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Beef and Mushroom Kebabs with Spicy Pepita Sauce

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Makes 4 servings 1x

Time 30 minutes

In How to Cook Everything Fast, recipe directions are separated into “prep” and “cook.” Here, we’ve made that distinction with italics for prep-work and plain text for cooking. This reflects the most efficient order and timing of tasks.

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms
  • 1 pound boneless beef sirloin
  • 4 tablespoons good-quality vegetable oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 cup pepitas (hulled green pumpkin seeds)
  • 1 large or 2 small bunches fresh cilantro
  • 2 limes
  • 1 or 2 canned chipotle chiles with some of their adobo, or more to taste
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Instructions

  1. If you’re using wooden skewers, soak 8 in water.
  2. Turn the broiler to high; put the rack 4 inches from the heat.
  3. Trim the mushrooms, leaving them whole.
    Cut the beef into 1 1/2-inch chunks.
  4. Thread the mushrooms on 3 or 4 skewers and the beef on 3 or 4 separate skewers; the goal is to leave enough space around the pieces to brown them well. Coat with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  5. Put just the mushroom kebabs on a rimmed baking sheet under the broiler and cook, turning as necessary, until they are tender and browned in places, 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. Peel 1 clove garlic and put it in a food processor or blender.
  7. Put the pepitas in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, shaking the skillet frequently, until they brown in spots and you hear them start to pop, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.
  8. Put the beef kebabs on the baking sheet next to the mushrooms and broil, turning the kebabs once or twice, until the mushrooms are browned on all sides and the beef is cooked to your liking; cut into a piece of beef to peek inside after about 5 minutes. When you check, you can remove any mushroom kebabs that are ready and let the others keep cooking until all are done, 2 or 3 minutes more.
  9. Pull about 2 cups sprigs from the cilantro bunch.
    Halve 1 lime; cut the other lime into wedges.
  10. Add the pepitas and the cilantro sprigs to the garlic in the blender or food processor along with 1 or 2 (or more) chipotle chiles and some adobo, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 1/2 cup water, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Squeeze in the juice from the lime. Purée, stopping to scrape down the sides once or twice, until a sauce forms; add more water a tablespoon at a time until the sauce is spoonable. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
  11. When all the kebabs are ready, remove the meat and vegetables if you’d like and serve with the sauce  and lime wedges on the side.

— Recipe from How to Cook Everything Fast

Recipe variations

Beef and Jícama Kebabs with Spicy Pepita Sauce Instead of the mushrooms, peel 1 pound jícama and cut into 1-inch chunks. Working with the tip of the skewer pointing down into each piece (as opposed to holding them in your hand), carefully thread the jicama onto skewers. Thread the beef onto others and proceed with the recipe. The jícama will cook a couple minutes faster than the mushrooms.

Pork and Mushroom Kebabs with Spicy Pepita Sauce Instead of beef, use 1 pound boneless pork loin or sirloin chops. Figure they will take about 5 minutes longer to cook than the beef. Everything else stays the same.

Hearty Bread and Mushroom Kebabs with Spicy Pepita Sauce You’d be amazed how satisfying this vegan meal is. Instead of the beef, cut about 1 pound whole grain bread into 1-inch chunks (crust and all). Thread them on separate skewers from the mushrooms and drizzle with 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil. Broil them as described in Step 5, only watch them closely to make sure the bread doesn’t burn.