Skewer Cookery

Skewer cookery can be great fun and delicious, and skewers can be made out of practically any food imaginable. I will always remember the Moroccan brochettes I enjoyed in the market-place at Marrakesh... liver, kidneys and, I think, heart, grilled on thin metal skewers over charcoal and brushed with the hottest pepper sauce imaginable. Mouth-searing outdoor eating at its best. If your palate takes to more delicate flavours, try beef, lamb or pork kebabs: cubes of tender meat, marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and soy sauce, flavoured with finely chopped shallots, garlic or onions, and a bay leaf or two. That is the host’s job: then let guests prepare their own kebabs, alternating cubes of marinated meat with fresh vegetables, a bay leaf or two, and even cubes of bread, brushed with melted butter and finely chopped garlic. This is a perfectly easy formula for a summer party with a difference. And the choice of combinations is legion: serve bowls of small onions, either raw or poached, strips of green or red pepper, cubes of poached potato, mushroom caps, thin wedges of apple or tomato wrapped in bacon, whole small tomatoes, rum-soaked apricots and port-soaked prunes wrapped in bacon, cubes of fat salt pork, small beef or pork burgers and cubes of cooked ham.