Ahhh chicken kebabs. You call em kebobs, we call them kebabs (us British folk). Food on a skewer, what could be simpler! We have a couple of kinds of kebab in England. Something like the picture you see here, but often with veggies on (your standard US kebob I guess), and then you get the kind that is somewhat like a Greek sandwich. Meat is mashed together, jammed onto a pole, and grilled or roasted. This is then thinly sliced, and popped into a pita, normally with some kind of sauce. We call those kebabs too. Funny story to the second kind of kebabs…..You will see kebab shops throughout most UK towns. All they do is kebabs. They have a variety of meats on sticks, which they slice up on demand, and pop into a pita for you. Some mystery sauce is then bunged onto it, and off you trot. The funny thing is that you always see them close to pubs. There is nothing better after a night out then a greasy kebab. OK, there is actually a lot better. Almost any food I can think of. But somehow in the dark of the night after way too many beers, a kebab sounds just perfect. Of course, the kebab store owners have it made. They can pretty much charge what they want… you are drunk, what do you care? The quality of the food can also be terrible. Heck, if you wake up in the morning, being sick and feeling terrible, you are more likely to blame it on the beers than that dodgy meat you scarfed down at 2am. Course, the only thing they do have to deal with is rowdy drunks, demanding badly cooked meat. Hats off to you kebab store owners, you have certainly found a niche market! Some in fact don’t even bother opening until 10pm or later. They know when they make their money!

 Anyhow, these kebabs are a million miles away from those. The cubed chicken is rested in a marinaded for about 15 minutes, before it is skewered and grilled on the BBQ. What is the marinade you ask? Why, it is my favorite to use on BBQ’d chicken! In a pestle and mortar you bash up some sweet smoked Spanish paprika, a little cumin, some coriander seeds, some fennel seeds and some black pepper corns. Grind and grind until all the seeds are nicely ground up. Add some olive oil to make it into a paste. Toss the chicken in it, and bung it into the fridge for a bit. About 20 minutes before grilling, remove from the fridge and let it get to room temperate. These chicken cubes get put onto skewers, and then grilled oven a medium heat. Sweet smoked Spanish paprika is a wonderful spice. The export of it is strictly governed in Spain, and you can see why – it tastes fantastic! Completely nothing like the regular paprika that most of us have used. It lends a wonderfully mellow smoky flavor to a dish. In the Wrightfood cookbook I use it in a vegetable coulis, which is served with some clams, risotto cake and halibut.

The vegetables – peppers, fennel, zucchini and onion are tossed in oil and grilled along side the chicken. I prefer to grill my vegetables separate to the meat (not on the same skewer). When using a strong marinade, the vegetables just end up tasting the same as the chicken. I like to make sure each vegetable’s flavor comes through, and grilling separately insures this.

And finally the salsa verdi. This is something I love to serve with grilled meats and vegetables (even fish too actually, come to think of it). It is a mix of chopped parsley, basil, mint, pickles and capers. These are all chopped together, and mixed with a little dijon mustard. This is then made into a sauce with a good helping of olive oil. It tastes really light and fresh, very herby (obviously).

 So that was dinner. Some great chicken and vegetables, and a fabulous salsa to crown it all.