From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
Happy Labor Day weekend. This will be a quick exchange before I run out the door. Oh, I’m not going anywhere for the weekend, we’re still working on potty training with Bixby. LOL. His latest update is here.
I decided on shish kabobs for the recipe exchange because they are a favorite for large get-togethers. I can prepare them a day ahead and then pop them on the grill when guests arrive. They cook up quick and everyone can get theirs cooked to their idea of perfection. And if you’re lucky and everyone is staying at your house, you can form an assembly line to put them together.
Pictured above is one of my go-to skewers, easy marinade and simple to assemble for a small family dinner or a big get-together. It’s equal parts vegetable oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, and toss in some crushed garlic cloves. Mix together and marinate cubed pieces of steak (sirloin works well) for at least an hour or overnight. I remove the steak pieces from the marinade and then toss the veggies with the marinade quickly before alternating meat, vegetables and pineapple chunks on skewers. The ones above really need some cherry tomatoes, too. Grill over high heat, turning frequently until steak is cooked to desired style.
Some other fun food on a stick:
Fajita Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs can be found here.
Grilled Chicken and Papaya Skewers are here.
Lamb Kabobs recipe is here.
And a variety of other Marinades can be found here, to create any number of skewers to grill.
What’s on your plate for the weekend? Grilling anything tasty?
For tonight’s featured recipe, I thought it would be fun to make sure dessert was included in the mix.
Spicy Fruit Kabobs
You can substitute or add any fresh fruit you’d like in this recipe.
1 cantaloupe or honeydew melon, seeded
2 pears, cored
2 apples, cored
2 bananas, peeled & quartered
8 wooden skewers, soaked in water
½ cup warmed honey
½ cup warm water
¼ cup limejuice
1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped
1 to 2 tsp chili paste
13×9 glass baking dish, blenderCut fruit into large chunks, alternate fruit on skewers, ending with banana chunks to hold fruit in place. Place in baking dish. Blend together honey, water, lime, jalapeno & chili paste until smooth. Pour over fruit. Let set during dinner (approximately 30 minutes at room temperature. Grill over low coals 5-7 minutes, basting with marinade. Serve immediately.
Banana Split Kabobs
(serves 4)12 fresh large strawberries, hulled
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 bananas, cut into 1 inch pieces
12 fresh pineapple chunks
pound cake, cut into 2-inch cubes
chocolate syrup
shredded, unsweetened coconut
4 long bamboo skewers, 4 dessert platesRoll strawberries in sugar, coating lightly. Alternate fruit and cake on the skewers. Place on plates and drizzle with chocolate syrup and garnish with coconut. Serve with additional syrup for dipping if desired.
That’s it for this week. Have a safe and fun holiday weekend. – TaMara
Villago Delenda Est
No nattering nabobs of negativism on this thread, please!
Violet
Not grilling because it’s supposed to rain most of the weekend.
I’m using up the poblano peppers that I picked from the plant after I accidentally over watered and seemingly killed it. Oops. I left the soaker hose on it and kind of got busy with some other garden chores. Peppers don’t like to be that wet. It looks dead but I’m leaving it just to see if anything comes back.
Meanwhile I have an entire bag full of poblano peppers. I think I’m going to try a version of JeffreyW’s Stuffed Anaheim Peppers. I roasted a chicken a few days ago so I’ve already got that ready to go.
Dog On Porch
Off topic: Having disdained The NFL’s Roger Goodell in a thread earlier this week, I’ll admit he did good today.
Violet
Those Banana Split kabob’s sound delish! Have you tried grilling them? I love grilled pineapple. Not sure how the rest of it would hold up. I’m imagining the whole thing warm and then served with a hot fudge sauce and coconut flakes. YUM!
Speaking of coconut flakes, if you ever have the chance to try Dang coconut chips, do it. Crunchy, slightly sweet. Just delicious.
Botsplainer
Meat goes on meat skewers, vegetables cook separately, lest they get overdone. Everyone knows this.
Kropadope
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’ll pack my things, though I expect that rule could decimate any internet comment board. Consider revision.
CaseyL
Thinking about kabobs makes me hungry. Alas, I may be the only person in Seattle who has a lanai but no grill.
Also want to let TaMara know that I am loving her Bixby updates. Bixby’s Diary and Karen’s Iggy Dialogs = dog-blog (dlog?) heaven!
NotMax
@Villago Delenda Est
One of two memorable Agnewisms.
The other: “effete snobs.”
(A favorite bumper sticker from the time: “Nixon’s the one. And Agnew’s another one.”)
Villago Delenda Est
@Dog On Porch: What did he do? I’m not seeing anything at ESPN about Goodall’s activity today.
Mike in NC
@NotMax: As I recall, most of Agnew’s stuff was written by Bill Safire and/or Pat Buchanan.
Uncle Cosmo
FTR, etymologically “kebab” has fook-all to do with skewers:
Note further that
For the uninitiated, döner kebap (“turned meat”) is what the Greeks call a gyro, which refers to turning (& is probably the source of the term “hero” for a sandwich).
(I recall a lunch in Ankara one day in September 1996 in a place called Kebabistan–literally, “the country of meat”–with nary a skewer in the mix.)
Carry on…
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Villago Delenda Est: The NFL is going to look more closely at domestic violence allegations.
rikyrah
kabobs rock
hildebrand
@Uncle Cosmo: Doner kebab, translated from German – food drunk people eat after the bars close.
Mike J
@CaseyL:
I just strapped a chicken to the spit on my grill. Mmmmm.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@hildebrand:
For me, that would actually have been a bosna.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, that’s a start. Beating up on a spouse is just a bit more important than toking up.
rikyrah
Woman Found Dead in SUV Parked Outside New Jersey Wawa Was Trying to Rest: Police
Maria Fernandes sometimes parked her SUV in public parking lots between jobs to get a few hours of sleep, investigators say
By Dan Stamm and Wire Reports
nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Parking-Lot-Death-Elizabeth-272846101.html#ixzz3BdXIk9rW
MomSense
This has been a crazy week for me. Weekend packing my mom’s stuff. Monday moving her to assisted living. We had a power outage while we were in her storage room. It was like a scene from the Walking Dead with all the lights going off in large sections. Then 12 hour days at work and more work this weekend. UGH!!
I was so wiped out but had to figure out dinner so I sauteed some garlic (lots!) in olive oil, grated fresh tomatoes into the pan, added fresh basil, salt/pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and threw in some al dente angel hair pasta. Garlic, tomatoes, and basil were all from the garden.
Technique for fresh tomato sauce is to cut the tomatoes in half, then hold the tomato skin side up and grate the seeds and flesh into the pan until you are just left holding the skin. Sometimes there are edible but not grateable bits left and you can chop those up and add them. It is super easy and works well.
It ended up being so tasty. The kids think I’m a genius and start to finish it took 10 minutes.
My favorite marinade for beef, chicken or veggie kabobs is dijon mustard (the grainier the better), fresh lemon juice, olive oil, fresh herbs if possible, minced garlic, and salt and pepper. I prefer to do the veggies and the meat separately but now I’m strictly veggie anyway so it doesn’t matter.
I don’t have measurements but the mustard is pretty much meant to keep the marinade adhered to the meat or veggies. Don’t add too much. The general rule in cooking is that you can always add more but you can’t take away. I mix the marinade in a big bowl, taste it in the bowl and then add the meat or veggies and toss when the marinade tastes right.
I think now I am going to enjoy a glass of wine and find something entertaining to watch on tv.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike in NC: Safire at least took credit for the memorable ones. Pat was too busy polishing his SS runes, I’d wager.
Phylllis
Hubs has requested my chocolate sour cream pound cake. I don’t usually bake in the summer, but he rarely requests a treat. We’ve got salmon, ribeyes, and chicken breasts for the grill for the long weekend. And I’m going to try loaded baked potato salad on Monday.
Mike J
@Villago Delenda Est:
There’s no collective bargaining agreement about crimes other than drugs. That should probably change.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Phylllis: I can bring wine. What time do you want me to come by?
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): You have got to read some Pratchett, someday. One of his longest-running jokes involves C.M.O.T (Cut Me Own Throat) Dibbler, purveyor of sausages inna bun to late-night drunks and the perennially hopeful. (Some) meat content guaranteed, and if you insist strongly enough, named meat content…
(C.M.O.T. also does a sideline of rats onna stick, for Dwarvish customers, to tie back to TaMara’s post.)
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike J: There should be a collective bargaining agreement about crimes other than drugs. After all, a police intervention in a domestic dispute can have pretty severe public relations consequences for the player, the team, and the league.
Surely both sides have attorneys on retainer who can tackle such issues.
Villago Delenda Est
@NotMax: I so wish I had received a Spiro T. Agnew wristwatch when I was 11.
Those things are collector’s items now.
Betsy
Yeah, shish (şiş) means spit, skewer, needle in Turkish and kebab is a roast.
The Reverend Lowdown
@hildebrand: I have had many of those after bar kebabs in Germany. Sometimes even forgetting to peel back the paper wrapper before I ate them. Good times
Kropadope
In other news today, RON PAUL!!!
So was Saddam Hussein Frankenstein’s monster? Some form of golem? Legions of the undead? A hydra?
Inquiring minds need to know.
The Reverend Lowdown
My family has been doing a grilled Italian-esque skewer for as long as I can remember. We generally use beef but any meat can work. So, take a piece of beef, pound it thin, then cut it into small strips. Prepare a small dish of olive oil and then another with bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, fresh chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese(salt if you want). Dip meat strips in olive oil, let excess run off, then roll in bread crumb mixture. After all the meat is breaded, then put a piece on a skewer, add a bay leaf and piece of onion, then another piece of meat and repeat until skewer is full. Grill for a few minutes. Also works really well in the oven using the broiler. I make lunch for everyone at work once a month and they constantly beg me for this.
Tokyokie
Anne, You missed your chance to use the headline, “Gobs of Kebobs.”
Phylllis
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Come on whenever. We’re all about the southern hospitality in these parts.
Phylllis
@Villago Delenda Est: I had one. It disappeared during all the back & forth moves between home/college.
TooManyJens
Did the font here change, or did I do something weird to my browser?
Kropadope
@TooManyJens: Both, of course.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@TooManyJens: Have you considered that it might just be a hallucination?
NotMax
@TooManyJens
It’s a fontasy.
Dog On Porch
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Right. And Goodell admitted he fucked up, almost certainly because the women in the lives of his fellow NFL royalty made clear their righteous anger. That’s my best guess, anyway.
Mnemosyne
@Uncle Cosmo:
Interestingly, at least out here in So Cal, döner kebab seems to be specifically German-style gyros (Turkish via Germany). Regular chicken kebabs or gyros are just called kebabs or gyros (usually, but not always, found at Greek places).
Villago Delenda Est
@NotMax: Yes, it’s a fontasy.
Uncle Cosmo
@hildebrand: So? As street food it beats the living crap out of the wursts , just as various curried offerings have supplanted the old standards in the British Aisles.
If you really want good doner & your coronary arteries can take it, go to Bursa & chow down at anyplace advertising Iskender kebap. This is doner served open face on bread smothered in tomato sauce with a side of yogurt. It’s brought to the table along with a small iron skillet containing melted butter which is then drizzled over the meat. Absolutely scrumptious but Major Infarct City… (Mind the Çoban salatası [chopped salad] though–looks cool & refreshing until you discover that the peppers peppered through it are HOT.)
brantl
Your marinades reference is circular, TaMara.