What's for Dinner on Saturday the 20th?

[Cheryl J]

I finally bought some flat shish-ka-bob skewers. I tossed my other thin skewers away. I got tired of the beef chunks spinning around while cooking them on the BBQ. I'm going to try these new skewers tonight.

Cuisinart 10" long flat skewers. $9.99. Shipped to store for pickup today (Walmart).

Be sure to let us know how you like them, Caslon. I 'kabob frequently, and my skewers are square. Seems like they're all kind of tricky, since the meat and veggies tend to release a bit from the skewers as they're cooking. I like the solid handles, mine just have ring handles.

 

[Caslon]

They worked awesome. You have to use a mitt to turn them.

I microwave my cut up veggies for 10 min before skewering everything.

The bell peppers, onions grill up nice and charred by the time the meat is cooked (microwaving vegs).

 

[Cheryl J]

They worked awesome. You have to use a mitt to turn them.

I microwave my cut up veggies for 10 min before skewering everything.

Thanks for the feedback on the skewers, Caslon.

10 minutes for the veggies in the microwave? Hmmm...I just cut them up into chunks, skewer them, and put on the grill. But I like a bit of a bite to the veggies as well as that nice little char to the edges. I usually do bell peppers, onion, and mushrooms.

 

[Caslon]

3 cut up bell peppers of various colors and a large red onion cut up. That's a plate full. 10 minutes in the microwave isn't that long. It allows the veggies to char up nicely, while keeping the cooking of the meat to a minimum. It's soooo good.

Some put all the veggies on separate skewers. Not a bad idea.

 

[Cheryl J]

Sounds good, Caslon. Heading for bed soon, happy to chat more with you about 'kabobing after I get some much needed sleep.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Those bowls of soup sure look inviting, Kayelle and CD. Kay, do you have an honest-to-goodness butcher near you? If I want ham-something soup and we aren't in the mood to gnaw our way through an entire half, I'll get a bone from the butcher. He sells the end pieces from his own smoked hams for $1.69 per #, and they make the best soup ever! Sous might even be able to sweet-talk a grocery store butcher into selling the end of ham he might be cutting into ham steaks, if the store has their own in-store butcher.


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I had to grocery shop today without fallback leftovers in the fridge. *gasp* I actually passed up the rotisserie chickens and made us Italian sausage sandwiches with red and yellow peppers and sweet onion. No cheese on the sandwiches, since I put quite a bit on our Caprese-esque salads. I can't "do" the traditional version, since a salad has to have lettuce for me to think of it as salad. I laid our mozz, tomato, and basil down on a bed of chopped Romaine.

 

[caseydog]

I microwave my cut up veggies for 10 min before skewering everything.

10 minutes in the microwave? Is that a typo?

CD

 

[caseydog]

I can't "do" the traditional version, since a salad has to have lettuce for me to think of it as salad. I laid our mozz, tomato, and basil down on a bed of chopped Romaine.

"Presentation" is up to the cook, IMO. Putting a caprese salad on lettuce actually makes good sense. It is probably easier to eat that way -- you can use your fingers, kind of like a lettuce wrap.

Edit: A friend of mine owns a Prime Steakhouse, and his chef puts lettuce with his caprese salad. I photographed his menu, but the picture of that salad is buried in my archives. He also uses a paper-thin slice of red onion on his. Sometimes I do the same, sometimes I don't.

CD

 

[Kayelle]

Caslon, I like your new skewers too but I agree with CD...10 minutes for kabob veggies in a microwave must be a typo? You're talking 10 seconds, right?

 

[Cheryl J]

Agreed. May as well add another post to this... Caslon, now that you have your new skewers and all, give 'kabobs a try without microwaving your veggies first. You might be surprised at how good the crunch of the veggies are with that char.

Here's a file photo I had from a year or so ago. I pulled a chunk of steak off and cut into it before I scraped the rest of the skewered goodies onto my plate. Medium rare beef, and charred veggies with a bit of a 'bite' to them, with no pre-microwaving. Yum.

 

[Kayelle]

Cheryl, in your picture your veggies are cut and prepared for the perfect grilled kabobs.
Beautiful job!!

 

[Cheryl J]

Thanks, Kay. Reminds me...I need to 'kabob' again soon. It's been a while.

 

[Caslon]

Caslon, I like your new skewers too but I agree with CD...10 minutes for kabob veggies in a microwave must be a typo? You're talking 10 seconds, right?

If you cut up 3 large bell peppers of different kinds and a large red onion and place that on a plate, that's a lot of veggies.

10 seconds in a microwave wouldn't even phase that amount of cut up peppers and onions.

10 minutes sounds like a lot of time, but it's a big plate full of cut up bell peppers and onion!

Yes, the veggies are a bit cooked and soft when you skewer them, but they grill up so fine. They are charred, slightly crunchy and super flavorful.

You don't have to worry about overcooking the beef cubes in order to fully cook the vegetables.

 

[CWS4322]

We caught it regularly from Lake of the Woods. Very mild, never fishy. Can you get lionfish in Dallas? Another mild non-fishy fish, similar in taste. I think walleye is pretty much a cold water lake fish.

Dawg--walleye is fresh water lobster. My godfather, cousin, my Mom's godson sends it to his daughter in Michigan in a cooler on dry ice. Love walleye, can't get enough of it. I don't' think that lionfish is anything like walleye, but I probably am biased. I am just waiting for the weather to get a bit warmer before I go to LOW.

 

[GotGarlic]

Dawg--walleye is fresh water lobster.

What do you mean by freshwater lobster? It's a fish, not a crustacean.

 

[Andy M.]

What do you mean by freshwater lobster? It's a fish, not a crustacean.

I think she means it's a delicacy.

 

[GotGarlic]

I think she means it's a delicacy.

Ah. Thanks, Andy.

 

[CraigC]

What do you mean by freshwater lobster? It's a fish, not a crustacean.

Have you never heard/read that monkfish is often referred to as "the poor man's lobster"?

 

[GotGarlic]

Have you never heard/read that monkfish is often referred to as "the poor man's lobster"?[emoji2]

Yes. I didn't connect "fresh water lobster" to that.