Burnt Ends! Let the Grilling Begin

I'm not a big brisket fan. Not when it's braised and swimming in liquid anyway, and I realize that it is an almost heretical thing for a Jewish woman to admit. But there it is.

However -- SouthWest style brisket? With barbecue sauce and dark, crusty burnt ends?

Oh yes! Love that. And now that grilling season has arrived (at least here in Connecticut), I can have some!

Briskets were on sale recently at Fairway supermarket, so I bought a whole, gigantic piece and cooked it with a new recipe for barbecue sauce.

SO good. 

Really.

The instructions on how to cook brisket before grilling it are here.

Here's the recipe for the barbecue sauce. Keep slathering it on the meat. If you make a smaller hunk, you can keep the rest of the sauce in the refrigerator for a few weeks.

Applesauce and Tomato Barbecue Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1-1/2 teaspoons chopped chili pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, chili pepper and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Add the tomato sauce, apple sauce, honey, cider vinegar, soy sauce and chili powder and stir until the ingredients are well blended. Simmer the sauce for 25-30 minutes, or until thickened.

Makes about 2-1/2 cups

Grilled Lamb Kebabs

Lamb Kebabs

'Tis the season to be grilling.

Finally.

After a long, cold, snowy winter that seemed as if it were going to last forever, I didn’t even mind spending over an hour cleaning the grill. Btw, along those lines, let me recommend Greased Lightning, a product that is the most amazing cleaner there is (please don’t tell me if it’s toxic, carginogenic or anything else horrendous because this stuff is so wonderful I can’t imagine not using it).

So I’m ready for Memorial Day weekend, when my cousins come, we sit and do nothing at all for three days and eat good warm weather food and grill almost every meal.

Here’s one of our weekend dishes:

Grilled Lamb Kebabs

• 1-1/2 pounds boneless lamb

• 3 tablespoons orange marmalade

• 2 tablespoons apricot jam

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh hot chili pepper

• salt to taste

Place the lamb in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the marmalade, jam, mustard, garlic, ginger, rosemary and chili pepper. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Mix well and spoon over the lamb. Toss the meat in the jam mixture to coat all the pieces. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Preheat an outdoor grill (or oven broiler). Thread the meat pieces onto 4 skewers. Grill for about 8-10 minutes, turning the kebabs occasionally, or until nicely browned. (You can use an oven broiler.)

Makes 4 servings