Care for some gopher?

Friday evening we had my work "holiday" party. Yeah, it was six months late. It was an OK party, at a place that used to be a fish market in Chicago buit is now a trendy bistro bar with a Hispanic flair. They served us a bunch of appetizers, starting with guacamole, then shrimp ceviche on tortilla chils, the some spicy stuff on fried plantain, then some chicken grilled on skewers, with green stuff on them (tasted pretty good -cilantro). I ate one. So we're chatting, my co-workers were drinking wine or sangria, I was drinking iced tea, and I'm pacing myself for the main course.

The next thing they brought was dessert - some fudgelike stuff, and little fruit cups, and espresso cream puffs. So no main course. I guess it was a tapas bar. So I said to my co=worker, "If I'd known that there was only appetizers, I would've eaten more gopher." So I had to try to explain how the skewers looked just like the gopher on a stick in "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" Which even when I explained it, no one got.

So the next nught at home we were going to make a Weber recipe for carne asada, and I modified ot to be more like the "gopher" I'd missed the night before. And it came out pretty good. So here's my recipe. I had to give it a Mexican sounding name, and the Internet translator I found gave me a term that apparently means, literally, "Ground squirrel." MAybe they don't have gophers in Mexico. But rest assured, this isn't Chip and Dale. It's not even gopher. Just mock gopher.

Ardillas Terrestres

8-10 servings

Marinade
1/2 C Lime Juice
1/2 C Tequila
1/2 Medium Jalapeno Pepper, seeds removed, minced fine
1/4 C Onion, minced fine
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 Tbsp Fresh Cilantro leaves, minced fine
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Meat
2 lb Sirloin Steak or flank steak, fat trimmed, cut in strips
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in strips

Vegetables
1 red pepper and 1 green pepper, seeds and ribs removed, cut in strips
2/3 of a medium onion (the rest of what you used for the minced onion), sliced thin
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Soak enough wooden skewers to hold all the meat, in water for at least 30 min.

Mix all marinade ingredients. Place meat in two large Ziploc bags, pour half of marinade in each bag, and marinate for 2-4 hours in refrigerator.

Place vegetables on a large (15 inch) piece of wide heavy duty foil. Dot with butter. Wrap in a packet.

Prepare coals in grill for direct heat.

Thread meat onto skewers.

Spread coals and place foil packet off to the side to steam while meat cooks. When coals are ready for direct grilling, place skewers of meat on grill over coals. Grill, turning several times, until juices run clear in chicken and until steak is done to your liking.

Remove foil packet from grill, place steamed vegetables in a nonstick skillet, and brown until desired doneness.

Remove meat from skewers. (or, offer a skewer to your dining companions and ask, "Care for some gopher?")

Serve meat and vegetables with unsalted corn tortillas, cheese, avocados, and Trader Joe's low sodium salsa.

The whole thing was done to be consistent with my low-sodium diet, but it's tasty enough not to be bland.