Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in French, so it really does make sense that all of the recipes you see for the holiday are sugary and fattening. We all want to fat it up before we do things like give up chocolate or buying clothes for Lent, you know, the kind of things God really cares about. As you can tell, I'm not really into the lenten season in a religious way, but marking Mardi Gras is kind of the beginning of the spring season, to me. Depending on the calendar, it means we are at least midway if not more through February, the usually worst weather month in South Carolina (for cold at least...), and it is just a fun excuse to celebrate bright colors and sugary treats at the very least.
Whatever Mardi Gras and Lent means to you, you still cannot subsist on king cake alone. Last time I made kebabs in the fall, I noticed the colors of some vegetables resembled the traditional yellow, green, and purple colors associated with Mardi Gras. I made a note of it and went along the holiday season. Now we're here in February, and there are some days where the weather is tolerable for grilling, and we definitely notice that the sun hangs out with us through 6 p.m. again! That alone is worth dusting the grill off.
In this recipe, I say you can use whatever protein you want, but let's discuss the one I chose: the bratwurst style Beyond sausages. I've tried these grilled and pan fried and all I can say is grilling is the only way to go on those things. If you need help choosing a protein, only go with Beyond sausages if you want to eat all of this in one go. They just didn't feel right while chewing them when I reheated a mess of kebabs (off the skewers at this point) in the microwave the next day. I still even wish I had charred the sausage part a bit more for the best flavor, which may have helped with the microwave situation. Have you tried Beyond sausages? Tell me your thoughts on these things.
But you really can put any meat or meat substitute on here you want, just make sure you grill any meats to the appropriate temperature for the right length of time. Where you place the skewers on the grill will determine how long they must be on there, for charcoal grills at least. We are a charcoal grill home, by Patrick's decree, and he's the one who heats the grill up for me so if that's what he wants, I'm happy to oblige. It results in my food tasting delicious so no arguments here!
Grilled Cajun Kebabs
Equipment
- kebab skewers or a grill basket
Ingredients
- 3 yellow squash
- 2 green peppers
- ½ red onion
- 1 cup protein of choice (Beyond Sausage, regular sausage, steak cubes, tofu cubes, chunks of chicken)
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tbsp fresh)
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (more to taste)
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare your grill. If charcoal, do this sooner than later. If gas, you can wait til you have the kebabs prepared.
- Put the salt, oregano, peppers, garlic and onion powders together in a small ramekin and stir to mix. Set aside.
- Dice the vegetables and protein into even sized pieces. Toss them all in a large container with a tight fitting lid.
- Pour the oil into the container, put the lid on, and shake to coat.
- Open the lid and sprinkle the seasonings on the vegetables. Put the lid back on and shake to coat.
- Thread the vegetables and protein on the skewer in any order you like.
- Grill over semi-direct heat for 15 minutes, turning every 5 minutes.
Even though some of the bright colors of the vegetables are covered by grill char and spices, this is still a cute little nod to the season without eating sanding sugar encrusted everything (like hey, these Mardi Gras beignets that are oh so good and way easier than you'd ever think).
Bust out your beads and get ready for Fat Tuesday (Slim Wednesday definitely not guaranteed without eating a whole lot more vegetable-forward dishes like this).
I think I've linked you to every single Mardi Gras themed recipe I have here on this site so far in the text except for Mardi Gras jello shots, so there ya go. Faire la fête! You can also find more meatless recipes here.