Summer Dining Continued: Mrs. Young's Shishkabob

Keeping with the same theme of "sometimes simpler is better," this weekend we enjoyed one of our favorite summer dinners: shishkabob. This feast requires a commitment to prep work, but the ingredients are simple and most of the effort is needed the day before your barbeque, freeing up your day-of-event for cooking other dishes, or cleaning, or relaxing.

The Young's have been family friends for ages and Linda traditionally served this dish every Independence Day. She developed the marinade while living in Greece and was kind enough to share the recipe with me several years back. It's another instance where it seems like there should be more involved, because the result is guaranteed to please. The beef kabobs are served with grilled veggies, pita bread and tzatziki sauce. We also usually cook up a bowl of rice pilaf as a side dish.

Since we were entertaining family from out of state that we haven't seen in nearly two years, I wanted to really make this afternoon's meal special. So, I decided to try some shrimp in the same marinade, in addition to the traditional beef. I started marinating the shrimp about three hours before grilling (rather than the 24 hours that I give the beef). The result was outstanding. I will definitely include shrimp again in the future as I am undecided as to which I like better -- the beef or shrimp.

Marinade (for 2 lbs. of beef, cubed)
1 T. minced onion (I find that grating the onion provides great onion flavor throughout the marinade without a bunch of little chunks of onion)
2 T. olive oil

Splash red wine vinegar (see note below)
Juice from 1/2 a lemon (see note below)
2 T. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Note: through the years I’ve strayed from the original and added a splash of red wine vinegar and juice of half a lemon. Both of these allow for a shorter marinade time, if needed, and add good flavor. 

For best results, marinade beef for 24 hours. And, if using wooden skewers, make sure you soak them 30 minutes before use.

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cucumber (chopped and seeded)
1/2 onion, minced (again, I grated the onion and only needed 1/4 onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 c. sour cream or plain, greek yogurt

Combine ingredients and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving to allow flavors to marry. I sometimes add a little fresh parsley since I have it on hand for the marinade.

Cocktail Party Food

Last night we had a great time visiting with old friends and getting to know some new ones. It's nice to feel connected to our neighbors and the parents of our kids' classmates.

Jessica put out quite a spread of delicious food and drinks and many of the guests brought tasty treats. I contributed two appetizers: pepperoni bread and crab empanadas.The pepperoni bread is quite easy to make (especially if you use frozen pizza dough). The empanadas take a little more work, but I found a few shortcuts that made a big difference in preparation time without sacrificing taste or presentation. The biggest shortcut is using frozen puff pastry, rather than making the traditional empanada dough (a combination of flour, salt, butter and water). My other trick is to doctor up jarred salsa in place of a from-scratch mango relish.

Pepperoni Bread
1 package frozen pizza dough, defrosted and risen
1/4 lb. sliced pepperoni
1/4 lb. sliced mozzerella (you can use shredded cheese)
1/4 lb. sliced provolone
2 Tbs. grated pecorino romano
egg wash

Roll out the dough to form a rectangle. Spread half of the pepperoni and cheeses over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Lightly wet the edges and roll up the bread into a loaf shape, folding under the ends to help seal in the cheese. Repeat with second dough. Place onto baking sheet, brush with egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, repeating the egg wash after 15 or 20 minutes.

(forgive me, the poor quality of this photo is because it's from my phone)


Crab Empanadas with Mango Salsa
2 packages frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1 lb. picked lump crab meat
8 oz. goat cheese
big handful chopped Italian parsley
1 tsp. thyme
a few splashes of Tabasco (I used the garlic flavored version)
salt and pepper to taste
Mango Salsa*

Heat olive oil and saute onion and jalepeno over medium heat for about 5 minutes to soften, adding garlic in last minute. Set aside. In mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except salsa) with the onion and pepper mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with one sheet at a time, roll out puff pastry, sealing any tears with water. Using 3-inch cookie cutter, cut circles. (I was able to get 9 circles from each sheet of pastry). Fill each circle with approximately 1 Tbs. of filling. Moisten edge and fold over pastry to form a half-circle, pressing together edges to seal. Place on baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for about 20 minutes, until starting to brown.

Serve with mango salsa.

* I purchased a mango-habanero salsa that was quite spicy. To sweeten it up a little, and play up the tropical flavors of this dish, I added some diced mango.

Note: This makes more filling than needed, even for 4 sheets of puff pastry. For a tasty treat, try tossing the remaining crab mixture with pasta.