Dirty Martini Steak Kabobs
McCormick launched its 2011 Flavor Forecast, which lists the top ten food pairings for the year. Earlier, I recapped those ten pairings. Thanks to McCormick, I had the opportunity to test out some of these pairings. First was the pairing of cilantro and nut butter. The next pairing I tried was mustard and vermouth. At first, I ruled out the recipe for these Dirty Martini Steak Kabobs because I had to buy vermouth, which I thought was expensive. However, I decided stop by the liquor store and see how much it was. Since vermouth is a type of wine, I’m looking up and down the wine aisle, hoping the find the word vermouth printed on the bottle. No luck so as I was walking out the door, the guy asked what I was looking for. I told him I needed vermouth for a recipe. Turns out vermouth had its own section next to the gin. Um ok? Plus side a small bottle was around $4, so I went for it.
This recipe is also easy to put together if you prepare ahead of time. First you need to marinade the meat at least two hours, longer for a stronger flavor. I decided to do it the night before work so I could fix it for dinner the next day. To save even more time, you could cube it, but I was tired and left the steak whole. When you’re ready to cook, you boil pearl onions for 5 minutes and then remove the paper. However, when it came time to thread the skewers and alternate with olives, I didn’t realize my olives needed to be pitted. Luckily, I bought a pitter for $3 on clearance when I worked at Target, thinking I was going to do something with cherries that summer (never happened). After they were assembled, I broiled them for 5 minutes. Very delicious and definitely a meal I’m going to make again soon.
Dirty Martini Steak Kabobs
Dirty Martini Steak Kabobs with pearl onion and olives
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons mustard seeds*
- 3/4 cup dry vermouth
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons juice from green olives
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 pounds boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 16 small cippolini onions
- 16 large pimiento-stuffed green olives
Instructions
- Heat a medium skillet on medium heat. Add mustard seed and cook 1 minute or until fragrant. Immediately pour into a bowl to prevent overtoasting. Crush the seeds with a mortar and pestle (alternatively, you can use a rolling pin).
- In a large bowl, mix together the crushed mustard seed, vermouth, oil, lemon juice, honey, olive juice, lemon peel, garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade for brushing. Place remaining marinade in a large resealable plastic bag and add the beef. Refrigerate at 2 hours or up to overnight.
- In a small saucepan, boil some water. Add the onions and cook 5 minutes. Drain well. Cut off the top and bottom ends then peel. Set aside.
- Remove the beef from marinade. Discard remaining marinade. Alternately thread beef, onions and olives onto skewers.
- Broil or grill kabobs for 5-8 minutes or until steak reaches desired doneness, turning occasionally and brushing with reserved marinade.
Notes
*You can skip toasting the seeds and use 2 Tablespoons ground mustard
Source: McCormick
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