Summer Skewers (Ka-bobs)

This article and photo originally appeared in the CookingTLC Newsletter way back in August 2001!

 Ka-bobs and Skewers make for easy, colorful, and fun meals,

and cooking out on the grill is always wise on a hot summer day. If you don't own a fancy set of metal ka-bobs, don't sweat it! They sell disposable wooden ones right in the grocery store, most times. (Look near the disposable aluminum pans or near the charcoal briquettes.) Just make sure you soak them for an hour before actually using them, so they won't scorch and impart any strange flavors to your food.

When cooking this way, the possibilities in flavors and ingredients are almost endless. I am going to list specific suggestions for the main ingredients as well as some marinades and basting sauces, but as always, I want you to consider my recipes a mere starting point. You should adapt my suggestions as needed to suit your own tastes.

Many people mix the meat and veggies on each skewer to simplify serving, but I like to arrange mine according to how long they need to cook, instead. After all, a piece of zucchini can cook to death before the piece of broccoli next to it is even chewable! I just start the things that need the longest to cook, first, and then remove the food from the skewers and arrange it all on a serving platter at mealtime.

TERRIFIC MAKE-AHEAD CAMPING FOOD: When camping, I just get out all the bags of different food in their respective marinades and let people put together and then cook their own skewers. Amazing how much less picky people (even myself) are about everything being cooked properly when they are cooking their own, over a campfire!

VEGETABLES THAT WORK AND COOK WELL TOGETHER:

 - FAST COOKING: Mushrooms, Zucchini, Summer (crookneck yellow) squash, Onions, Bell Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes

- LONGER COOKING: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Eggplant, Green Beans, Turnips

MEATS THAT WORK WELL FOR SKEWERS:

- Deboned: chicken breasts or thighs, high-quality steak cuts, pork loin, lamb, turkey, firm fish fillets

MARINADES AND BASTING SAUCES FOR VEGGIES:

- Mix 1/2 cup olive oil with 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, and dash hot sauce
- Mix 1/2 cup olive oil with 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs of choice (I love basil and thyme together), 2 cloves minced garlic, salt and pepper

MARINADES AND BASTING SAUCES FOR MEATS:-
- Mix equal parts Worchestershire and soy sauces, then add 1 Tb. Splenda and 1 Tb. black pepper
- Mix 1/2 cup of any type of prepared mustard with 1/4 cup oil and sweetener to taste
- How about wing sauce? Homemade low-carb BBQ sauce? Plain old Kraft Zesty Italian dressing? The list goes on and on... see what you have on hand, and go from there.

There are no real rules, here. I like the lemon sauce on meats (and fish) too, and I like the sweet-mustard combination on the vegetables as well, etc.!

Some important things to note: For your safety, do not marinate veggies and meats together. Do not use the same sauce as both a meat marinade and a basting sauce, unless you boil the used marinade mixture for at least 5 minutes first. Do not use the same brush to apply sauce to the raw meat you just placed on the grill, and then drop the brush back into the sauce which you will continue to brush on the meat as it cooks - that could transfer bacteria to the sauce and brush which will then not have sufficient time to cook away.