belated 4th of July yum yum's

I know that I am a bit late with my 4th of July post....please forgive.

For the cookout on our friends shared patio our feed contribution was chicken, plum, and red onion kebabs. Our booze contribution was, booze.

Chicken, Plum, and Red Onion Kebabs
Adapted from June July 2008 issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray


1 cup vegetable oil (I used less, seemed to be a lot of oil, so I added a bit of water)
2/3 cup apricot jam
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce- lower sodium
3 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, slightly bigger than bite-sized chunks
2-3 pounds of plums, nice chunks
1 large red onion, again nice chunks

- Whisk together the vegetable oil, jam, vinegar and soy sauce. Add the chicken and toss to coat; refrigerate and let every thing hang out for a bit
- Transfer the marinated chicken to a bowl. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan, boil for 2 minutes, then let cool. I you are super nervous about chicken bits; I would toss it and just mix up some more of the sauce. I actually did the boil and everyone was safe and salmonella free, however I was admittedly a bit hesitant…..
- Thread the chicken, plums and onion onto skewers, since these were heading to the outdoor grill we soaked the skewers in water for a bit. Grill the kebabs, turning occasionally and basting frequently with the marinade during the first flip on each side, the just let them go until the chicken is cooked through.

I would definitely make these again, but possibly with nectarines instead. The plums got a touch to mushy on the grill for my liking, others enjoyed them, it was just not my bag. The chicken thighs, while generally an ugly pain in the ass to work with were totally tender and held up on the grill awesome.

Here are all of our little kebab soldiers all lined up.



All in all not too shabby. Stay tuned. There should be some fun eats and a few cakes coming up in short order.