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Volume 30

Dinner This Week: Grilled Pork Kebabs

By Keith Dresser Published

This week’s menus include Grilled Pork Kebabs, Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp, and Meatless "Meat" Sauce for dinner in about an hour.

Every week, Executive Food Editor Keith Dresser pairs each main dish with a side to give you a complete, satisfying dinner without the guesswork. Look for the game plan section to learn tips on how to streamline your kitchen work so dinner comes together quicker.

Dinner 1: Grilled Pork Kebabs with Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

Game Plan:

Prep the dressing for the slaw and put in the freezer (step 1). While mixture chills, prep the remaining ingredients for the slaw (step 2) and the kebabs (steps 1 and 2). While the grill heats, toss the slaw and refrigerate it while you grill the pork.

Grilled Pork Kebabs with Barbecue Glaze starts with 1-inch chunks of pork tenderloin that we salt briefly to help retain moisture. We then add cornstarch to a barbecue glaze to help it cling to the meat. Grilling the kebabs briefly over a hot fire creates flavorful char and keeps the meat juicy. We toss the cabbage for our Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw with salt and sugar before microwaving it for one minute. In seconds, the cabbage sheds the same amount of liquid that it would release in 3 hours at room temperature. Cooling down the cabbage is easy: We simply chill the dressing in the freezer and then refrigerate the finished slaw before serving.

Printable Shopping Lists: Grilled Pork Kebabs and Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

Norpro 12-Inch Stainless Steel Skewers

Equipment Review Skewers

We got grilling with six different sets to find the best of the bunch.

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Dinner 2: Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp with Restaurant-Style Rice

Game Plan:

Toss the shrimp with the rice wine and salt. While the shrimp stands, prep the remaining ingredients for the dish. As the oil for the shrimp heats, start cooking the rice. Once the lid is on the rice (step 3), fry the shrimp, monitoring the rice for doneness.

Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp features crunchy fried shell-on shrimp with a spicy, sweet, and savory coating. To keep the shrimp shells crispy and crunchy rather than tough, we use relatively small shrimp (31 to 40 per pound), which have thinner shells than large shrimp, and cook them in small batches in very hot oil. For our Chinese Restaurant-Style Rice, we first rinse the grains to remove some of their surface starch. We then start cooking the rice in boiling water, which provides enough agitation to release the remaining starch, resulting in just the right amount of stickiness.

Printable Shopping Lists: Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp and Restaurant-Style Rice

Equipment Review Spider Skimmers

A bad skimmer can turn even the most patient cook into a basket case.

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Dinner 3: Meatless “Meat” Sauce with Green Leaf and Radicchio Salad

Game Plan:

Prep the ingredients for both recipes. Start cooking the sauce. Once the tomatoes have been added (step 4), bring a pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta. Once the chickpeas have been added to the sauce (step 5), boil the pasta while the sauce simmers for 15 minutes. Toss the salad right before serving.

Meatless “Meat” Sauce with Chickpeas and Mushrooms is a savory, unctuous tomato-meat sauce—without the meat. Cremini mushrooms and tomato paste provide savoriness. Chopped chickpeas add bulk and a meatlike texture. Extra-virgin olive oil, plus classic Italian aromatics—garlic, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes—round out the flavors. Our Green Leaf and Radicchio Salad with Grapefruit and Fennel combines soft, mineral-y green leaf lettuce with bitter, crunchy radicchio. Sweet, peppery grapefruit and grassy fennel both balance the bitterness of the radicchio and add brightness. 

Printable Shopping Lists: Meatless “Meat” Sauce and Green Leaf and Radicchio Salad

View more weeknight dinner ideas below, or check out all of the Dinner This Week menus.

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JC
JOHN C.
16 days

Absolutely the best chicken ever, even the breast meat was moist! It's the only way I'll cook a whole chicken again. Simple, easy, quick, no mess - perfect every time. I've used both stainless steel and cast iron pans. great and easy technique for “roasted” chicken. I will say there were no pan juices, just fat in the skillet. Will add to the recipe rotation. Good for family and company dinners too. I've done this using a rimmed sheet pan instead of a skillet and put veggies and potatoes around the chicken for a one-pan meal. Broccoli gets nicely browned and yummy!

Absolutely the best chicken ever, even the breast meat was moist! It's the only way I'll cook a whole chicken again. Simple, easy, quick, no mess - perfect every time. I've used both stainless steel and cast iron pans. great and easy technique for “roasted” chicken. I will say there were no pan juices, just fat in the skillet. Will add to the recipe rotation. Good for family and company dinners too.

MD
MILES D.
JOHN C.
9 days

Amazed this recipe works out as well as it does. Would not have thought that the amount of time under the broiler would have produced a very juicy and favorable chicken with a very crispy crust. Used my 12" Lodge Cast Iron skillet (which can withstand 1000 degree temps to respond to those who wondered if it would work) and it turned out great. A "make again" as my family rates things. This is a great recipe, and I will definitely make it again. My butcher gladly butterflied the chicken for me, therefore I found it to be a fast and easy prep. I used my cast iron skillet- marvellous!

CM
CHARLES M.
11 days

John, wasn't it just amazing chicken? So much better than your typical oven baked chicken and on par if not better than gas or even charcoal grilled. It gets that smokey charcoal tasted and overnight koshering definitely helps, something I do when time permits. First-time I've pierced a whole chicken minus the times I make jerk chicken on the grill. Yup, the cast iron was not an issue.