Tasty Thursday: Skewers

This weekend we fired up the grill and had the most delicious skewers, thank you Jamie Oliver.  We made chicken and lamb kabobs, and hopefully we'll be trying the fish ones soon.  I'm not a meat and potato kind of girl, but we added some potato wedges seasoned with olive oil, salt & pepper (also cooked on the grill),  and some fabulous wine, it was heavenly!

Chicken kebabs (Makes 6–8 kebabs)
• 500g/1lb 2oz free-range boneless chicken breasts
• 4 zucchini, sliced very thinly lengthwise
• 6–8 skewers or sticks of fresh rosemary, lower leaves removed, tips kept on  (we opted to use regular skewers)
for the marinade
• 1 handful of fresh coriander/cilantro
• 1 handful of fresh mint
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 6 spring onions
• 1 red chilli
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Blitz all the marinade ingredients (except the olive oil) in a food processor, then loosen to a paste with a little olive oil. Add the marinade to the chicken pieces and mix well. Allow to sit for up to an hour. Then weave the zucchini strips in between the chicken pieces on the rosemary sticks or skewers. Grill for around 5 minutes, turning regularly, until cooked.

Lamb kebabs (Makes 6–8 kebabs)
• 500g/1lb 2oz lamb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 6–8 skewers or sticks of fresh rosemary, lower leaves removed, tips kept on
• 2 red onions, peeled and quartered
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm/1 inch pieces
for the marinade
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 cloves
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

First bash up all the spices in a pestle and mortar until fine, then mix with the oil to make a thick marinade paste. Put the lamb pieces into a bowl and cover with the marinade. Let them sit there for half an hour to an hour. Then, using the rosemary sticks or skewers, spike each piece of meat alternately with red onion and peppers. Grill for around 5 minutes, turning regularly, to give you nicely charred meat on the outside with juicy pink on the inside.