Celestial Food

So, my mom came into town for several days this past week. It was so fun! We bought and made lots of good food and had lots of girl time. One day we seriously made one of the most flavorful, delicious meals I've had. We tried out a recipe for teriyaki beef with pineapple salsa and holy smokes it was an explosion of flavor in your mouth!

We marinated strip steaks in the homemade teriyaki sauce, then pan-fried it in some of the sauce. The sauce thickened and carmelized a bit (or something like that) onto the steak and coated it in a layer of deliciousness. Then we made a salsa with diced fresh pineapple chunks, red pepper, green onion and cilantro. You serve the beef with the salsa, and we also rounded out the meal with sauteed sweet potato, raspberries,  and the rest of the pineapple. I wish I had taken a picture--the plate was so colorful! Like I mentioned earlier, the steak combined with the pineapple salsa really was just a burst of delicious citrus and tender flavorful beef that worked amazingly together. Am I talking this meal up too much? I hope not... it was unique and scrumptious. Sorry again I don't have a picture to help convince you, but I'll include the recipe below. It really is worth a shot!

Teriyaki Beef with Pineapple Salsa

2 2-pound beef triangles (I have no idea what this means... we just bought 3 strip steaks. I'm sure whatever you use is fine.)

Teriyaki Sauce (We made just half of this, because our steaks weren't huge...it was definitely enough).

2 cups soy sauce

1 cup pineapple juice

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp chopped garlic 

Pineapple Salsa: (we ended up omitting the red onion and green pepper. Just saying... Also, a lot of these measurements we just eyeballed what looked good. If you're making a smaller amount of beef like we were, you probably won't need to use the whole pineapple for the salsa.)

1 pineapple, diced small

¼ cup chopped red onion

¼ cup chopped green onion

¼ cup chopped green pepper

¼ cup chopped red pepper

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

(Mix well and let sit at least 3-4 hours) 

Place beef triangles in sealable plastic bag or glass dish.  Combine teriyaki sauce ingredients with whisk and pour over beef triangles.  Place in refrigerator.  Marinate for 3-4 hours or overnight.  Broil or grill to desired doneness.  Serve with pineapple salsa.

One last thing... sweet potatoes, holy cow, how did I not know they were so good? We cut them into strips and fried them in a little oil with cajun seasoning and salt. I went from dubious to a believer.