Column: It's once again time for grilling season

While I was thrilled to pull the cover off the pellet grill a few days ago, I was disgusted for completely overlooking cleaning late last fall.

We were in the process of moving, so there was a lot to do, and spending a few minutes tidying up the grill was not high on my list of priorities, although it probably should have been.

Once I spent time making a mess of myself, including my face, the front door, and into the kitchen, I was finally ready to cook outside for the first time since October. I have a few friends who will cook year-round, but I'm not too excited about spritzing ribs when it's -30 below.

Since it was still not what I would call warm outside, I wanted to avoid getting too elaborate by doing something like a brisket flat, but I wanted to do something a step up from burgers or hot dogs.

I decided to open the grilling season with my old, trusted friend, the shish kebab. I will grill quite a few things, but this is one of my absolute favorites, and it is so easy to make.

Sometimes, during the winter, I daydream of sitting outside on a hot summer evening and devouring a couple of skewers worth of meat and vegetables.

About 20 years ago, I was in Moscow in the dead of winter and sat at the bar by the indoor pool with my friend Yuliya and had an hour-long conversation about shish kebabs, which she called "shashlik." I was so hungry by the end of the conversation, but the weather in Russia wasn't ideal for outdoor cooking.

I've tried many variations of a shish kebab over the years and found one that is simple and quick. I once tried it in the oven, and it was okay, but it wasn't the same as cooking it outside. I feel the same way about corn. I've tried cooking frozen corn inside during the winter, but it's not nearly the same as corn on the cob season when I can cook it on the grill.

I used to cook shish kebabs on a charcoal or propane grill but have found that a little bit of smoke and a little lower of a cook does wonders.

I'll always start with sirloin steak. It's a good piece of meat that works perfectly on a kebab. I'm also not on a New York or Ribeye budget, so sirloin is affordable.

I'll start by cutting the sirloin into kebab-sized pieces and marinating it with soy sauce, Worcestershire (which I still have never learned to pronounce), minced garlic, and pepper.

While the meat is taking a bath, I'll go through the process of starting up the pellet grill.

Next is the part where I try not to chop off my fingers as I chop up green peppers, red peppers, onion, and pineapple. The decision I made one day to include pineapple turned out to be a good one, and I cannot cook a shish kebab without that juicy fruit anymore. It is kind of a spectacle to see me try to cut a pineapple, as I end up with far less fruit than I probably should. I need to watch an online tutorial on how to cut a pineapple because it is scary how bad I am at it.

Once I season all the fruit and vegetables, I sometimes add cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, but for the first outdoor cook of 2024, I did not.

I have a set of metal skewers that work wonders. I've tried wood ones that I have soaked, but they just don't do the job.

It probably takes me way too long, but I then assemble the skewers to match and always end up putting way too much food on each one that falls into the grill.

Once the grill is up to about 275, I will put on the shish kebabs for 20 minutes and flip them. Ten minutes later, I will increase the temperature to about 400 to finish them off for a couple of minutes.

Everyone is always happy with the end product of tender meat and enough fruit and vegetables, and I don't feel bad about all the beer I drink during preparation and cooking time.

I'm already thinking of the next time I'm going to cook this delectable dish, and now that the grill is clean, I won't have to worry about getting grease all over my face.

While I was thrilled to pull the cover off the pellet grill a few days ago, I was disgusted for completely overlooking cleaning late last fall.

We were in the process of moving, so there was a lot to do, and spending a few minutes tidying up the grill was not high on my list of priorities, although it probably should have been.

Once I spent time making a mess of myself, including my face, the front door, and into the kitchen, I was finally ready to cook outside for the first time since October. I have a few friends who will cook year-round, but I'm not too excited about spritzing ribs when it's -30 below.

Since it was still not what I would call warm outside, I wanted to avoid getting too elaborate by doing something like a brisket flat, but I wanted to do something a step up from burgers or hot dogs.

I decided to open the grilling season with my old, trusted friend, the shish kebab. I will grill quite a few things, but this is one of my absolute favorites, and it is so easy to make.

Sometimes, during the winter, I daydream of sitting outside on a hot summer evening and devouring a couple of skewers worth of meat and vegetables.

About 20 years ago, I was in Moscow in the dead of winter and sat at the bar by the indoor pool with my friend Yuliya and had an hour-long conversation about shish kebabs, which she called "shashlik." I was so hungry by the end of the conversation, but the weather in Russia wasn't ideal for outdoor cooking.

I've tried many variations of a shish kebab over the years and found one that is simple and quick. I once tried it in the oven, and it was okay, but it wasn't the same as cooking it outside. I feel the same way about corn. I've tried cooking frozen corn inside during the winter, but it's not nearly the same as corn on the cob season when I can cook it on the grill.

I used to cook shish kebabs on a charcoal or propane grill but have found that a little bit of smoke and a little lower of a cook does wonders.

I'll always start with sirloin steak. It's a good piece of meat that works perfectly on a kebab. I'm also not on a New York or Ribeye budget, so sirloin is affordable.

I'll start by cutting the sirloin into kebab-sized pieces and marinating it with soy sauce, Worcestershire (which I still have never learned to pronounce), minced garlic, and pepper.

While the meat is taking a bath, I'll go through the process of starting up the pellet grill.

Next is the part where I try not to chop off my fingers as I chop up green peppers, red peppers, onion, and pineapple. The decision I made one day to include pineapple turned out to be a good one, and I cannot cook a shish kebab without that juicy fruit anymore. It is kind of a spectacle to see me try to cut a pineapple, as I end up with far less fruit than I probably should. I need to watch an online tutorial on how to cut a pineapple because it is scary how bad I am at it.

Once I season all the fruit and vegetables, I sometimes add cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, but for the first outdoor cook of 2024, I did not.

I have a set of metal skewers that work wonders. I've tried wood ones that I have soaked, but they just don't do the job.

It probably takes me way too long, but I then assemble the skewers to match and always end up putting way too much food on each one that falls into the grill.

Once the grill is up to about 275, I will put on the shish kebabs for 20 minutes and flip them. Ten minutes later, I will increase the temperature to about 400 to finish them off for a couple of minutes.

Everyone is always happy with the end product of tender meat and enough fruit and vegetables, and I don't feel bad about all the beer I drink during preparation and cooking time.

I'm already thinking of the next time I'm going to cook this delectable dish, and now that the grill is clean, I won't have to worry about getting grease all over my face.