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Grilled Kababs with the Durham Home Fries

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I know, it’s been a while since I’ve written a post. This class was given way back in June and I ask your forgiveness for taking so long to put up the wonderful pictures that Casey Boone took for me and the recipes that were generated by the IBM Chef Watson application. Please enjoy them and use your creativity to make them your own.

Kabobs are a great way to let everybody customize their meal and have a little fun trying new foods from our local farms when you get together. They work for kids and adults and allow teens the opportunity to venture out on their own and help with the cooking too! Whether you choose, vegetarian, fish, meat or poultry combinations, understanding size, temperature and the role that marinades and spices can play is critical to pulling off a great grilled kabob. And that’s what we worked on during our class in June.

As the weather turns cool, I’m reminded of my summer class with The Home Fries just as school ended for many of them. The morning started with a slight breeze as we pulled out the charcoal grill at the Durham Farmers’ Market and readied it with hot coals.

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While we waited for the coals to heat we shopped the market for a couple of items including parsley and onions. I’m reminded now of the beautiful celery, cabbage and carrots that were still coming in because farmers had planted late this year due to wet field conditions and a very late frost that killed many of the fruit blooms. There’s been some fall celery at the market lately that I love for fall soups. But in a pinch, those turnip stems you keep throwing out; save them in the freezer, chopped up and use them as a replacement when you run out of celery.

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Then we played ‘follow the leader’ through the community herb and orchard right beside the farmers’ market. Seeds established and maintains this garden for everyone to enjoy and the entire community is welcome to use it. The ‘Garden of Eatin’  sits just behind the covered pavilion where the vendors park and sell each week. It’s easily accessible from the sidewalk or the pavilion with a walking path through the center. There are fruit bushes & dwarf trees and herbs lining both sides with a variety of traditional and unexpected plants, like a goumi berry bush. On our short walk we were able to cut fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano for our recipes but there’s also cilantro and parsley integrated in the garden.

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When we got back to our tents, we talked about the recipes and came up with a production line for cutting all of our ingredients for Pork Sausage & White Turnip Kababs with Pesto and Beef Stew & Summer Veggie Kababs. Some of the kids cut up veggies, and some cut up herbs. I cheated and cut the meat ahead of time so we could keep it refrigerated safely.

The nice thing about both of the recipes, and many kabab combinations, is that you can cook the combinations in a foil package in the oven or in a cast iron pan as a stir fry if the weather is bad, or you don’t have access to a grill. Just remember to cook the meat, fish or poultry to a safe temperature inside the foil package or in the stir fry.

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A simple meat thermometer is inexpensive, battery operated, and very small. In most cases, moisture from the vegetables will keep everything from burning inside a foil package. As a side tip, I like to add a layer of parchment paper inside the foil to help retain then moisture and keep everything from sticking to the aluminum foil.

 

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We were fortunate to have been given the summer squash and zucchini by the folks at Eastern Carolina Organics for our class. ECO is made up of a group of farmers in our area that use organic methods to raise their produce. They sell in bulk to many of our local restaurants which helps local farms sell their bulk crops quickly when there’s more than they can sell at the market Their generosity left us enough budget money to pick up the meat for this class, which was a fun surprise for the kids. In fact, they gave us so many veggies that we were also able to send plenty home with each of the kids and a still have a little leftover to donate to Farmer Foodshare folks.

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With sharp knives in hand, bamboo sticks waiting to be filled and hot coals on the grill, the kids showed me how fast they could whip up perfect size chunks of onion, zucchini, summer squash and tomatoes. Many of the kids were repeat students so they were well versed in how to use a knife and assisted the kids that needed some help.

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We showed them how to spear everything with the wet bamboo sticks without stabbing themselves and put them on the grill. While they were cooking we talked about what flavors might work well together in different seasons. One idea was Goat and Cauliflower where the goat is soaked with cumin, garlic, yogurt and the cauliflower in olive oil with some curry spices and cubes of paneer. Or Lamb and Fig Kababs where the lamb is rubbed with allspice, cinnamon, and olive oil with a little garlic and the figs are fresh from the tree. Serving this with a little drizzle of balsamic olive oil to round out the flavors. Or substituting chicken or firm white fish in the beef recipe that we used with the summer vegetables but using a foil package to keep either from drying out or falling apart on the grill during the cooking process.

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We checked on them occasionally and waited pretty patiently until they were ready!

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And then we ate! My favorite part is seeing them all enjoy what they created and the wonderful face of success. It’s pretty easy to come up with a lot of different combinations by using applications like Pinterest or Instagram or visiting any number of food magazine websites that offer free content.

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For this class I used IBM’s Chef Watson application because it allows me to choose local seasonal ingredients and then it sort of magically comes up with many ideas for recipes. At that point I try to narrow down some combinations that I think the kids will enjoy and that they can easily recreate at home.

The possibilities are really endless and you can change the ingredients even after you select a recipe to match what is available at the market that week. Saving the combinations in your personal recipe box allows you to come back to them or share using the FaceBook link. What I have enjoyed most about using this for class is the ability to challenge myself and students to think about unusual pairings of foods that grow in season together to eat more healthy local food.

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Many thanks to the volunteers at the Durham Farmers’ Market that help pull this class off every summer no matter what the weather serves up! And also to my lovely photographer Casey Boone  who knows how to move around me without me noticing her. All of the photos are hers, so please respect her copyrights and ask permission before you use them. And to Eastern Carolina Organics that supplied us with enough veggies to feed a small army. They supply many of our local restaurants with local organically grown farm food and I would not have been able to teach this class without their support.

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Beef Stew & Summer Veggie Kababs

Ingredients for marinade, sauce and kabobs
1 lb of stew meat (fat trimmed), bite-size pieces
4-6 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper ( 4-blend pepper corns are preferred)
1/2 – 1 teaspoon fine salt (Himalayan preferred)
2-3 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped without stems
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons lebnah (strained yogurt), sour cream or creme fraiche
1-2 teaspoon chopped garlic (or roasted garlic)
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Sweet onions (red or yellow)
4-8 Summer squash, depending on size
4-8 Zucchini, depending on size
1 carton cherry tomatoes

Preparation

To make the meat marinade, combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, coriander, thyme and parsley and add the meat. Marinade for at least 24 hours until the meat absorbs the oil and spices. If the oil is not absorbed well, it will drip into the coals and cause flames in the grill. Some are fine, but not too many!

To make the garlic sauce that accompanies the kabob, mash the garlic into a paste with the salt. Then combine the paste with the lebnah. As an alternative, you could use quark and garlic and add both to the meat marinade and skip the sauce. The acid in the quark will help break down the tissue in the meat. If you choose to substitute chicken or fish in this recipe, you could probably skip the sauce altogether. It might be overpowering for either of those two proteins. If you choose to use lamb or goat in this recipe, then leave the sauce or add to both meats while marinating.

The vegetables should be on the smaller side so that you have a bit of skin holding the flesh together on the zucchini and squash. Cut them just a little larger than bite-size as they will be on the grill as long as the meat. The smaller sized onions should be left in larger chunks so they do not fall off of the skewers as they cook and have layers holding them together.

Soak your bamboo skewers in water for an hour before you start to grill. This will keep them from burning on the grill as flames flare up. Alternate one piece of meat for 3 veggies on your skewer or consider doing all veggies and all meat skewers. If you use this approach, leave a little space between the meat pieces so they cook from all sides evenly.

When your coals are hot, add your skewers, place the lid on the grill and make sure to open the vents so that the coals continue to burn. You can adjust the vents if the coals get too hot, or move them to the side and use an indirect cooking approach. Cook until the meat is to your desired temperature and the veggies are nicely browned. This is where a little thermometer comes in handy. Remove and plate or just eat off of the stick. If you have the ability to make rice or serve with a chilled pasta, it’s wonderful mixed all together.

Pork Sausage & White Turnip Kebabs with Pesto

Ingredients for kababs, sauce and optional items
1 lb of mild Italian Sausage in casings, cut into bite size pieces with the casing
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt
1 – 3 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup sweet onions cut into chunks
12 Hakurei Salad Turnips (small white)

1/2 cup Basil Pesto (or other pesto of your choice) for serving

Optional: Rice or Pasta for Stir Fry or Warm Salad

Preparation

Soak your bamboo skewers in water for an hour before you start to grill. This will keep them from burning on the grill as flames flare up. Alternate one piece of meat for 3 veggies on your skewer or consider doing all veggies and all meat skewers. If you use this approach, leave a little space between the meat pieces so they cook from all sides evenly.

Cut the sausage into bite-size chunks and set aside in a chilled cooler or refrigerator.
Cut the onions into chunks that can be speared on the bamboo stick without falling apart or use larger pieces and separate the layers and use a couple of larger layers instead of several smaller layers. Set aside.
Cut the white turnips in half or quarters so that they are just a bit larger than the sausage pieces.

Toss the turnips in olive oil, salt & pepper. You can adjust the salt & pepper to your taste by tasting a white turnip. They can be eaten raw. The sausage will already have enough salt and other spices in it. If you plan to use this recipe as a stir fry or cook in a covered package you may not need any salt & pepper because the sausage will transfer some spices to the vegetables.

Alternate meat and vegetables on the bamboo stick.
When your coals are hot, add your skewers, place the lid on the grill and make sure to open the vents so that the coals continue to burn. You can adjust the vents if the coals get too hot, or move them to the side and use an indirect cooking approach. Cook over a medium fire until the sausage is cooked through and the onions and turnips are nicely browned. You may get some burning on the onions, but don’t worry about it. This is where a little thermometer comes in handy to check your meat.

Remove the skewers and drizzle the pesto over the entire kabab.

If you have the ability to make rice or serve with pasta, it’s wonderful mixed all together as a warm salad that can be used on a buffet.


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