Grilled Beef Kebabs - Revised

It is a beautiful day here! The temp is about 75 and sunny and there is a deliciously cool lake breeze blowing into my kitchen through the back porch. Aaaah! Life is good! I have decided to make the Grilled Beef Kebabs because it is just so pleasant to be outside today. Plus I really need to use the ground beef. :)
I got this recipe from the Everyday With Rachel Ray magazine.

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GRILLED BEEF KEBABS

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup grated English cucumber, wrung out in a kitchen towel
1 tsp. dill
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt & pepper
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (or ground lamb)
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, plus whole leaves for garnish
1 1/2 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. olive oil
warm pita bread for serving
8 wooden skewers

Soak 8 wooden skewers in water. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, cucumber, dill and half the garlic; season to taste with salt & pepper. Refrigerate.

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. In a medium bowl, combine the beef, remaining garlic, chopped parsley and cumin. Add salt & pepper to taste. Divide the beef mixture into 4 sections. Roll each section into a 6 inch log. Thread each log lengthwise onto two parallel skewers. Wrap your index finger and thumb around the log and squeeze lightly from top to bottom to make 4 indented rings. Rub the beef kebabs with olive oil and grill for 6 to 8 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness. Place each kebab on a warm pita and top with the sauce and parsley leaves.

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I do not have an English cucumber, just a regular one, but I am sure that will be okay. And I am not sure about the 1 1/2 tbsp. of cumin, that is some powerfully smoky stuff. Maybe I will only use half. I have a huge amount of flat-leaf parsley in my garden I can't wait to use. Now I need to go and get my grill started and make that sauce.

Happy eating!

P.S. These were great! I only used 1 tbsp. cumin and that was perfect. I also sprinkled a little chopped red onion in the pita with the sauce, it gave it a nice extra flavor and crunch. My wonderful neighbor gave me a big bag of grape tomatoes from her garden, so I skewered a bunch, slathered them with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them on the grill next to the kebabs. They were the perfect side dish - yum!