Sausage Kabobs with Basil Dipping Sauce

A complete meal and a house that stays cool. Isn't that what we all want in this heat?
I had some Italian-style chicken sausage and some beautiful new circle kabobs that I'd never used and wanted to try. Blogging wasn't in the plan for this simple dinner but I decided to share some discoveries I made. SPOILER ALERT: The food was tasty, the circle kabobs were downright dangerous!
 
The chicken sausage was good - not the same as traditional pork, but very flavorful and much lighter fare, perfect for hot weather. I served it with a basil dipping sauce that, after countless experimental batches, turned out blog-worthy. I posted it separately, the link is in the recipe.

Now, take another look at those circle kabobs because they're the reason I'm writing today. What a presentation, huh? Worthy of the "Oohs!" and "Ahhs!" when you serve the meal. Well that, dear readers, is where the romance ends! They're sharp, slippery and unwieldy. I broke out a pair of brand new rubber gloves in a failed attempt to get a grip. Nothing short of pre-drilling holes in the food would have made that process easier (or safer). Eventually, the ingredients were impaled on the evil circles and ready for the grill. Which brings me to the next challenge - managing them over a fire. Trying to fit all four on the grill is quite a puzzle and the only way we could do it was to allow the ends to stack on top of each other. In theory that shouldn't be a problem but, in practice, they become entangled and, before you know it, you've got all four linked together over a fire. Turns out that's nowhere near as fun as it sounds! I was thinking about tossing them in the trash but now I think I'll re-purpose them into a wind chime or something I hang from my lilacs to keep the deer away!

Back to the food. Sausage, peppers and onion. In our family these ingredients are the basis for traditional sausage and peppers in tomato sauce (a recipe for a cooler day). The sausage is usually pork, the peppers, green and the onion, yellow. For this Summer-time version I found organic mini peppers and I chose a sweet onion. Since the peppers and onions cook quickly on the grill, you'll want to pre-cook the sausage or use Andouille or another smoked sausage. I cooked the sausage the night before, when it was cooler.

The biggest difference is the tomato sauce -- there is none. Instead, this no-cook basil dipping sauce was a nice compliment to the chicken.  I hope you get some basic bamboo skewers and enjoy it!

Time: 1 hour
Level: Easy
Yield: Serves 4





Ingredients:

4 Italian-style sausage
12 mini peppers, tops off and cleaned
1 large sweet onion chopped into approx 12 pieces

1/2 cup Basil Dipping Sauce (click link for recipe)

Directions:

Cook the sausage, cool, and slice diagonally into 4 slices each.
Clean the peppers and onion. Slice the onion into enough pieces so that you'll get 3 - 4 pieces per kabob. You can use bigger chunks as long as you're using sweet onions (Walla-Wallas are my regional favorite) because a bit of crunch wont over-power the meal. If you use a yellow or white onion, make the slices smaller so  they are cooked throughout.

Alternate the sausage, peppers and onions on each kabob and set aside.

Preheat the grill on medium.

Make the sauce.

When the grill is hot, place the kabobs and check to see if you have to turn down the heat (you don't need to see flames). Turn until vegetables have some color and all ingredients are cooked your liking, about 6-7 minutes per side.

Serve with dipping sauce on the side.