Come Cheat With Me

[BooBudolphMeowson]

My friends and I do Come Dine With Me, in a little group of 5. In spite of having pretty good food, the "party" bit hasn't quite been up to scratch and I haven't won yet. We've made it a bit easier this time so we don't have to think a whole menu up - it has starting points to work on.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time but the starter of "Skewers" has made me a little stuck. Anyone any ideas? I have a baby now and have to admit I can't devote as much brainpower as I once did. Really don't mind if I don't win again, but I do want to make a nice effort.

I vaguely recall when I was at a wedding years ago I had beef and mango skewers, was one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. I wonder if they were chargrilled? Not sure if that on it's own would be good, should I make a mango salsa to go with it maybe? With a bit of lettuce?

Or does anyone have any other good skewer ideas?

And not that I'm totally cheating, but I'm a bit stuck for the "curry" main too!

You are so cheating!

OK so skewers - tricky because small bits of meat/veg grilled isn't hugely tasty. So you either have to marinade like fury, or as with the beef and mango idea, go with something unusual wrt texture/combinations. I think the mango and beef sounds good but I'd be tempted to sear the beef in a pan then put it on the skewer to serve at room temp - I think you'd want it really rare?

Or you could do similar with tiny cubes of peppered tuna - ooh that would be good. Or maybe bigger cubes that you then slice to show the colour of the fish - again you'd want that super rare. Then serve with pickled ginger and wasabi, like sushi?

Or one big, perfect prawn skewered twice so it curls out, grilled then drowned in garlic butter.

All that said, I'd probably do a hedgehog: cocktail sticks with pineapple and cheese and/or cheese and baby pickled onions stuck into half a grapefruit!

For your 'skewers' I hereby bequeath you my Spicy Chicken Kebab recipe.

Either... 1 tsp each cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds dry roasted in a small frying pan and then ground in a pestle and mortar with some chill flakes and turmeric
Or.... a few teaspoons of a good quality ready-made spice blend
With...
-one clove garlic, peeled and grated
-1cm cube ginger, peeled and finely chopped
-Salt
Stirred into 1 good tablespoon plain yoghurt and the juice of half a lemon

Mix all of the above with some chunky cubed chicken and thread onto skewers before grilling until charred and cooked through.

Ooh these cheats ideas are fab thank you. Wilson, we've pretty much sworn off fish due to a few of us not liking fish or prawns. I have to say I absolutely love the idea of chintzy skewers - I kept thinking like chicken satay but cheese and pineapple and cocktail sausages etc sounds like a good twist!

Cogito that does sound delicious, it's very similar to a chicken "korma" recipe I have (korma in commas because the recipe doesn't have any coconut milk - just more yoghurt)