Independence Day BBQ

Today I met my beautiful blacked haired little niece for the first time, a little pink bundle with intense dark eyes. This is a double celebration for us, Israel’s 61st Independence Day with blue and white flags decorating every house in town, and a pastel pink celebration of a tiny new baby, so absolutely perfect and so rare after a decade of blues. She is like a regal princess next to my wild, running, climbing and yelling boys. What a beautiful sun shiny day, of pink and blue memories.
I do believe that happiness is contagious; it can be epidemic if such a beautiful child is born. I am sure of it because I was feeling in a rut from having a sniffling sneezy, coughing cold all week and once the happy new family walked in I was basked in their glow, really. So in our little yard, under the blooming olive tree with tiny petals falling into our plates we had our BBQ.
I roasted peppers, tomatoes and eggplants to make refreshing colorful salads to accompany the grilled meats of kebabs, chicken and steaks.

Kebabs

The ground meat should contain about 20% fat otherwise the kebabs will be too dry. I add an additional few tablespoons of lamb fat for extra juiciness (I store the fat in the freezer). Lamb is not always available so I usually use beef.

500 grams ground beef (ground meat from chuck or neck)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tablespoons lamb fat
1 flat teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sumac

Combine all the ingredients together and mix well with your hands. Form finger length kebabs, tapered at each end. You can also form the kebabs on skewers, pressing the mixer firmly to keep it from falling apart. You can either grill the kebabs or broil them for 20 minutes, turning them once during cooking. The inside of the kebab should not be pink. Serve with tehina sauce.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Salad
Salata Meshweya

In 1535 The Spanish, fresh from their latest expeditions to Mexico and Guatemala, ousted the Ottomans and introduced Tunisia to the chili pepper. The Tunisian took an affinity for this little fruit and added them to a prolific number of dishes, resulting in a fiery and lively cuisine. Here is a salad that can be made with either sweet or hot peppers, or a combination of them. My favorite Tunisian neighbor taught me how to make this.

2 sweet red peppers
1 light green pepper
1 tomatoes
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of vinegar
Salt

Roast the peppers and the tomatoes over an open flame or broil in the oven until they are charred all over, rotate them as necessary. The tomatoes will be ready sooner, remove them when the skin begins to char and separate. The peppers will turn black, but this is supposed to happen. Once the peppers and tomatoes are soft, place them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This facilitates the removal of the skin. When the peppers and tomatoes are cool enough to handle remove the skin, preferably near the sink to rinse off the sticky skin. Remove the seeds of the tomatoes and roughly chop them. Chop the peppers and add the tomatoes, garlic, salt and oil. Serve at room temperature.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Peter M April 30, 2009 at 4:40 am: By Independence Day, I assume you mean Israel’s?

Us Greeks also love our roasted peppers…so meaty, healthy and of course, delicious!

Sarah April 30, 2009 at 10:45 am: Peppers are indeed beautiful,tasty and very healthy.

Tim Scullin April 30, 2009 at 7:26 pm: You are making me hungry! And I just ate lunch..