Traditions over an open flame
Grilling köfte kebab is a perfect Father’s Day tradition
Good morning, friends! While my team and I are inside recording a podcast today (which you will hear very soon), I’m thinking about what I’m going to grill this weekend, and especially on Father’s Day. My love of cooking over fire is no secret! There’s a reason why so many cultures around the world love to grill, and why those food traditions have lasted through the ages: they are amazing moments for everyone to stand together around the fire, with a glass of wine (of course) as you smell the smoke in the air, the maillard reaction of the fire kissing the meat, the caramelization of vegetables getting sweeter and even more amazing. It’s a time of anticipation, that moment before the meal begins, when excitement builds about what you’re ready to enjoy. Maybe you have a second glass of wine? Just don’t forget to check on the grill!
Growing up, my family would go to the mountains outside Barcelona on Sundays and invite our friends to join us. My dad would build a fire and set up a big paella pan to feed everyone who came. In these moments, my dad taught me one of the most important lessons of my life: if more people join the party, just throw another handful of rice in the pan. Maybe that’s why I still love roasting a whole lamb or grilling a whole fish. It brings me back to those days, surrounded by family and friends, cooking for anyone who showed up.
Today, to celebrate dads everywhere (and everyone who loves cooking over an open flame!), I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes for the grill, one that comes from the Zaytinya cookbook—köfte kebab—which you might want to cook on Sunday. In the early days at Zaytinya in DC, we would set up a spit and roast a lamb weekly, making the entire neighborhood smell amazing. Today, for special occasions, we sometimes bring back spit-roasting to the restaurant. But if you don’t have the setup for roasting a whole lamb on a spit, these meatball kebabs are an amazing, delicious way to honor that tradition.
Once you try these super juicy kebabs, they’ll be on your grill all summer long. We grind our own meat in the restaurant but that would add a lot of time for a home cook, so feel free to use ground beef. Just make sure to get 80%/20%—the higher fat content tastes better, but anything more than 20 percent fat can catch on fire when it’s grilled. If you don’t have long, wide skewers like the ones we use, try threading the meat with two thin parallel skewers, or just make little sliders…they’ll taste just as good! Grilled tomatoes and pickled peppers are perfect accompaniments to these kebabs. And people, here’s a good tip: to make sure you’ve properly seasoned the meat before grilling, just pinch off a bit of the mixture and cook it in a pan. Taste it and adjust your spices and salt level as you like.
You can find more recipes like this in the cookbook which, if you are looking for a last-minute gift for your dad, is really something they (and you!) can enjoy year round. Happy Father’s Day to you, your family, and all the father figures in your life.
