Kebabs

June 15, 2012

Kebabs

Have you ever seen Flight of the Conchords, either the show or the music duo? There's a song they have, "Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" where they mention kebabs, and I just love the way they pronounce it (the New Zealand way, I guess). So I no longer say "kuh-bob" but instead I say "keh-bab." Anyway, kebabs are a great summer meal because they're a great way to use fresh summer veggies and the grill.

Ingredients [serves 4]

1 bell pepper

1 zucchini

1 container mushrooms

1 red onion

1 lime, juiced (or you could use orange juice or lemon juice, any kind of citrus)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

handful of parsley

+1/2 lb of beef per person, IF you want. This recipe is totally vegan/vegetarian otherwise.

+2 cloves of garlic, chopped

If you have metal skewers, fine, but if you have bamboo or wooden, soak in water for a few hours to make sure they don't burn or catch on fire.

Rinse the dirt off of all the mushrooms. If they are HUGE mushrooms, you can split them in half, but I like to skewer these guys whole.

I like to cut the zucchini into huge half moons.

And I just cut the bell pepper into big chunks.

And same with the onions, just big chunks.

Then, to make the marinade, I juice one lime, add in the salt, pepper, herbs, cayenne, and whisk it together with the olive oil.

Add in the vegetables, except for the onions, and toss.

And then skewer them.

I do the onions separately because I don't like to skewer them. They're difficult to skewer and I just don't like to do it. But if you don't care, then you do it! Once the other vegetables are removed though, there should still be a bunch of marinade left in the bottom of the bowl so toss the onions in that.

So I leave my skewered vegetables on one side and the onions on the other and cook them on a baking dish. Whether I do it on the grill or not, I leave it on a sheet pan. It's just how I do it. If you didn't skewer the onions and you're not using a sheet pan, just make a little foil packet for them.

If you're going to do the beef, I like to add some minced garlic, and then cut up the meat into bite-sized pieces and marinate that for a few minutes. I used sirloin strips, but you can use whatever cut of meat you like.

Skewer! (Sorry for the blurry photo; my camera doesn't like foil-y shots and gets fidgety).

If you're using an oven, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. If you're using the grill, put the skewers on the cooler part of the grill and just babysit them so they don't burst into flames.