Kabobs with Salsa Verde

Now don't get intimidated with the title of this dish. It's just skewered beef with a green cold sauce! 

Half of this recipe came from my butcher, but I thought it needed more. Be honest, what's a barbecue without bacon?? Nothing, you got that right.
So I added bacon, but I wanted to give the meat more taste too. Therefore I thought why not add a rub to this recipe. A real good herb rub for beef I found on the website of Gary Glen. If there's anyone who knows all about the ins and outs of grilling, it's him (yeah don't be shy Gary!) so make sure to check out his great website! I used his Herb Meat Rub, but left out the fennel, since I'm not fond of it, but if you like it of course you can add it!

Let's start!

Ingredients for the kabobs:
beef tenderloin
cherry tomatoes
1 red or white onion, cut into big pieces
thick pieces of bacon, cut into big pieces

Ingredients for the rub:
1 tablespoon ground black pepper  
1 tablespoon non-iodized salt  
1 tablespoon garlic powder  
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper  
1 teaspoon cumin  
1 teaspoon dried marjoram  
1 teaspoon dried oregano 
1 teaspoon dried thyme  
1 teaspoon coriander

Ingredients for the Salsa Verde:
2 pickles
2 filets of anchovies
1 tablespoon capers
1 cup flat parsley, only the leaves
10 basil leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon french mustard
salt and pepper

- Cut the beef in big chunks and add the rub, let this rest for at least 1 hour.
- Put all the ingredients for the Salsa Verde in a blender and let it mix until you have an almost smooth salsa. Place this in the fridge.
- Preheat your grill.
- Skewer the beef together with the onion parts, tomatoes and bacon.

These kabobs don't need a lot of time on your grill (just a few minutes), just make sure you have a real hot fire!

Can you smell the fabulous flavor??

Serve the kabobs with the Salsa Verde, a butter bean salad and bread (on the picture there's green olive bread and regular white bread).

And if you want some wine with this dish, a Nero d'Avola or a Shiraz paires very well!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and Gary, thank you!!

Nasi Goreng, or, Indonesian Fried Rice

As promised, today I’ll give you the recipe for Indonesian fried rice: Nasi Goreng. Leftover Nasi you can keep in the freezer.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked or steamed rice (the rice has to be cold when you start making the Nasi)

2 thin slices of bacon, finely chopped

2 thin slices of bacon

One half boneless chicken breast, cut into pieces

Peanut oil

2 cups cabbage, shredded coarsely

1 leek, sliced

2 cups bean sprouts

1 teaspoon shrimp paste

½ teaspoon cumin, ground

½ teaspoon turmeric, ground

½ teaspoon coriander, ground

(Instead of these spices you can also use a package spice mix for Nasi Goreng)

1 tablespoon sambal or red chilies

3 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

For the marinade:

Corn flour

2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce

For the omelet:

2 eggs

some black pepper

¼ teaspoon sweet soy sauce

The marinade:

Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes in a mixture of sweet soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of water and some corn flour.

Start with the omelet. Pour some oil in a frying pan and cook until done, let it cool on a plate and cut the omelet into small slices, set aside.

Pour some oil in the wok, and fry the 2 slices of bacon until almost crisp. Remove them, this is just to give the oil an extra bacon taste. Fry the chicken and the chopped bacon for a few minutes.

Add the vegetables and fry for a few minutes.

Now you can add the spices (or mix) and sambal/chilies and sweet soy sauce. Fry this on a high heat for 1 minute.

Add the rice, a little at a time, until well mixed and heated through. Now’s the time you can taste it and maybe add some more sambal, soy or other spices. The last thing you add are the omelet slices.

Serve the Nasi Goreng for example with satay and peanut sauce, a fried egg and shrimp crackers. The vegetables is bok choy, with a sauce of dark soy sauce, some water and sesame oil.

And if you can find this when you’re visiting an Asian market, buy it:

It’s a mixture of peanuts, coconut, potato pieces and dried onions. It's very tasty on the Nasi Goreng, but it’s optional!

Enjoy!

Shigen!

A good dinner always starts with an appetizer, and therefore I´m starting this blog with that too. And not just some average one, nooo, this is really tasty, unusual and stealing the show!

Look at this beauty:

What is it? It´s shrimp, chicken and bacon....all in one!

The genius who came up with this recipe is Tom Porter, you´ll find his recipe here. And while you´re there, don´t forget to check out the rest of his website!

What do you need for these babies? Large raw shrimps, chicken breasts and bacon! First you'll start with cutting the chicken breasts in rather large cubes and let them marinate in the rub for a while. For the chicken rub I used a mixture of Old Bay Seasoning and smoked paprika powder. Clean the shrimps and slice them almost all the way through. Put one piece of chicken in a shrimp, wrap it with bacon and use a toothpick to hold it all together.

In the meantime I soaked some wood chips in water, peach this time. That would give an extra yummy taste to the Shigen!

It´s important to keep the temperature of your smoker or barbecue very low. Tom used a smoker in his recipe, but since I don't have one I had to use the Weber barbecue. It turned out that it's no problem to do this little project with a Weber OTS. When the temperature had reached 240F, I added the wood chips to the coals and the Shigen were ready to be put on the grill!

And this is after about 25 minutes, almost done, and that smell was very promising!

The BBQ sauce I served with the Shigen was a roasted garlic-honey sauce, and I added a little Sriracha, just to give the sauce a bit of heat.

I assume I don´t have to mention that they were all gone very soon....! Try them, with your favorite rub and sauce, it will definitely be a huge success at your next party!!