So, Saturday morning I started rummaging around in the freezer, trying to figure out what I was going to cook for dinner. What's this? A "heel of round" roast? I have no idea what this thing is, but it looks kind of interesting, I think to myself.
My wife notices that my head has disappeared into the chest freezer, and cleverly asks, "Whatcha doin'?"
"Finding something for dinner," I respond, trying not to be irritated (tools to life!) by what seems like a statement of the obvious.
"Can I make a request?" she asks.
I say sure. I'm not grumbling about it or anything. Cooking what someone else wants is a challenge that I like (usually).
"Kebabs," she says, happily.
"Shit," I think to myself.
It's not that I don't like kebabs, they're OK, but I've never had much success cooking them. I've got the skewers, since every time I go buy a new grill brush, it's cheaper to buy the whole package of brush, spatula, and skewers. I've also tried the wooden ones, but the metal ones are easier. (You don't have to soak them in water before you start and you don't have to worry about them burning up.)
The problem is this: a wedge of onion doesn't cook at the same speed as a petal of peppers which doesn't cook at the same speed as a cube of meat . . . and so on.
So, I have an idea. I'll organize my kabobs by ingredient. I grab a London Broil out of the freezer for tonight's kabobs, as well as that weird Heel of Round. (The London Broil isn't part of the side of beef we bought, but it's usually a decent cut of meat that's pretty cheap.)
I send my wife to the store, so she can get whatever vegetables she wants on the kabobs. I remind her that my daughter talked me into buying a pineapple the other day, so I'm probably going to use that. I have some doubts, since I've never grilled pineapple, but how hard can it be? I'm not even sure what it should taste like, I don't think. Oh well, that is what experimentation is all about. I make a mental note that high-sugar foods like BBQ sauce tend to scorch and/or burn pretty easily, so I'd better be careful with the pineapple.
I let the London Broil defrost. Yes, I just put it on the counter. Yes, I know that I should only defrost it in the fridge to get my "food safety" merit badge. I don't care. If I leave this thing in the fridge, it might not be defrosted in time for tomorrow's dinner, let alone tonight's. I don't have time for that, my wife wants kebabs tonight! Anyways, the meat only sits out for an hour or two, until it defrosts enough for me to cut it into cubes. It's still pretty frozen, which is good, because it makes it much easier to cut. The cubes are about 1-1/2 to 2" in size. I marinate the cubes in [I can't remember. I'm trying to write this on Monday afternoon, and I'm a little hazy on what went in there. This is why I'm getting a webcam to film the cooking process. I'll have a better grasp on ingredients, time, and technique.].
The meat goes into the fridge for a few hours, so it can marinate (and continue defrosting!)
....time passes...
I decide we're going to eat in an hour or two, so I get the bag of marinating meat out of the fridge. I quarter an onion, clean off some mushrooms, and grab the skewers.
Immediately, I remember another reason I don't like cooking kabobs. The food just spins on the skewers. I can't turn the food using the skewer, because the skewer just rotates inside the food. Some of the skewers have flat edges that look like they might help a little bit, but I'm pretty sure that once the food cooks and softens up, it's not going to work. I decide to use 2 skewering sticks per skewer of food. This will keep the food from spinning. I make a skewer out of the quartered onion, another out of the mushrooms, and a third out of the orange, yellow, and red mini-peppers my wife bought. I also skewer the meat, which is 2 or 3 skewers.
I slice the pineapple into rings, they're not going to be skewered.
I grill all of the food, basting the mushrooms with melted butter, and the onions with the beef marinade. (Again, you food safety Nazis, I know that's not correct. I don't care. I'm cooking the onion, so the marinade will be fine.)
The pineapple wasn't bad on the grill, I just threw it on there, grilled it for a while on medium-high, flipped it over, and it was done.
When all of the skewers were done, I grabbed a couple of platters out of the kitchen and went back to the grill. I removed all of the food from the skewers, and "plated" the food onto the platter. It looked really good.
I brought the platters inside, and decided I should cut up the peppers to get rid of the seeds and stems. I did that, and replated it. It still looked pretty good.
It tasted good, too. The meat was cooked perfectly, medium-to-medium rare. The onions were cooked, so they weren't too harsh, but they weren't overcooked and soggy. The peppers were still crispy-crunchy and very sweet. The mushrooms were Ok, I think next time I'd do the mushrooms skewerless, with butter. The pineapple was just pineapple. It didn't have a different taste, or a different texture, it just tasted like warm pineapple. I'll have to do some research to see if I should have done something differently.
All in all, a success.
Grade: A-
comments
Love it!
Great story sounds like good food!!!
Keep enjoying yourself!
Devlyn