Two meats, one marinade

Happy Easter, everyone!

Later today I am going to my in-laws' house for a huge family dinner. It's going to be awesome! I hope you all have an excellent day as well, whether or not you celebrate Easter, or if you're just enjoying a lovely Sunday.

Easter can be marked by a host of meats, and when I was younger, it was always ham or some kind of pork product. Once I started cooking for myself, I decided I enjoyed the Greek tradition of serving lamb, which fortunately, is allowed for AB's. The other day, I made a pared-down easter (small "e" on purpose) dinner of kebab and jewelled salad, using Mediterranean flavours for the marinade and Middle Eastern flavours for the salad. Since my husband can't eat lamb, I came up with a marinade that also works for chicken, which he ate.

Before making kebab, soak your skewers in water for as long as possible, preferably overnight. I use bamboo skewers and put them in a plastic container with a little water, and just leave them to soak.

Mediterranean Marinade (Remember, it's a marinade, not a sauce - one recipe goes a long long way)

Ingredients

8 cloves garlic, minced
A few glugs of extra virgin olive oil (or about 1/4 c, if you need to be precise)
juice and zest of one lemon
pinch of sea salt
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (lamb)
1 tsp fresh thyme (chicken)

Meat of choice (lamb, cubed; and chicken, cubed)

Directions

I set up my station by opening two large Ziploc bags and folding over the openings so it was easy to pour things in. Mince and juice everything together (by hand or food processor, doesn't matter) and then divide evenly between the two bags, adding the specific herbs as needed (so, rosemary in the lamb bag and thyme in the chicken bag). I didn't feel like cleaning my food processor, so I cut everything by hand and just added to each bag as needed.

Add the appropriate meat to each bag, seal it, give it a good massage, and then let it marinade for a least a few hours, or overnight if you can.

Kebabs

Once I was ready to grill, I threaded the meat onto bamboo skewers, about 4-5 pieces each. Cook each kebab for 20 minutes. On my grill, I heat it up to high and do 5 minutes per side, then rotate.

I have used both metal and bamboo skewers, and I like the bamboo ones better. It's true that the metal ones conduct heat into the meat much better and they are reusable, but I find I have more control with the bamboo ones, so I prefer them.

Need a wine pairing? Both lamb and chicken go well with Pinot Noir in my opinion, so we drank a Wild Goose (BC) 2008 Pinot Noir.