Greek Steak Kebabs

Kebabs are a great way to express yourself in the kitchen. You get to pick your meat, your marinade, and your veggies. They can be made with countless permutations of ingredients and colours. And yet, they are all very similar in the prep and cooking. They are great on the grill, and they are also pretty darn good under a broiler if the weather (or your landlord) isn’t cooperative with grilling endeavors. In this case, we broiled because when I went to go put them on the grill, the flames were out because I ran out of propane…Thwarted!

Today’s variety will focus on Greek marinated steak, but these would be great with chicken too! I highly encourage you to play with different vegetable combinations (eggplant is not included below, but it does make a great addition) and sauces too. Try making a unique take on quintessential Greek side with these kebabs: Spanakopita Rolls.

Time: 20-30 Minutes (plus marination time…at least an hour, but overnight is better)

Ingredients:

• Beef. I am using a bottom round roast steak because it’s easy to cut it into fairly uniform cubes. But as long as your cut can be cut into cubes (or is already cubed when you buy it), you should be good to go.
• Vegetables. I’m using red onion, zucchini, and white mushrooms…I had cherry tomatoes out and ready to be used, but I completely forgot about them!
• Marinade. Either:
  • Store bought Greek dressing
  • OR make your own! Recipe uses this option, but add or remove seasonings as you please.
    • Olive Oil
    • Balsamic Vinegar (roughly equal parts with oil)
    • Paprika
    • Garlic Powder
    • Onion Powder
    • Dill
• Sauce: Simple Tzatziki
  • Plain Yogurt or plain Greek Yogurt
  • Seedless shredded cucumbers (cheese grater or slicer mechanism of your food processor)
  • Dill
  • Any other seasonings you want: Garlic Powder, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice are all good additions

Method:

• Marinate: Place your meat cubes in a zip top bag, and pour in some oil and vinegar (enough to coat, but not drown the meat). Then, add in your seasonings, and squeeze the air out of the bag, and mush everything together. If after mushing around, you realize you haven’t got enough marinade, just add a little more of liquid components. Then, stash the bag in the fridge (in a bowl is a good idea just in case your bag decides to leak.
• Make your sauce (you can either do this ahead of time or just before assembling your kebabs)
  
  • Pour some yogurt into a bowl, and mix in your shredded cucumber and other seasonings
  • Set aside in the fridge
• Assemble your kebabs:
  • Cut your vegetables to roughly the same size as your meat (I’m not bothering to cut the tomatoes or mushrooms since they’re about the right size already. Hooray for low hanging fruit.)
  • Assemble your kebabs on your skewers, rotating between ingredients to get a nice mix of colours and flavours as they cook.
  • Place your kebabs on a heated grill or under your broiler, rotating periodically every few minutes
  • Cook until the meat reaches your desired level of doneness ( with a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees F), and remove from the grill.
  • Let your finished kebabs sit for 3-5 minutes
• Grab your sauce out of the fridge, plate your meal, devour, and enjoy!