"Hurray It's Summer!" Kebabs

It's summer! Woo-hoo!!

Pretty soon, when school's off, it's time for road trips, hikes, beaches and....barbecues! Yey!!
(And oh yes...time for my garage sale, too!)

To officially herald the start of summer I decided to have a barbecue for lunch. For a more festive touch I made Kebabs, using the chicken breasts I marinated originally for Turbo Chicken. On a whim I threw in some Chorizo de Cebu that's been lingering in my freezer. :)

Here's to a great summer. Hope you get things smoking one weekend! :)

CHICKEN KEBABS

What's in It?

1 kg. chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-size cubes
1 pack McCormick Zesty Garlic chicken marinade*
1 med. cucumber, cubed
2 med. bell peppers, cubed
1 large onion, cubed
1 med. can pineapple tidbits
1 small can cut young corn
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon Knorr seasoning (or soy sauce if unavailable)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Marinate chicken in the zesty garlic marinade for at least 20 minutes, following package instructions. (For best results, marinate overnight in the refrigerator.)

Thread chicken cuts onto the skewer alternately with the vegetables and pineapple. (While doing this, have someone start the grill already.) Make sure to save about 1/2 cup of the pineapple juice/syrup.

Combine pineapple juice/syrup, cooking oil and Knorr seasoning.

Grill kebabs on hot grill, turning frequently to avoid scorching (grill about one minute each side), brushing lightly with the pineapple juice-oil mixture. Since chicken cooks quickly and it's best to leave it juicy, keep cooking to about 5 minutes only.

Serve with hot steaming rice. Masarap ya-an! :)

PS:

Kebab is a Turkish term which means "grilled meat," but non-Turkish cooks (like myself) have since turned kebab into a "grilled anything" dish, which means that apart from chicken, you can use firm-bodied fish (like tanigue, tuna, labahita) pork, shrimps or tender beef slices. And as I did, you can also kebab-ize whatever's in your freezer. The Chorizo de Cebu didn't need any marinating by the way. :)

If you want a marinade from scratch, combine pineapple juice (from the tidbits), 2 T sugar, a pinch of black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cloves garlic crushed and minced, and use this instead of the McCormick marinade. (As I said, I've pre-marinated the chicken, for something else.) Then, after you've skewered the meat, combine this marinade with the cooking oil and use it for brushing.