Sunday, August 21, 2011

Jamie's Chicken and Zucchini Kebabs and a visit from the Fairy Hobmother!


I have a lot of exciting news to share today.  First I want to tell you that my meat and potatoes loving husband, who rarely likes green vegetables, is now a lover of zucchini!  This is exciting stuff for me because when I first met him the only veggies he would eat were corn, peas, green beans, and potatoes.  Now he eats lettuce, onions, and zucchini too! About a week ago he confessed to really enjoying zucchini and ever since then I've really been shoving it down his throat.  We had broiled zucchini with parmesan, fried zucchini with garlic, zucchini in our eggs, and now we're having zucchini with our chicken kebabs.  Gotta fit those green veggies in when you can!

These chicken kebabs are marinated in a flavorful and spicy seasoning made with cilantro, jalapeno pepper, garlic, spring onions, lemon juice, and some olive oil to create a paste.  Jamie's recipe called for cutting the zucchini into thin strips, blanching it, and spiraling it around the meat on the kebab.  I wasn't up for all that so I just cut the zucchini into cubes and threaded it on with the meat.  This was one of our favorite Jamie recipes so far.  We loved the marinade and will definitely make these again. Delicious!

In other good news, I'm thrilled to say that I was visited by the Fairy Hobmother after leaving a comment on my friend Brenda's site, Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.  The Fairy Hobmother granted me a magical gift to Amazon.com and I was very grateful.  Thank you Fairy Hobmother!!  The good news is...the same can happen to you!  All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and you could have a visit from the Fairy Hobmother too!
 Chicken and Zucchini Kebabs
Adapted from JamieOliver.Com
Makes 6-8 kebabs

1lb 2oz boneless chicken breasts 
 4 zucchini, sliced very thinly lengthways

For the marinade :
1 handful of fresh cilantro
3 cloves of garlic
 6 spring onions
 1 red chili (I used a red jalapeno pepper)
 zest and juice of 1 lemon
 sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
 olive oil 

Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Blanch the zucchini strips in salted boiling water for 30 seconds then drain and allow to cool. Blitz all the marinade ingredients (except the olive oil) in a food processor, then loosen to a paste with a little olive oil. Add the marinade to the chicken pieces and mix well. Allow to sit for up to an hour. Then weave the zucchini strips in between the chicken pieces on the  skewers. Grill for around 5 minutes, turning regularly, until cooked. Feel free to cut a piece open to check if they're done.

Theme: Potluck


21 comments:

  1. don't laugh, but i am going to try this kebab recipe for... my bird (a Moluccan cockatoo, think Beretta except mine is pink). chicken, garlic and zucchini are three of his favorite ingredients.
    - amy marantino
    tigger27_27 at hotmail dot com

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  2. Mmmm...these kabobs sound wonderful! My hubs is a zuke lover, so I'll have to give these a go. Congrats on your visit from the Fairy Hobmother =)

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  3. I want to be visited by the Fairy Hobmother!

    I think it's great that your husband decided that he enjoyed zucchini-that's not easy vegetable to like, if you are not a veggie lover. So, I think his world is going to open up soon. My son is a meat and potatoes kid, I would faint if I could get my son to put veggies in his diet.

    Hope your summer went well.
    Velva

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  4. This looks wonderful and I have everything I need in the kitchen/garden!

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  5. That marinade sounds delicious! Almost like a cilantro-esque pesto...it must make that zucchini taste great!

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  6. These look really yummy. And that's quite a coup, to get your meat-loving hubby excited about veggies. Way to go! :)

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  7. This looks absolutely delicious. I can't believe I never thought of putting zucchini on kebabs before, can't wait to try it! Your pictures are making my mouth water!!

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  8. These kebabs look amazing--they make my mouth water just looking at the picture. I think I could just lick the marinade up off a spoon too. ;-) Great pick and good for you--getting some new veggies into your hubby!

    Congrats on your Fairy Hobmother visit. You deserve it! (I'm still keeping my fingers crossed) ;-)

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  9. Kim, I'm so glad the Fairy Hobmother paid you a visit too!!! :o)

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  10. Kim, That is such good news on all fronts! A husband who loves zucchini and a visit from the Fairy Hobmother- go girl!!

    OK, I need to make a wish – Dear Fairy Hobmother, if you are listening (reading)…I would love for you to visit me so I may purchase a bread machine

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  11. Congrats on the Fairy Hobmother visit! You deserve it!

    These kebabs look really, really good!

    Closing my eyes and wishing on the Fairy Hobmother!

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  12. I am happy for you that your husband now eats zucchini. That does open up world's of creativity. I have never used zucchini as a kabob. What a good idea.

    Also happy for you and your visit from the Fairy Hobmother. Enjoy.

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  13. He loves zucchini - that's fabulous. Beautiful kabobs Kim. Congratulations on the Fairy Hobmother visit. Lucky you.
    Sam

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  14. We should start a special club to unite zucchini lovers! The kebabs look good - love the spicy marinade! Yay! I'm glad the Fairy Hobmother visited you too!

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  15. Love this! Always looking for a delicious recipe for the use of my squash :)

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  16. Congrats on the Amazon gift and being blessed by the "fairy." And double congrats on getting your husband to love zucchini! My husband has no choice (but does well in the greens department). This is a grand summer recipe and I cannot think of a better way to use summer squash!

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  17. congratulations on the gift, i love stuff like that! i'll have to check out the blog.

    i am SOO pinning this, the flavors sound amazing, and it doesn't get much healthier than this. isn't it great that husbands are evolvable. my hubby eats a lot of things that he swore he never would too, and thank goodness!

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  18. How fun! I got visited too from a comment on Brenda's blog.
    Your kabobs look great! I haven't made any yet this summer...I guess I better get busy.

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  19. Delicious! I love kebabs, and this recipe looks really tasty.
    Congrats on the friendly visit!

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  20. Oh yeah, that marinade would definitely work. I've been using a lot of red jalapenos lately and I just picked the last one off our plant yesterday. Was kind of sad.

    I like your version better, too much work for too little return the other way he had it.

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  21. Mmm - those look SO flavorful, I just want to pick one up and eat it right now!!! :)

    Rosie

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