After a hard day’s work of cleaning the backyard up and readying it for summer, I decided what better way to celebrate than with a good meal cooked over charcoal, enjoyed at my outdoor dining table with a nice glass of red wine (because we still have chilly nights here). I consulted with the hubby on what we should have (because he’d been working hard all day too), and he came up with, “Beef – something like stir fry, where beef’s not the main attraction. Or shrimp.” Hmmm, stir fry on a grill?

Instead, I decided on kebabs, since what he mainly wanted was a big dose of vegetables. Surf and turf would be good, over rice. While perusing the store I saw a huge display of oranges which spurred the idea for a ancho chili and orange marinade.

To get started with this meal, warm up the grill or get your coals started. Then, back in the kitchen, take a beef filet – between 6 and 8 ounces, and cut it into 8 cubes. Place them in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and zest about 1/4 of an orange over the beef. Add a splash of red wine vinegar, one garlic clove minced, and about 1.5 teaspoons of ancho chili powder. Drizzle olive oil over the beef (around 1/4 cup) and mix this altogether gently. Let the beef marinate for at least 30 minutes (which it will do while you prep everything else).

Next up are the shrimp – around 1/2 pound. Your life will be easy if they come from the store already peeled and deveined. If not, you’ll need to do this yourself. Similar to the beef, toss the shrimp in a bowl and season with salt. Add juice from about a quarter of the orange, a squeeze of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of the ancho chili, and about 1/8 cup olive oil. Stir this gently and let marinate for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator (you don’t want to let this go more than 15 to 20 minutes in the marinade).

Now onto the vegetables. I chopped one red and one orange bell pepper into large chunks and tossed them in a bowl with a bit of olive oil and adobo seasoning (see recipe below). I keep this on hand because I love it on fish, but it went really well with the veggies and the flavors here. Then I took one Vidalia onion (though you could use any sweet onion) and sliced it into large chunks.

Now it is time to skewer everything. I started with the vegetables, alternating peppers and chunks of onion (though I retained some of the smaller pieces of onion for the meat skewers). I ended up with 3 skewers of vegetables. Then it was time to pull the shrimp out of the refrigerator. I skewered these with a couple of slices of onion in between, using those smaller reserved pieces so they would cook more quickly. A half pound of shrimp yielded 2 skewers for me. After getting these ready, I started the rice that I wanted to serve the meal with.

Then finally, it was time for the beef. I slid the tender cubes of filet onto the skewer, alternating every piece with a small bit of onion. By this time my coals were nice and hot, and I started the vegetables over the hottest part of the grill. After about 10 minutes of turning those on all sides, I moved them toward the back and added the shrimp and beef (I like my beef rare to medium rare; if you like it cooked more, start with the beef and add the shrimp a few minutes later). The shrimp take about 3 minutes (1 1/2 minutes each side), and the beef took about 4 minutes.

Pull everything off of the grill and serve with the rice that should be just finished cooking. Open a bottle of Grenache and you’ll have the perfect pairing, and the perfect end to your day.

African Adobo Seasoning
from Epicurious.com
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted and ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 1/2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons dried orange peel
1 tablespoon sugar

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Cooking outdoors, Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Wine pairings by Courtney