Daring Cooks Another First

Another first for me.  I finally got a chance to participate in the Daring Cooks Challenge.  This month's theme was chosen by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.  The topic of choice was Nut Butters.  Not peanut butter but nut butter.  Our mission if we chose to accept it was to make a nut butter and incorporate the mixture into a savory dish.  I have a natural sweet tooth so I immediately thought of a dessert, but I had to remind myself that I needed to make a savory dish.  I started to rummage through my freezer and I found hazelnuts.  Immediately, I started on the hazelnut butter.  I had the salted-roasted kind so I added a little sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

Hazelnut Butter
2 Cups of Hazelnuts
Sugar to taste

Directions

1. Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor until it because a paste.
2. Add the sugar to taste while the food processor is running.

I'm sure you are wondering what I made with the hazelnut butter.  Well, I stared at my little jar of hazelnut for days until last week, when I just pulled out a random bag of meat from my freezer.  When I got home, I realized I pulled out stew meat.  A little light bulb in my head...kabobs. 

Hazelnut Beef Kabob
1 Lbs of Stew Meat
3 Tbs of Hazelnut Butter (from the recipe above)
2 Tbs of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions

1. Slice the stew meat into small cubes.
2. Mix the meat with the hazelnut butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Let it sit for at least an hour to over night in the refrigerator.
4. Skewer the meat and place on the grill.
5. Cook for about 10-15 minutes depending on how large are the pieces.
6. Serve

When we made it, I was slightly scared how it would taste.  I didn't know if the hazelnut would make the beef taste weird.  I was pleasantly surprised how good it was.  The sugar in the hazelnut gave the meat a nice caramelized crust.  I would totally make this again.