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As I mentioned, we picked up some carne asada from Trader Joe’s for the Memorial Day grill. To be honest, we couldn’t wait until Memorial Day and broke it open on Saturday instead. It turned out great, I would defninitely grill it again. Trader Joe’s keeps the meat in the refrigerated section, sealed up tight with the marinade. I threw out the package before I noticed how much comes in a pack, but it’s somewhere north of a pound for about $7.

I haven’t bought carne asada from the local carnicerias before, so I’m not sure how good of a deal the TJ’s meat is.

I have had some local carne that others have picked up, it’s charming how the meat comes sealed in a plastic bag with all of the delicious marinade.

When I took the meat out of the pouch, there was one larger piece and a couple smaller ones, with a few nuggets trailing behind. I would say that the pieces were about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, actually a bit thicker than I thought they would be.

The juices spilled out and the aroma hit my nostrils, I knew that I was in for a treat.

I heated up the grill and used my tongs to lay the meat across the grates. It sizzled, but next time I am going to up the heat and go more for a charring effect.

Right next to the meat, I cooked up some veggies: onions and red bell peppers (also from Trader Joe’s). I like my grill top pan, it lets me cook the veggies over direct heat without having them fall through the grate.

As a side dish, I also grilled up some artichokes (yes, from TJ’s). I steam them first for about 25-30 minutes, then toss them in some olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I finish them on the grill, about 10-15 minutes on each side with a few flips.

Back to the carne. It cooked for maybe 20 minutes? I’m really not exactly sure, but it was in that neighborhood. It cooked all the way through, and the marinade kept it incredibly moist. I sliced it up in strips, instead of small cubes. I like a little bit bigger pieces. Like I said before, it didn’t char and I think it was because the heat wasn’t high enough.

All in all, the meat came out great. We were surprised at how much citrus we could taste. There is some lime in the mix and the flavor was front and center. The chili pepper was evident too, giving the meat a nice spice.

We ate the carne asada on top of some TJ’s whole wheat/corn tortillas with the veggies, guac, salsa and a little plain yogurt in lieu of sour cream.

How does it look? It tasted better. The meal was really filling too and we ended up with left overs.

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.