Pork and Beef Shish Kebabs

Over the last couple of months, I have prepared and perfected a kebab recipe to my liking.  Shish kebab is the Armenian word for "skewer," It is a dish consisting of meat threaded on a skewer and grilled. Any kind of meat may be used; cubes of fruit or vegetables are often threaded on the spit as well. Typical vegetables include tomato, bell pepper, onions, and mushrooms.
In Southern Africa, they are often made using pork, beef, lamb, and chicken. Onion slices, bell pepper, pineapple, and mushrooms are often added to the skewer. I love a mixture of vegetables and meat with something sweet also added. On different occasions have used plum slices, peach slices, and pineapple.

 Photo courtesy Jenn whos photo was better than mine and whose excellent recipe is here
I always cook Shish Kebabs over wood coals, but of course, it can be done over charcoal, gas, or in the oven. Try and just "catch" the caramel sauce so that you get a very slight charring.

The marinade is quite important and there are many variations. Here is a recipe that works really well and I recently prepared for my family visiting from New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

Serves 6 with plenty of left-overs

Ingredients

1kg pork fillet, leg chops, shoulder, or whatever cut is cheap. I used leg chops. Cut into matchbox size chunks.
1 kg of beef rump steak. You can also use ribeye or fillet. Cut into matchbox size chunks.
3 onions cut in half lengthways and separated into flakes. Then spend a bit of time trimming the flakes to roughly round shapes, sort of matchbox size.
1 large bell pepper also cut to round matchbox sizes
20 button mushrooms, stalks removed or trimmed flush
(by the way, keep all the above trimmings in the fridge for a soup, stew, or similar dish)
Pineapple slices cut into suitable matchbox size rounds. I use fresh pineapple if available. Try peach halves if you can get them, either canned or fresh.

marinade ingredients

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato puree concentrate.
half cup good red wine. Cabernet or Pinotage or a Claret
half cup brown sugar or preferably honey.
about 2 tablespoons grated fresh garlic
about 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
3 chilies chopped finely
Pinch of ground cloves.
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary.
2 teaspoons salt.

Method

Mix the marinade ingredients well making sure all the sugar is dissolved. Put the meat cubes into the marinade and then toss them every hour or so for a whole day. (Start this in the morning if you are going to barbeque in the evening)

Starting with meat alternately skewer pork, pineapple, beef, onion, mushroom, pork, pepper, etc. Obviously, this order is entirely up to your taste, but as a general guide, pork is best next to the sweet pineapple or other fruit and beef next to savory onion or pepper.
I then pile all the shish kebabs up on a dish and pour the marinade over them a few times.

Put the marinade into a small saucepan and add a quarter cup of good olive oil. (this will prevent the meat from drying out during cooking) make a roux of one heaped teaspoon of flour mixed with a little water and add stir it into the sauce. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, and reduce to a thick sauce. This what you baste onto the shish kebabs while cooking. If you don't have a basting brush, GET ONE! It is invaluable for so many types of cooking. After trying many I have found a 2-inch pure bristle paintbrush works best.

Next. Get cooking and basting. Turn the skewers once or twice and try and end up slightly burning some tips and edges of the meat for flavor.
 I served these with sweetcorn boiled and tumbled in butter, cracked black pepper, and a teaspoon of lemon zest.

photo credit Emily of food porn

Pork Hock Ragoût with Cabbage

This is a favorite cut of pork for me. It is also one of the cheapest and tastiest pork cuts. The bone and gristle and skin break down during slow cooking to make a rich succulent broth. I call it a  Ragoût because I had some Fench  influence when I was researching it. It also meets my "Health Food" requirements because the Skin and fat is skimmed off before serving, leaving very little fat.
Here you see it half way through cooking...

And here it is for the final 30 minute after removing the fat and adding the cabbage and baby peas...

Ingredients:

1 large pork hock or 2 or three pigs trotters (with hoofy bits removed please!)
1 large carrot peeled and cut into rounds.
2 medium onions chopped coarsely
1 cup fresh or frozen baby peas.
3 cups chopped cabbage.
6 or 7 fresh green curry leaves. (this is a bit of a secret ingredient for a unique flavour and is rather special, however 7 or 8 bay leaves can be used instead)
5 garlic segments chopped
1 heaped tablespoon fresh grated ginger.
1 chopped green chilly. I would use 3 but my wife does not like spicy food.
1 glass sweet or semi sweet wine.
Method:

It very simple really and is a dish that can be left to "Get On With Itself"
Cook the onions in a little oil until lightly browned. Add the Hock, the carrots, and cover with water and the glass of sweet wine. Sprinkle the herbs and garlic on top and arrange the curry leaves so that they are easy to remove during cooking. Now bring to simmer for 3 hours. Let the liquid reduce as much as possible without burning the meat. Half way through remove the curry leaves or leave in longer according to taste. Halfway though is about right though. Let it cool slightly and then break up all the meat. Remove the bones and skin and any floating fat. Leave a few globules floating though because a lot of the aromatic oils found in the herbs are trapped in the fat. Add the chopped cabbage and baby peas and bring back to simmer for a further 30 to 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Carefully turn the vegetables into the meat broth during this final cooking. Season to taste and serve.
I served this last week as a savory relish with Firm Polenta. We call it Sadza or Nshima in our region.

Peri Peri Parcels

Well on the weekend I tried a slight variation on two of my recipes. Peri Peri Chicken and sticky pork ribs.
This makes them super succulent. As usual, slow cooking is the key.
Ingredients are not critical, but try my peri peri chicken recipe.

On two different days I wrapped pork rashers in foil and chicken legs and thighs in foil. The herbs and spices were as always, fresh grated ginger, chopped chillis and chopped garlic. You will see a sprinkling of fresh chopped basil on the pork rashers. It was an interesting flavor, but I am going to try it with Cilantro next time.The pork rashers were covered and tightly sealed with foil. The peri peri chicken, I wrapped completely in foil. Cooking time was about one and a half to two hours at 180 C. Then 20 minutes unwrapped under the grill to brown.

South African Sticky Pork Rashers

This is how they are done in my region. They are often braaied (barbequed) but I am going to outline the oven method because so many of the readers of this blog live in interesting places but have no place to barbeque.
Here in South Africa, the piece of belly pork or skirt below the ribs is often cut into rashers about a cm thick. Any butcher will be able to do this for you. Here we buy them pre-cut from all good supermarkets such as Spar and Pick n' Pay.
A kilo of rashers is enough for 5 fussy eaters (those that strip off the fatty bits and the rinds!!) Rather cook more. They keep well and if you have a family of teenagers they will be gone from the fridge by the next day.

Assemble as many of the following ingredients as possible:
thumb-size piece ginger grated.
4 segments garlic, grated or chopped finely
heaped tablespoon chopped thyme or teaspoon of dried.
Same of basil
half cup of sweet red wine.
Grated zest and squeeze one lemon.
2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar. Honey is the nicest.
2 chopped chili (can be omitted for those who don't like)
Breadcrumbs (optional but you will see why further down)
Method:
mix all the ingredients and marinade the rashers in this mixture. Overnight is best but 2 or 3 hours is also ok.

Sprinkle a layer of breadcrumbs in a large oven baking pan.
Lay the rashers on this and try to fit as many in as you can. Otherwise use a second pan.
Sprinkle a thin layer of breadcrumbs over the rashers.
Now pour what's left of the marinade over the rashers, making sure you wet all the breadcrumbs. If you think you will be short of marinade add a little more wine.
What happens is the breadcrumbs trap the flavors and sauce next to the meat. You will never have dry rashers inside like this.
Now put in a medium to low oven for up to an hour. Baste the rashers every so often. The sauce should reduce until you are left with a sticky residue. Roll the meat in that and serve.

Eisbein...Dads eisbein version with ginger

Here we go. Another cut of meat that is misunderstood, maligned and ignored. No wonder the Germans, Italians and Greek laugh at our pathetic English cookery! We cook all the boring tasting stuff and ignore the best tasting food.
TRY IT!! Just darn well give it a go and you will be amazed.
This is what it looks like............You can also get it smoked and you can treat it in the same way.

Ingredients

1 large Eisbein per 3 servings. This recipe is for 2 eisbeins to serve 6
2 Red onions or white if you cant get.
Half cup sweet rose or white wine.
2 Tblspn grated fresh ginger
2 Tblspn chopped garlic
2 large carrots chopped into chunks.
A dash of balsamic vinegar.
Black pepper. (Plenty if possible but accordinng to your taste)
DO NOT ADD SALT. The curing process uses salt. In fact it is good to soak the eisbein overnight in fresh water before cooking. You can always add salt later.

Method

Stand the eisbeins on end in a heavy pot and brown the meaty bit in a little olive oil. When its nearly browned add the garlic and ginger..
Chuck everything else into the same pot and add water to cover. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours being very careful not to burn the sauce and gelatine as it thickens into a sauce. (The secret is to keep lowering the heat until you get the gravy right). You cant leave this cooking on a stove by itself fror the last hour....you need to BE THERE and watch it like a hawk!! Its worth it I promise.
You should end up with meat falling off the bone.
Serve onto Rice (I prefer Basmati) or serve with baby potatoes cooked in the same pot for the last hour.
Here it is bubbling away......