I realize it’s St. Patricks Day and yes. I’m Scots-Irish (on the Presbyterian side). I just don’t do the St. Patty’s Day thing. I like my beer, Guiness included, although I personally prefer Wexford Irish Cream Ale. I like corn beef & cabbage, which, by the way, isn’t really Irish. Nor is the Reuben sandwich (originating in Omaha, Neb) which many people eat on St. Patty’s Day because it has corn beef. Sheesh! I also don’t run around with a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” T-Shirt on this hallowed day. So, forgive me if this post isn’t about stereotypical Irish nonsense. Instead, we are having remarkable weather in DFW. Yesterday it was 80 F and my pear tree is in full bloom.

How can you not grill when it’s 80 F and beautiful, blue, sunny skies? This is perfect grilling weather! At least I put a little green on the dish to assuage the concerns of my non Irish brethren.

I have repeatedly pointed out we have had a remarkably warm yet unusual winter in DFW. We had only 1 real cold snap and it was very short lived. Yet we had wide temperature swings. You never knew whether to prepare for warm weather or brace for the Northern that never hit. Really odd and it wreaked havoc on my meal planning. 😦 Lately, however, we have been experiencing Spring like weather. In fact, it has the trees fooled if it isn’t Spring. So, this weekend Baby Lady and I diligently worked in the garden. We tilled and weeded and put 3 more yards of fresh soil and compost down. We spread it around and even saved our Swiss Chard plants that are now working on their 5th year with us. Quite a remarkable feat as far as we know. Check it out.

So, when it came time for dinner the best way to celebrate the beginning of Spring, even if it is early, is to fix something on the grill.

Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you realize we don’t eat a lot of red meat. Not that we don’t like it because we do. It’s a diet, kinda health thing but we do eat it. Given the menu selection was a last minute type arrangement (not surprising in the least), we didn’t have much besides some beautiful swordfish we had purchased a few days before and frozen. Not a real problem because you can definitely grill swordfish. I just didn’t feel like swordfish steaks, our veggie choice was limited, I was tired and darn sure didn’t feel like going to the store. So, what do you do? We had bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, grape tomatoes that needed to be used and leftover citrus pesto from the night before. Well, in those instances, you fix ancho season swordfish skewers with those beautiful, fresh veggies. That’s what you do. 🙂

The problem with making fish skewers is the fish cooks considerably faster than the veggies. As a result, you have the option of perfectly cooked fish with raw veggies or overcooked fish with perfectly cooked veggies. We find both of these alternatives completely unacceptable. I want the fish perfectly seasoned and cooked with the veggies also done to perfection. I also don’t believe that this is an either/or proposition. In fact I know it not to be true. You CAN have the best of all worlds, perfectly cooked fish AND perfectly cooked veggies. All you need to do is a little planning and don’t cook the fish and the veggies on the same skewers. Don’t believe me? Then give this a try.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs, swordfish, cubed, 1 inch cubes
• 2/3 Tbsp Ancho rub (recipe found here)
• 16 small tomatoes ( we used 8 red Grape Tomatoes and 8 yellow Sun Sugar Tomatoes)
• 1/2 red onion, cubed, 1 inch cube
• 1/2 green bell pepper, cubed, 1 inch cube
• 4 large Shiitake mushrooms, quartered
• 4 Tbsp good quality olive oil (split)
• 1/2 cup Citrus Peto (recipe found here)
• 1 Meyer lemon, juiced
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh ground white pepper, to taste
• 1.5 cup seasoned white rice

Instruction

Take 1/2 cup of citrus pesto and add the juice from the Meyer lemon.

Shake and set aside until ready to serve.

Place cubed veggies in a bowl and add 2 Tbsp olive oil

Add sea salt

Add pepper

Mix together to coat veggies with oil and seasoning

Assemble veggie skewers

You should have 4 veggie skewers when done

Put the cubed swordfish in a bowl and season with 2 Tbsp olive oil and the ancho chile rub

Mix and assemble swordfish skewers

Take skewers to the grill. Add the veggie skewers to the grill first on medium to medium-low.

Cook the veggies 1 – 2 minutes, then turn them 90 degrees and cook an additional 1 – 2 minutes. Now place the swordfish on the grill.

Cook swordfish for 45 seconds and turn 90 degrees. Keep an eye on the veggies and rotate 90 degrees at 1 – 2 minutes. Continue until the swordfish and veggies are cooked. The place some seasoned rice in a line in the middle of a plate.

Now, put veggies on plate from skewer

Now, add swordfish

Drizzle with lemon thinned pesto

Serve & enjoy