Chargrilled Chicken Skewers

For that barbeque-in-your-kitchen feeling in the middle of January, give these Chargrilled Chicken Skewers a go. They are tasty enough to have on their own, or you can dress them up with coleslaw and mixed leaves. 

You can let the chicken marinade for a while if you like, but it's really not necessary. I made these tonight and it took me a little more than half an hour from start to finish.

I picked up four good size chicken fillets for about a fiver at O'Sullivans in The English Market today. This 4-fillet recipe serves two low-carbers, but you could probably feed four with it if you wanted a carby side dish.

I'll always serve this with a spoonful of soft cream cheese (like philadelphia) and a dash of spicy sriracha sauce- the one from Marks & Spencer's Modern Asian range is gorgeous.

Ingredients

4 Chicken fillets
3 Bell (capsicum) Peppers -three different colours allow for different flavours & great colour
1 Red Onion
Olive Oil
Schwartz Chargrilled Chicken Seasoning (peppers, garlic, parsley)


Method

Preheat the oven to 200/395 degrees.

1. Dice the chicken into slightly larger than bitesize pieces. Place in a bowl and drizzle with about three tablespoons of olive oil. Stir to ensure the chicken is well covered with oil.

2. Sprinkle over with the seasoning mix, and stir to evenly coat the chicken.

3. Let the chicken sit, and get to work chopping your peppers into large chunks. I've written a post about the best way to chop peppers here.

4. Chop the red onion into large chunks by peeling and halving it. Now half both pieces again

5. Start building up your skewers by alternating the veg and chicken- I like to put the piece of red onion in the centre of each skewer, but that's probably just my OCD. Sitting the skewers across a roasting dish is a pertty handy way to neatly put them on the oven.

6. Leave the skewers in for about 25 minutes, until the chicken has slightly browned and the peppers are soft and juicy.

7. Holding one end of the skewer (with a glove/ towel), use a fork to slide the chicken and veg down onto your plate. 

Serve straight away!

How To Chop Bell (Capsicum) Peppers

While in school, I worked part-time at a deli for almost three years. A large part of the daily chores included chopping large amounts of salad vegetables for the sandwich stand. This had to be done as quickly as possible, and with as little waste as possible.

On my first day I was taught this technique for chopping peppers, and I've used it ever since. It's simple to do, takes a couple of seconds, and you use every part except for the seeds and stalk.

Firstly, chop the top off the pepper, from just where the side turns into the top.

Use your hand to grab onto and scoop out the large lump out of seeds in one go.

If there are the odd couple of seeds left inside, holding the pepper upside down and giving it a quick tap on the bottom will flush them out.

Next, pull the stalk from the top part of the pepper.

Now the top and body of the pepper are seedless and ready to be sliced or diced, and all you have to throw away are the seeds and stalk. 

Give it a try the next time you're chopping peppers and you'll be surprised how much of a difference it makes, and how much more you'll get out of every vegetable.

Feta, Olives & Peppers

One of the biggest challanges in switching to a low-carb diet is dealing with snacking habits.
While it's true that you feel full most of the time, there are times when you sit down to watch some TV and feel like having something to nibble on.

One of my favourite snacks is a mix of feta cheese, black olives and peppers from The Real Olive Company in The English Market. You can get one large scoop for about €3.50, and it goes perfectly with a glass of red wine.