It’s your turn to cook lunch, I say to my older son every once in a while, when I’m not in mood to take over the hob. Ilya is 10 years old and he tells me he wants to be a chef since he was 4. He cooks a lot. Not only he can fry an egg, but also make pasta, bake some biscuits, mix some delish salads, and compose scrumptious pizzas. It all started with some fried veggies – he cut everything he could find, including cucumbers for example, and just fried everything in a pan. It was horrible to be honest. But I look at him and his dishes now and see what a true passion can do.
So we discussed it and decided that he can have his column in my blog. Ta-dam! We are now presenting the new category “Kids’ turn to cook” where Ilya is sharing simple and easy recipes every kid can make on his own or with little help from adults.
And the first dish he’s made for you is lamb kebab. If you need the reason for this choice – go one post back to the slow roast lamb leg. I give all the reasons there.
Recipe:
(serves 8, prep time 1 hour, cooking time 20 minutes)
For the marinade:
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of whole cumin seeds
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
For the kebabs:
300 g of lamb diced into 1 inch cubes
1 red onion
1 red bell pepper
2 courgettes
For serving:
8 wholemeal pitas
fresh greens
lemon
8 bamboo kebab sticks
Crush the garlic clove into a bowl. Add all the other ingredients for the marinade. Mix well. Add the lamb to the marinade, stir, cover with a lid and put into the fridge for 1 hour or so.
Soak the bamboo sticks in water for 30-40 minutes.
Peel the onion, remove the seeds from bell pepper, cut the ends of courgettes. Cut all the vegetables into 1 inch squares (1,5 inch circles for courgettes).
Heat the oven to 220°C on the grill mode. Push the lamb and vegetables onto the bamboo sticks (be careful with pointed end). Push them close to each other, don’t leave the space between meat and veggies. Make sure all the sticks are filled evenly.
Arrange the sticks over a grill rack or a baking/roasting tray so that the sticks touch the tray sides on both ends but the meat and veggies is hung over the tray.
Put the tray into the over leaving about 10 cm between meat and grill. Cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes carefully turn the kebabs over pour over some of the marinade and return into the oven for 5-7 more minutes until nice and browned.
Enjoy!
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- pinch of dried oregano
- pinch of whole cumin seeds
- 1 clove of garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
- 300 g of lamb diced into 1 inch cubes
- 1 red onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 courgettes
- 8 wholemeal pitas
- fresh greens
- lemon
- 8 bamboo kebab sticks
- Crush the garlic clove into a bowl. Add all the other ingredients for the marinade. Mix well. Add the lamb to the marinade, stir, cover with a lid and put into the fridge for 1 hour or so.
- Soak the bamboo sticks in water for 30-40 minutes.
- Peel the onion, remove the seeds from bell pepper, cut the ends of courgettes. Cut all the vegetables into 1 inch squares (1,5 inch circles for courgettes).
- Heat the oven to 220°C on the grill mode. Push the lamb and vegetables onto the bamboo sticks (be careful with pointed end). Push them close to each other, don't leave the space between meat and veggies. Make sure all the sticks are filled evenly.
- Arrange the sticks over a grill rack or a baking/roasting tray so that the sticks touch the tray sides on both ends but the meat and veggies is hung over the tray.
- Put the tray into the over leaving about 10 cm between meat and grill. Cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes carefully turn the kebabs over pour over some of the marinade and return into the oven for 5-7 more minutes until nice and browned.
