Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Marinated Chicken Shish Kabobs

So I realize that marinating is not necessarily a quick thing; if you marinate meat overnight the results are wonderful, juicy & tender cuts that may have otherwise been tough as shoe leather. However, if you are marinating a meat that is tender to begin with, you might not want to let it sit in the fridge for two full days - or more like three. Well, I did just that. I planned on making Shish Kabobs on Sunday evening, so I put together a very simple marinade for some boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Marinade
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup white wine (red is good if you will be marinating red meat like beef, venison or buffalo)
1/4 cup grilling spice (or a mix of whatever you like from the spice rack: garlic, salt, pepper, oregano & basil - if you like a Mediterranian flavor. Spice blends make this easy, because you don't have to think about what proportions will do well together. Chili powder, cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper are great spicy additions, but remember that those spices will really heat up your recipe when used in a marinade for longer than a few hours.)
1 cup water

Mix everything together in a Tupperware bowl or another sealable container. A gallon-size freezer ziplock bag will work; if you use one of those, put the bag on a plate in the fridge to marinate - just in case the bag doesn't get sealed properly - not saying the bag would leak otherwise:)

I used an entire 3-lb bag of individually quick-frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts for this recipe. We're really picky at our house about getting all the fat off of the meat prior to cooking, if you are too I would recommend that you remove the "nasty goopy parts" before marinating, and cutting the meat into 2" pieces while still partially frozen. Your hands will get cold, but it will be easier to handle.

For the vegetable, I used two bell peppers (three would've been better), cut into 2" squares, and one 8-oz. package of button mushrooms. If hubby weren't allergic to onions, I would have added wedges of red onion to the mix. If you choose to marinate the veggies as well, toss them in a bag with about 1/2 italian dressing about 15 minutes before assembling the shish kabobs.

Add whatever meat you plan on marinating, and mix so that all pieces are covered. Let that all soak together in the fridge for 2 hours to overnight. I used chicken for these kabobs, and although the meat was practically falling apart when I assembled the skewers, letting it marinate for an extended time frame wasn't so bad. I simply added some mushrooms and green bell peppers (which helped to hold the chicken on the skewers so it didn't fall off and between the grill grates)The results were delicious...

Even if they didn't hit the grill until Wednesday evening!


**Helpful grilling hint: Soak the bamboo skewers in water for about 10 minutes, then stand them up in a cup in the freezer for at least 2 hours before grilling - this will prevent them from burning on the grill. If you do this when you prepare the marinade, they will be ready when you are.

2 comments:

  1. I love kabobs I do them often in the summer, even the winter. I use shrimp, beef, chicken, all are great. Thank you for the skewer trick, I always burn mine to a crisp.

    Anne

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