Grilled Beef Kebabs with Scallions, Cilantro and Mint

Posted by Brette in Food

Let me first say that I read this recipe and could not get over the fact that Martha wanted me to make kebabs out of ground beef. It sounded like a disaster in the making. The Grilled Beef with Scallions, Cilantro, and Mint from the March issue of Martha Stewart Living are certainly not your usual kebabs.

beef-kebab1I started by chopping my scallions and ginger and cooking them. Now, Martha actually wants you to start this recipe by toasting whole peppercorns and whole coriander then grinding them in a spice grinder. Since I don’t have a spice grinder, I just used prepared coriander and a pepper grinder. I guess I’m going to have to buy a spice grinder.

You mix the spices with the ginger and scallions and let it cool. Then you mix in ground beef along with cilantro and mint. I have made several trips to the store but cannot find fresh cilantro or mint in March in Buffalo, so I used dried. You refrigerate this mix for half an hour then attempt to form it into logs on skewers. This wasn’t as hard as I expected. You stick a lemon wedge on the skewer and refrigerate again.

beef-kebab2Now comes the grilling part. This was a little dicey.  I had no problem getting them on the grill. My biggest problem is that my Jenn-Air has hot and cold spots, so some cooked quickly while others did not and I had to kind of rotate things. One small problem was that some of my skewers burned and fell apart! If bare skewer was hanging out over the grill with no meat, it quickly charred and broke in half, leaving me with not a lot to hold on to. I only had one kebab fall apart and partially come off the skewer.

As for taste? These have a very Asian flavor which I liked, but I needed soy sauce. I added that and ate it with some rice and it was delicious. These would be really cute tasty little Asian hors d’oevre meatballs if you just baked them and served with a toothpick and a little dipping sauce. As a meal it was kind of weird, but still tasty.

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5 Responses

  • I love your blog. It makes me so happy to know that there other Martha freaks out there. My friends and family don’t seem to understand!

  • Michelle says:

    wow, these look great! its so cool that you make everything from MSL, I love reading your blog. and if you’re thinking about buying a spice grinder, a coffee grinder will do just find and should cost less than $20.

  • Thanks to both of you. It is nice to feel I am part of a community. I have incredible admiration for Martha and the incredibly talented people who work for her. It’s just little ole me in my kitchen trying to follow instructions and sometimes it doesn’t go as smoothly as it sounds in the mag or on the show for sure!

    I must say I am totally dreading the release of the craft encyclopedia b/c I am so bad at crafts, but really am going to want to try some.

    Yep, gotta get a coffee grinder for spices for sure. Don’t need to Ptouch it though since I don’t drink coffee and would never confuse it with a grinder for coffee beans!!

  • Pru says:

    These kebabs look good will have to give it a try. Did you dip the skewers in water first? That usually stops them from burning.

    Pru

  • Pru – you are right. I should have but I didn’t think of it. Too bad the recipe didn’t suggest it!



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