And It Was Good

Just look at it. Color explosion! It's like having a family of latins party in your mouth. It's a beautiful thing, just trust me on it. Not only is there color to the vegetables, but check out that beef. I didn't kill it! Pink! Other pieces were even appropriately medium/medium rare! After about an hour on the smoker, the steaks were transferred to a hot gas grill to get seared on both sides along with the grilled veggies. Result?

Mesquite smoked, crispy beef ends with a warm, tender center. Like steak gummi bears, only good.

'Twas my first attempt at plantains. Didn't figure there'd be any real difficulty to them, though I admit to being concerned that they might have still been a bit solid after their 3 minutes per side. Turns out that when fried, plantains may have a delightful tender center, and still sound like a sack of quarters when hitting the plate. I took the basic idea from my fellow reverend, double-checked my information with Epicurious, and generally ignored Alton Brown's suggestion of a garlic-salt water soak, delicious or not it may be. They do need the salt.

Best part, from the start of the hour to the finish, everything came out on time and together at the end. It's a Christmas miracle. Happy labor day, folks.