Grilled shish kebabs are fun to make and fun to eat

Certain meals are simply fun to prepare and fun to eat. In my opinion, grilled shish kebabs definitely fall into that category. Not only are they perfect for grilling, the end result is a meal that covers everything: meat, vegetables and starch.

The history of shish kebabs can be traced back to the soldiers of Turkey. During wartime, they would fill their swords with game of the region and cook it over an open flame. The Greeks may have been in the shish kebab game early on as well. In my opinion, we have to give the nod to Turkey, as the term “shish kebab” comes from the Turkish words “sis kebab,” meaning “skewer” and “roast meat.” The marinade recipe we use comes from my in-laws. We have used this specific recipe for decades. It’s rich, bright and delicious.

Before getting into the grilling, let me share a pet peeve of mine. When you walk past your favorite meat counter, if there are skewers of shish kebabs, you will probably notice each skewer has meat and vegetables on the same skewer. Why? It looks better. But, does a bell pepper cook in the same amount of time as a chunk of beef? Nope. So, if you want to take your shish kebab game to the next level, separate the meat from the veggies. We used roughly six pounds of chuck roast from the shoulder for this recipe. We fed nine people. So, the recipe below has been cut in half. Let’s get started.

Classic Beef and Vegetable Shish Kebabs

Marinade ingredients:

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper

We cut the beef into fairly large pieces, pieces that you have to cut in half when eating. We mixed the marinade, placed the cubed chuck in a large ziplock bag and poured the marinade in the bag. The air was pushed out, the bag was sealed and then placed in the fridge for 24 hours.

For the vegetables, we used red, yellow and orange peppers, red and yellow onion, small yellow potatoes (boiled until they were roughly 50 percent cooked) chunks of pineapple, mushrooms and fingerling zucchini. The meat was placed on the skewers so the pieces touched, but were not squished onto each other. The pellet smoker was set at 250 degrees and the meat and veggies were “smoked” at that temperature for 45 minutes or so. The veggies and the meat were brushed with the marinade 4 or 5 times. The smoker was turned up to 350 degrees for another 30 minutes. The veggies and meat were pulled when the meat hit 135 degrees internal temperature. We stopped brushing the meat and veggies for the last 15 minutes or so.

The meat was put in one large bowl and the veggies were put in another large bowl. We also had some saffron rice. Perfect meal for people to simply load up their plate and get at it. Give this a try!