Tag: skewers

Chicken skewers: Moroccan-style marinade

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Makes: 12 skewers

For Nat’s birthday, we got an awesome, portable, charcoal grill from Everdure, a company Heston Blumenthal has been promoting.

The idea was inspired by some Phillipino pork skewers we had cooked over a traditional hibachi grill at a market a few weeks prior; though a sensible, all-in-one charcoal grill versus a not so sensible, not so portable hibachi grill steered us in the Heston direction.

Anyway, we have loved the grill and the many skewers we’ve made with the boys and friends.

There is something neat about cooking your own meat over a super hot grill. Cold beer, sizzling meat, some dipping sauces… doesn’t get much better.

This marinade we have done twice and it has been really popular.

Make it the day ahead and marinate the chicken in a big ziplock bag. When cutting the meat, keep it small and consistent. Small cubes, not big off cuts.

If you can find chicken thigh with the skin on, even better… though however you do it, get the surface chargrilled and enjoy the taste of charcoal BBQ.

Ingredients

1.2kg chicken thighs

Marinade

1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp honey
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Freshly ground pepper

Method

  1. Cube the chicken into 2cm cubes, retaining the fat.
  2. Combine the marinade ingredients with a few cracks of pepper. Marinate the chicken cubes with the marinate, ideally overnight, refrigerated.
  3. Soak bamboo skewers in a shallow dish of cold water for 30 minutes and then drain.
  4. Skewer the chicken tightly. Heat the grill on high. And cook those puppies, marinating with the remaining marinade as you go.

Lamb marinated in yoghurt

.Reading time 3 minutes.
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Lamb sans glug.

Serves: 4

Super simple Matt Moran recipe I pulled from The Australian Financial Review in 2008! Gives you some indication of the backlog.

I was introduced to ras el hanout about 10 years back and it is one of the most versatile spice mixes you can get. Ras el hanout means ‘house spice’ and in Northern Africa and parts of the Middle East, every spice shop competes with their own version of it.

Some interpretations have up to 30 spices included in it.

You won’t find it at Coles though Herbies and David Jones (Food Hall) have it.

I haven’t made it myself though I have included Matt Moran’s take on the spice and once I am out of my current supply, I will give it a go.

I served the lamb with cous cous (which according to Natalie I cannot master and so she refers to it as ‘glug’) with chicken stock, almonds, currents and coriander and at Nat’s highly successful recommendation, roasted red onion pieces and baby carrots, sautéed in the pan with honey.

You’re welcome!

Ingredients

600gm lamb backstrap
100gm natural (fat-free) yoghurt
1 tsp ras el hanout
Bunch of mint, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp preserved lemons thinly sliced

Ras el hanout

2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp table salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground fennel seeds
3 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cloves

Method

  1. For the ras el hanout, combine all the ingredients well and store in an airtight container.
  2. To prepare the lamb, cut the lamb into 3cm pieces. In a bowl, mix the yoghurt and ras el hanout with half the mint. Place the lamb in the bowl and coast with the marinade. Marinate overnight.
  3. To prepare the skewers, soak some bamboo skewers in water for an hour (to prevent burning).
  4. Pre-heat the grill to hot. Place four to five pieces of lamb on each skewer and season with a little salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
  5. Grill the skewers for a minute on each side.
  6. Serve the lamb and scatter over the preserved lemon and remaining mint.
  7. Glug.

Chicken Yakitori Skewers

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 2

This is a great dish with a really unique, Japanese-BBQ style of sauce.

Really easy to prepare served with rice.

Remember to soak the bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes before threading the meat.

Ingredients

¼ cup sake
¼ cup Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin (rice wine)
2 tbsp caster sugar
6 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm pieces
Ground white pepper to taste
2 green onions (spring onion), trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, halved
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 green onion, extra, thinly sliced diagonally

Method

  1. Combine the sake, soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
  2. Combine the chicken and half the sauce in a bowl. Season with ground white pepper. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  3. Thread chicken, green onion and mushrooms alternately onto the skewers. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the skewers to the pan and cook for 6 minutes or until cooked through.
  4. Transfer to a platter and spring with extra green onion. Serve immediately with the remaining sauce.

Middle Eastern Beef and Parsley kebabs

.Reading time 1 minute.

 Serves: 4 – 6

What a cracker; serve this with a full accompaniment of Lebanese sides and dips – as we did for the boys whilst up the coast on a recent holiday – and all your mince wishes will have been granted.

Ingredients

1kg extra lean beef mince
2 tbsp butter
1 x fresh parsley, minced
2 onions, chopped finely
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper (if you have seasoned/flavoured pepper, by all means)
Wood grilling skewers, soaked in water

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and carefully form long tubes of the mixture around the skewers, between 2 – 3cm in thickness. Pack tight so that the mince does not fall off easily.
  2. Heat a grill high and cook about 2 minutes a side until chargrilled and cooked through.
  3. Serve with freshly made hommus.