Lamb and veal were not big in my house growing up, but I’ll eat a bit of lamb every so often these days. I’ve only covered one other lamb recipe so far–10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb. This recipe, 10-14: Lamb on Skewers, actually was made in tandem with that one, since my cut of boneless leg of lamb was too large for that recipe. These skewers can be made with pork, chicken, or just veggies–making them great for a party or event where you have a lot of different dietary preferences.
Making skewers/kebabs is a really good way to use up an extra (or oddly shaped/not pretty) cut of meat, as well as a way to make tough cuts of meat easier to eat. Another benefit: those who have a difficult time eating large pieces of meat (like old people and little kids) might have an easier time with smaller pieces (be careful of choking, though). One more benefit: you cook your vegetables at the same time as your meat–add some rice and you’ve got the whole meal.
If you’re not a lamb person (which a lot of people aren’t), Simply Delicious suggests swapping in pork or chicken, which are cheaper and leaner alternatives. You could even get rid of meat altogether, marinate your veggies in the mix, and just have grilled/broiled veggies, making it vegetarian/vegan. You could even make a bunch of different kinds (like a few lamb, chicken, pork, & veggie) and serve them at a barbecue or party–that way everyone can find a version they like.
Ingredients. My basil looks a little sad, but it’s about to be pulverized in the food processor, so it doesn’t really matter. This was about 1.5 lbs of lamb, cut off from a 5.5 boneless leg I got at Costco. I used the other 3 lbs of this cut for 10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb.
Cubing up the lamb. My cubes were a bit small–feel free to go a bit bigger.
Marinade ingredients into the food processor.
After processing. Blender works just as well, if you don’t have a food processor.
Easiest way to marinade meat: put it into a Ziploc bag. That way you can toss it around and flip it every so often, which helps distribute it evenly and tenderize the meat. Plus, it fits easier into the fridge, which is where I left this to marinate until I was ready to skewer them and grill.
I didn’t have any veggies to grill with these, so these are all-meat skewers. They also spent way too long in the fridge–it was a while until we were able to get back to them (and the weather cleared up enough) for us to grill them. I say we because my sous chef/husband grilled them out on our patio in between late-spring rainstorms, but you can use the broiler in your oven too.
After grilling. A cookie rack in/on a half-sheet pan makes a great drain/broiler pan, if you have those but not the other. I stripped these cubes off the skewers (if you use wood ones, soak them for an hour or two in water before using them) and used them for different things like pasta and eggs. You could make pita sandwiches, put them over rice with veggies–there’s lots of different combinations.
Grade: A-
