil, and pepper.

Thread skewers, alternating between meat and pineapple.

Toss under a broiler for 6 minutes on each side. I served mine with quinoa.

And if you want to replicate what I did:

Steak and Pineapple Skewers

Adapted from Guilty Kitchen

Soy, gluten, and dairy free.

• 3/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 petite sirloin steaks
• 1 pineapple
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Whisk together first 6 ingredients. Cut steak into bite size chunks and add to juice mixture. Marinade in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, not more than 24 hours.

Cut pineapple into bite size chunks. Put pineapple in bowl with olive oil, basil, and pepper. Toss to evenly distribute spices.

Alternating between meat and pineapple, thread food onto skewers. Broil for 6 minutes on each side.

Makes 7 skewers.

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A perfected version of this recipe is featured in my cookbook The Best of the Rice of Life: Over 70 Gluten-free, Dairy-free, and Nut-free Recipes available now in print (Amazon, Create Space) and e-book (Kindle, iBooks, nook, Kobo and Smashwords).

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What I Thought

These were nice, but they could have been better. The steak marinade needed salt. I might consider increasing the vinegar, molasses and ginger for more of a “soy” flavor.

My meat also ended up really dry. I probably overcooked them. Part of this could be due to the fact that the first 6 minutes the broiler was set on low, and the next 6 minutes it was set on high. I should have had it on high the entire time. Another thing that would have helped would have been to reserve some marinade and baste the meat at the mid way point.

I also wasn’t a fan of the basil on the pineapple. I just wanted to enjoy its true flavor. I wouldn’t mind putting some of the meat marinade on it while basting though (it was very sweet with the brown sugar).

Is it worth redoing to make it better? Yes. Grilled pineapple is awesome!