Grilled Steak, Bell Pepper, and Onion Skewers with Avocado Crema Recipe

Bring big flavor to the table on Father’s Day or any cookout throughout the summer with these colorful steak skewers
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Grilled Steak, Bell Pepper, and Onion Skewers with Avocado Crema

PHOTOGRAPHY TERRY BRENNAN, FOOD STYLING LARA MIKLASEVICS

Father’s Day is a great time to have a few folks over for a cookout, whether you’re celebrating the dad figures in your life or honoring the memory of Dad with the family. Of course, it doesn’t have to be the official day on the calendar to do this—you can give thanks anytime this summer, and this grilled meal is the perfect way to do it.

Delight guests with these skewers that bring color, crunch, freshness, lushness, and big flavor to any table. Serve them on a bed of rice or couscous and pass a fresh green salad at the table, suggests cookbook author and culinary instructor Molly Stevens, who created this recipe for Real Food. Keep in mind that after you mix the marinade into the meat, you will want to cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours. The assembled skewers could also be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours before grilling, so you can make these ahead and get a jumpstart on your meal if you wish.

Grilled Steak, Bell Pepper and Onion Skewers with Avocado Crema

Makes 4 to 6 Servings

1½ pounds flank or tri-tip steak, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to drizzle
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika, sweet or hot
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 bell peppers, preferably 1 red and 1 orange or green, cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
Avocado Crema, for serving (Recipe Below)
¼ cup loosely chopped fresh cilantro

  1. Place the meat cubes in a large bowl. Season with the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin, oregano, paprika, salt, and several grinds of black pepper, and stir to combine. With your hands or a spatula, massage the marinade into the meat until it’s evenly distributed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to 4 hours.
  2. Thread the skewers (see Cook’s Notes), alternating beef, peppers, and onions, repeating until all the ingredients are used up. Arrange the skewers on a tray or baking dish, and drizzle with a thin thread of oil (no more than 2 teaspoons) and any marinade remaining in the bowl. The assembled skewers can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours before grilling.
  3. Prepare a medium-hot grill and grill the skewers, turning every few minutes, until the beef is nicely seared on all sides and cooked to your liking, and the vegetables are tender and browned on the edges, about 8 to 12 minutes. Check for doneness by making a small cut into a piece of meat to peek inside. Remove from the grill and let rest in a warm spot or loosely covered with foil for a few minutes.
  4. Drizzle the skewers with about half the Avocado Crema and sprinkle the cilantro over the top. Pass the remaining crema at the table.

Cook’s Notes:
• For this recipe you will need 8 to 12 skewers (if wooden, soak in water for 30 minutes). The number of skewers you will need depends on how long they are. For smaller (6- to 8-inch) ones, figure 3 per person. For larger (10-inches or longer), count 2 per person. While you certainly don’t need to obsess about making all the skewers identical, it can be frustrating to get partway through and realize that you’ve used up all of one ingredient. A neat trick to make tidy skewers is to arrange the meat and vegetables into as many piles as you have skewers before you start threading. This way you don’t run out of any one ingredient by the time you get to the final skewer.
• Interested in a little sweet with the savory? Consider adding pineapple to the skewers. You will need 3 cups of 1-inch pineapple chunks (about ½ pineapple, peeled and cored) for this recipe.

Avocado Crema

1 ripe Haas avocado, pitted and cut into large chunks
½ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons milk, light cream or water, plus more as needed
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

Combine the avocado, sour cream, lime juice, milk (or cream or water), cumin, and salt in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth and creamy. It should be a pourable consistency. If too thick, add a bit more liquid. Taste for salt. The crema may be made up to 2 days ahead and stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Nutrition info Grilled Steak with Avocado Crema (Per Serving): Calories 349 (170 From Fat); Fat 19g (Sat. 6g); Chol 98mg; Sodium 444mg; Carb 11g; Fiber 4g; Protein 35g

 

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Hungry for More Grilling Ideas?

 

Mary Subialka
Mary Subialka is the editor of Real Food and Drinks magazines, covering the flavorful world of food, wine, and spirits. She rarely meets a chicken she doesn’t like, and hopes that her son, who used to eat beets and Indian food as a preschooler, will one day again think of real food as more than something you need to eat before dessert and be inspired by his younger brother, who is now into trying new foods.

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