Grilled lamb kofta skewers

As most of you know, we live in Wisconsin, the home of the bratwurst (and cheese of course) however despite my exceptional admiration for their local cuisine, I have to say, I haven't really found a brat our family likes.  Everything is either super thick and fatty or is overpowered by too much flavor I think for us. And the hot dog... well that is no substitute for a sausage.  Except for it's shape it doesn't share anything in common with a sausage. Now to put my bias into perspective, our mystery bags at home aren't always good but I am used to them, we know what to expect and we all loved them. A Bunnings* sausage sizzle is just the greatest thing and I do miss them dearly.  It would have to be the cheapest takeaway there was out in the suburbs on a weekend, so a well timed visit to the store was always a bonus. 

We feel a little stranded here, left being a sausage free household for the most part, so in my attempt to have a fair dinkum (to save you googling it, Aussie slang for 'real' or 'true') sausage, I had to go a little out of the box for the average Wisconsinite.  This dish however may have just solved our problem.... I molded my own meat onto skewers using ground lamb or beef!  The kids enjoyed them and I knew exactly what was in them which made them healthy as well as delicious! Pull the skewer out and there you have it, a sausage!

I used lamb tonight, because I love love love lamb... but if you're more familiar with beef, then that would work equally as well, the flavors would go with either in this dish.  They were really cheap, easy to put together and took only a couple of minutes to cook when we were ready for them.  My girls love cous cous so we had a pile of that on the side with a greek salad and it was perfect for another beautiful summer evening here.  If you prefer, prepare some boiled rice with peas and corn mixed through to balance out your meal.

Makes 10 skewers

Ingredients:
1 lb (500g) ground lamb (or beef)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
extra virgin olive oil
2 tblspn flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tblspn fresh mint, finely chopped
1 tspn ground cumin
1 tspn ground coriander
zest of 1/2 lemon
kosher salt
1/4 tspn cayenne pepper (adults only portions)

10 bamboo skewers (smaller size)

Tzatziki yoghurt dressing:
1 1/2 cups natural greek non fat yoghurt
3 inches cucumber, chopped
2 tblspn fresh mint, chopped
1 tblspn parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and pepper

Method:

• Finely dice the onion and cook in a hot pan with a dash of oil.  Cook until translucent and tender. Set aside to cool
• In a mortar and pestle, mix the crushed garlic and salt together until it makes a rough paste.
• In a large bowl, mix the meat, the cooled onion, garlic paste, herbs, spices and lemon until well combined.  Leave out the cayenne pepper at this stage.
• Take approx 2 tblspn of mixture for each (roughly 50g) and mold around a bamboo skewer. Once I had the girls skewers done, I added a few shakes of cayenne pepper, remixed and went about molding the remaining skewers.
• Refridgerate for at least 30mins, longer if possible, before cooking on the grill.

• To make the tzatziki: place all the ingredients in a mini processor and process until well combined and a good thick dressing forms. 
• When ready to grill, drizzle or brush a little olive oil over the meat and grill on a hot plate for 2-3minutes on each side until cooked.
• Serve with israeli cous cous, a greek salad and tzatziki dressing.

For my American friends:
*Bunnings is the equivalent of Home Depot.  Sausage sizzle = grill out.