Girl Meets Grill

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy with finishing up school and a quick trip to Denver. Summer in Colorado was wonderful. We went on plenty of hikes (WHAT?! that's for you P), enjoyed an amazing afternoon in the park, spent Memorial Day at the pool by with bison burgers, filled ourselves with tea and other libations, and enjoyed some time with some great friends. We even had some time to cook some delicious food and try some new flavors. After a quick trip to H Mart (thanks for taking us A!), we picked up some much needed Asian ingredients for chicken and veggies in a black bean sauce, dumplings (jiao zi), mochi ice cream, ramune, koala chocolates, and spam musubi. As I am writing this, I am watching the Top Chef Masters finale and Susur Lee is making a black bean sauce as his first food memory dish. I can only imagine what his sauce tastes like. Black bean sauce is one of my favorite flavors, whether it is poured on clams, chicken, or vegetables, it's a great, savory, versatile sauce. I will have to post the recipes for the sauce and also for the jiao zi and you can enjoy your own Chinese culinary adventure any time you wish.

Tonight we had an excess of food so we invited some friends over to help us eat. From the CSA, we received some wonderful red onions and squash and I bought a jar of pumpkin chutney from the Iskashitaa Refugee Harvesting Network. From this, we had the idea to make shish kebabs. We picked up some lamb, beef, and baby portabella mushrooms from the grocery store and put them onto skewers. Those wooden skewers are dangerous! I had a minor accident and stabbed my thumb while trying to add a piece of lamb. That hurt. I found a great marinade recipe by Alton Brown. It has some great spices like cumin, tumeric, and smoked paprika which gave the kebabs a great kick. Paired with the sweet pumpkin chutney, they were just delicious. We probably made about 15 kebabs and tripled the marinade recipe so each skewer was well coated and we had extra to brush on at the end. Originally, the chef tonight wanted to try to "grill" the kebabs over our gas stove using a wire roasting pan rack. We managed to get one kebab done before the wire rack began warping under the heat. So we reverted back to the original plan to cook them on the George Foreman and they turned out great. The good old GF grill to the rescue. I would love to have a real outdoor grill, but we do not have the space, nor the money, for one right now. I need to make friends who have a grill that I can borrow. I also decided to make some brown rice, which I had never made before, and it turned out perfectly in my rice cooker. The rice was perfect with the kebabs or drizzled with some of the extra marinade sauce. Dinner was just perfect and so tasty. And also so pretty, purple onions, green squash, brown mushrooms, red meat, and the bright eye-catching yellow marinade. Tumeric, cumin, and paprika are so beautiful!


Spicy Shish Kebabs

For the kebabs:

• 1 lb boneless beef, cubed
• 1 lb lamb, cubed
• 1 red onion, quartered
• 1 large squash
• 6 baby portabella mushrooms
• Really, anything can be used for the kebabs such as shrimp, chicken, tomatoes, bell peppers...
  

For the marinade:

• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 6 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 3 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 3 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
  
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup olive oil

Soak the wooden skewers in water for 10 minutes to prevent burning if you are going to grill them over a fire. Skewer the meats and vegetables, alternating between the two. Watch your fingers!

In a food processor combine the garlic, paprika, turmeric, cumin, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar. With the processor running drizzle in the olive oil.

Reserve about 1 cup of marinade sauce and set aside. Pour the remaining marinade over the skewers and toss to coat. Place in the refrigerator in an airtight container or a sealable plastic bag and allow to marinate for 2 to 4 hours.

Preheat the George Foreman Grill for 10 minutes. Place max 4 skewers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from the grill and coat with the extra marinade sauce. Let sit for 2-3 minutes and serve with brown rice.