Shish Kebabs

Getting back to my Middle East roots with this one! "Shish kebab" literally means "skewered meat". This recipe makes quite a bit, so this recipe would be great for a small dinner party (say 6-9 adults) or cut it in half for a more manageable amount of food. Armenians use a lot of lamb, but if you prefer beef that would work in this recipe just as well, as would skinless chicken thighs. The kebabs are best grilled, and we use an old fashioned Webber Charcoal grill with real charcoal (not briquettes) but whatever kind of grill you have is fine or you could cook them in the oven (I would do it at 400 degrees in the oven).

5 pound lamb roast, fat and silver skin removed, cubed into approx 2" chunks
1 can tomato paste (not the 4oz can the next size up)
1 large white onion sliced
1 head of garlic, skins removed, cloves sliced
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon cumin
black pepper (about 1/2 tablespoon)

1. In a large roasting pan mix the tomato paste with the lemon juice and vinegar to loosen up the tomato paste. Then add onions, garlic, and seasoning - mix again. Add meat and stir it around until it is completely covered in the marinate. Cover and let sit in ice box for at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours.
2. Before grilling, bring meat out of ice box and let come to room temp on the counter (about 20 minutes). While the meat is warming up, work on skewering it on metal skewers (this way they won't burn on the grill). Collect up all the onions and put them in a little homemade tinfoil pan/pouch that can also go on the grill.
3. Cook to desired doneness on grill - medium rare is perfect to me but some prefer it to be more towards medium (well done is sacrilege and should never occur). The fire should be a medium-high heat, and remember to turn the skewers every 5 minutes approx so that you get some charring on each side - USE TONGS the skewers are going to be hot!! :) Leave onions in their makeshift pan on the grill for the whole time the meat is cooking. They will be good and hot and have plenty of flavor from the marinate!

Enjoy!