Grilled Steak Kabobs, Mini-Heirloom Pepper Poppers and Carrot Salad

I used to be a vegetarian. I gave up meat in junior high and was an annoying teenager who lectured adults on the behalf of animals everywhere.

Through the years I would occasionally cave-in and eat the flesh of another living being, then back I'd scramble onto my high horse. I always felt a bit superior when I was a vegetarian. I felt like I was doing something right. My diet has always been clean, in that I eat whole foods, whole grains, lots of vegetables, fruit, nuts, etc. But, my ability to remain a vegetarian was fleeting. Maybe a couple of years on and then try as I might...the smell of grilled meat would lure me to the "other side." I swear, when my heart was broken

the only salve was red, bloody beef. And I rarely cooked meat, I'd only eat it elsewhere. That's when I fell into "flexitarian" status. Like Jews who keep Kosher at home, but travel freely on the outside without rules. I'd eat meat every once in while, like a treat, but keep it soy at home. Of course, like many vegetarians, I still ate bacon. Even cooked it in my own kitchen.

When I applied to culinary school I eyed the class called meat fabrication with great interest. Oh boy, I thought, we're going to learn how to fabricate meat, as in making "fake" meat! You know...tofu, tempeh and seitan! Cool! But, um, no. That's not what meat fabrication means. It was a butchering class. Complete with table saws, giant hatchet-like cleavers and boning knives. I got an A, one of the highest in the class, might I add (no kidding Angie and O'Connor), but, twice I had to step out of the room. The first time was when we had to breakdown a rabbit (it looked like one of my cats) and the second was when we were to work in teams to butcher a calf (which looked like my parents Doberman).

After a few deep breaths, I soldiered on. I soon developed a philosophy that if you cook it and eat it , you need to know where it came from. So come the finals, I fabricated the hell out of steaks, Frenched chops, divided roasts, boned a chicken, filleted a fish and sliced my way through whatever else was put in front of me. I cook meat all the time now. With glee. I buy free-range, grass-fed or organic when I can and I hum a little prayer of thanks to the animal sacrificed for my dining pleasure. I have no political aim here. I think being a raw foodist, a vegan or a vegetarian is noble and healthy. But, this is the way Chris and I eat. Sorry if that offends anyone. My man is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. He'd eat salads and fruit for every meal, if that's what I gave him and he'd never say a word. But, he likes his meat and I've come to peace with my indulgence. And the indulgence I served for dinner last night was steak.

In my perfect world I'd have served a nicely marbled T-bone, about an 1 1/2" thick. But, we aren't that extravagant.

Well, Chris isn't. So I bought gorgeously marbled steak chunks, perfect for kabobs. While at the store I saw these adorable mini-heirloom peppers and recalled a grilled popper recipe I'd seen on PBS. I soon found myself in the cheese aisle picking out chevre and bleu and on the way to the register I grabbed a bag of carrots and a pint of those local blackberries. I thought: dinner picnic. But served inside and under a fan!

Here's the menu: steak kabobs, mini-grilled pepper poppers, carrot salad and blackberry-cardamom ice cream. Delighted, I set to marinate the meat in clementines, garlic and mint.

And spent the rest of the day planting flowers in various pots on my patio. At about 4:30 I remembered that I hadn't started the ice cream. I am now placing the freezer bowl of the ice cream maker in my freezer as soon as I clean it.

Now that thing is always at the ready! So I whipped up at batch of a cardamom ice cream base and added the berries as the paddle whirred and the custard threatened to overflow!

I threw together a shredded carrot salad with this awesome Trader Joe's dried fruit mix called "Super Cranberry & Pomegranate Blend," that includes raspberries, cherries and currants and mixed in that delicious organic mayonnaise.

Lastly I mixed the goat and bleu cheeses together with shallots, crushed red pepper and a touch of cream to incorporate.

By the time Chris came home from work I was stuffing the peppers and loading the grill. As I placed his plate in front of him, Chris said, "Wow, this looks good." We happily ate under the fan and after he loaded the dishwasher, retired to watch a movie (Iron Man, which I kinda liked). Our full bellies lasted all night...and we never even touched the ice cream!

Shopping List

2/3 lb kabob meat

4 clementines

4 springs fresh mint

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 C shredded carrots

1/4 C dried fruit mix

1/4-1/2 C mayonnaise (to your taste)

8 small peppers ( I used red, yellow and orange mini bell peppers)

2 T crumbles bleu cheese

2 T softened goat cheese

1 shallot, small dice

1 t crushed red pepper

1 T shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

S/P to taste

1 batch ice cream custard (see Fig Ice Cream post for recipe)

1 T, heaping, blackberry preserves

3/4 pint blackberries

1 T cardamom (or to your taste)

2 bamboo skewers, soaked for at least 20 mins

1 med sheet of foil

Preparation

In zip lock, juice 4 clementines and toss in the rinds. Add crushed garlic cloves, mint (bruise the mint as you drop it in, to release oils) and S/P to your taste.

Skewer the meat, add it to the bag and squish around to get the marinade on all side of beef. Place on plate and refrigerate until ready to grill.

Start the ice cream custard. When adding the cardamom, start with about 2 t and taste to adjust. I like mine to have a very strong, almost Chai taste, but you may prefer something more subtle. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and gently add the berries after you turn it on.

You can chop the berries or leave them whole, but depending on the size of your maker, you will have to judge how much to add. Follow the manufacturers instructions, but it should take about 30- 40 mins to form. If you don't have an ice cream maker you can just add all the ingredients to a freezer safe container and stir every 1/2 hour until set.

In a mixing bowl add your shredded carrots, mayonnaise, dried fruit and salt to taste. Mix to combine. You can add a squeeze of lime juice if you like a creamy tart salad (which I do!).

In a small bowl mix the goat and bleu cheeses with shallots and red pepper. This doesn't need much more salt, because of the

blue. But taste to adjust and add a splash of cream if you need to loosen to combine. Now take the top off of each pepper, leaving about a 1/4 inch rim on the top. Scrape out the seeds and ribs of the peppers. Keep about a t of the cheese mixture aside and stuff the peppers with the rest. Mix the shredded cheddar with the remaining soft cheese mix and use this to "glue" the pepper tops back onto the peppers.

Light the grill on high for at least 5 mins. You should take a wad of paper towels and saturate with oil. Using your tongs, oil the grill grate. Place the foil on the upper grate. This is for the peppers. As the peppers blacken and the cheese melts, they are going to get very soft and oozy.

You'll need the foil to help corral your peppers! Line your peppers up in the flames and blacken the skin to your preference. Turn the as soon as they are black enough on one side and move them to the foil as soon as you think they are done. This goes very fast! Now scrape off any cheese left behind and re-oil, if you need to. Place the skewers on the flame. Cook to your desired done-ness (it all depends on your grill, the actual temp of your flame, gas vs charcoal, size of the meat chunks, etc...so you'll have to play with this if you aren't already a grill master).

Chris likes med-rare, but I love my beef rare. So we usually have it rare. At the last moments on the fire I pour the remaining marinade over the meat...almost like a sauce!

Let the meat rest about 3-5 mins before you eat. Plate with the peppers and salad and I recommend sweet ice tea with this meal. Enjoy.