Hamburger Kebabs: Retro Recipe Challenge

Laura Rebecca's Kitchen has issue the Retro Recipe Challenge, and I'm always up for a challenge. But first, a reminder that if you're interested in participating in Weekend Herb Blogging, it will be hosted by the lovely Cate of Sweetnicks this weekend. She will be publishing the Recap on Monday, so send your links to Sweetnicksplace AT aol DOT com by midafternoon on Sunday.

Now, back to the Retro Recipe Challenge! The rules say to find a recipe from a cookbook published between 1920 and 1975, make something from the book, photograph it, and post it to your blog. Since I was (Ahem!) already acquiring cookbooks during the latter part of that time period, I didn't have trouble finding a cookbook that old. The one I settled on was How to Eat Better for Less Money by James Beard, published in 1954 and again in 1970. It was a great book when I bought it in college, and it's still a good cookbook, one you can buy it from Amazon.com for less than a dollar now, and I'm betting you'd find some recipes in there that appeal to you.

I can tell from the comments at Laura Rebecca's Kitchen that some folks are going for whimsy with this challenge, but I decided to make something that I would actually enjoy eating. I settled on the recipe for Hamburger Kebabs, James Beard's spelling, which now would probably be spelled kabobs. It looked like it would be similar to Kubideh, something I often order at Cafe Med, one of my favorite restaurants in Salt Lake, and it was. I loved the flavor of this; definitely a great improvement on regular ground beef cooked on the grill. The onion, parsley, and pine nuts gave the kebabs a complex flavor that I found very appealing. I made this for a friend who is kind of a meat and potatoes guy, and he agreed it tasted great.

There was one thing in the original recipe which puzzled me. It called for the kebabs to be "soaked" in French dressing. After reading a little in the book, I realized this meant vinaigrette, not that awful orange stuff that's now called French dressing. Really the only adaptation I made to the recipe was to brush the vinaigrette on and let it sit only a few minutes before cooking, rather than marinate for the hour the recipe called for.

Hamburger Kebabs
Recipe from How to Eat Better for Less Money
By James Beard
(4 servings)

1 pound hamburger
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pine nuts (Recipe says any nuts except peanuts can be used.)
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 egg
1 tsp. salt (I used Vege-sal)
1 tsp pepper (or less, I used coarse ground)
1 tsp. dried oregano
Vinaigrette dressing for basting kebabs
(for South Beach be sure the dressing has less than 2 grams or sugar)

Finely chop onions and parsley and coarsely chop nuts. In large bowl, put hamburger, onion, parsley, nuts, egg, and spices. Using your hands, combine the mixture well. (See note at the end of recipe.)

Preheat grill or broiler to high. Form meat mixture into four cylindrical shaped pieces. If you have double skewers like I used or blade type skewers, thread kebabs onto skewers. I would probably just cook them on the grill without a skewer if you don't have one of these types.

Grill or broil for 15-20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes, until kebabs feel firm and meat is well browned. Serve hot.

(Note from Kalyn: As I was making this, I longed to put the beef mixture into the food processor and grind all the ingredients together as is done in the Middle East for kabobs of this type, but that would be a post 1975 adaptation for sure, so I resisted the urge. Next time I made this, I would definitely use a food processor to get the onion, parsley, and nuts combined with the meat more.)

This recipe is perfect for any phase of the South Beach Diet, especially if you use lean hamburger as I did. I served it with Arugula and Gorgonzola Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan. For phase two or three you could add something like Lake Powell Spicy Rice.

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