Joy on the table + pleasant taste? Simplicity and originality of preparation at the same time? One word: skewer. Eight letters, the number of the infinite, such as endless it's combinations and the possible recipes for this timeless dish-filling dish that never tires us.

Traditionally of meat, fish and vegetables and cooked in a pan or on the grill, the skewers actually support every kind of food and are increasingly used also for small pieces of raw and fresh food. Sure, in an epic barbecue I can't miss it (we've already given you the tips, including the wise choice of charcoal, lighter basket and thermometer.)

Accuracy and imagination in the composition. Eyes to color, never like on the skewer he wants his part! The taste: a bellsapid and delicate alternation, sweet and strong. There consistency, then: you can alternate softer tidbits with the tougher ones, the fatter ones with drier ones, but, in the case of cooked skewers, keeping in mind the rules we are going to illustrate.

For skewers that will go cooked, fundamental is the size some skewered bits. All are said to be made equal: true, in part. If some ingredients require little or no cooking, they can also be a little bigger, but always balanced. The point is that instead everything is cooked well, the smaller it is, the easier it is it becomes. For a guaranteed cooking: 1cm and a half. Of course, at that point you have to be very vigilant for do not overcook, while if you want to make sure you get meat or fish well cooked outside and damp inside, you will have to venture into larger sizes and trainings in the field to become perfect stokers.

Anyhow, don't press too much the morsels one on top of the other. If you wish to enter elements particularly tough to cook – like corn or potatoes – cook them first. As well as, if you love ingredients from very short cooking – like cheese rather than shrimp, to be alternated with elements from longer cooking – aubergines and peppers, for example – Pre-cook the latter and then compose the skewer. The pre-cooking can be a simple blanched, one passed in the oven or the grill itself, depending on the ingredients.

I spit it in itself it can be wood, metal or bamboo. For meat, better those a square or rectangular section instead of the round ones, on which the cubes of fat tend to rotate. Among the metal ones, better stainless steel. They can also be used sprigs of aromatic herbs like rosemary or oregano: in this case, remove the leaves and soak them for 10 minutes in cold water. If you then cook on the barbecue, they must stay in the water at least half an hour, and this applies to any skewer of wood or bamboo: otherwise they risk burning.

Hot cooking tool and, if it is a grill, watch out for it just embers without a living flame. Used hardwood charcoal good quality and if you want to add an aramatic touch, a little fragrant wood.

marinating: it's always an advantage. The base is good oil, aromatic herbs (or spices) at will and a touch of acid, preferably a citrus fruit. Lemon, of course, but it can also be lime for a more exotic taste. Or for example the very original chinotto. THE'Tavian Antique Oil Mill of Vado Ligure has for example created the winner Chin'Oro simultaneously breaking Taggiasca olives and chinotti of Savona. A real treat!

If then cooking is on the barbecue, you can continue one swabbing during construction. The herbs in the marinade can be put whole for the grill, while if baking in the oven can be a chopped – to be enriched during cooking with one breading.

Recipes and combinations are truly lost in imagination and increasingly daring combinations. Span over the whole meal. Appetizer, like the delicious apricot skewers. Starter, for example those that whet the appetite while being light, to the watermelon. Such as second: of fish, for example with a marinated sword (the recipe goes very well even with a slice of any other fish with hard meat, to choose among the many cheaper and more ecological alternatives). Of meat, of course: what do you say about beef & prunes? Vegetarians: of breaded tofu or almond and mint. Outline, like the funny onions and fruit skewers. And speaking of fruit, and cheese to enrich our meal in beauty: melon and gorgonzola. Only fruit like apples & kiwi, or in a delicious version dessert, with fruit and cubes of bread Spaign.

Finally, don't underestimate the accompanying sauces: self mayonnaise it must be, do it at home! THE do-it-yourself dressing they can be lighter and more delicious mixes, with fresh elements such as mint and yogurt, to accompany raw and cooked, sweet and savory skewers.

Carola Traverso Saibante
July 2019

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE