Rosemary skewers

During a trip to the farmers market this weekend, one of the vendors threw in some dried rosemary sprigs with our purchase, and gave us a cooking tip for using them. Once you take the rosemary needles off, keep the woody stick and use it as a skewer. Brilliant!

A few tips: 

• You'll need sprigs that are at least 10 inches long. The best way to find a skewer-worthy sprig of rosemary is in a home garden where it has been allowed to grow into a bush. If you don't grow it yourself, seek out a neighbor who does. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sparing a few sprigs... I certainly don't!
• If you're using the skewers to grill over an open flame, be sure to use them within 5 days of being cut from the bush. If the sprigs dry out too much, there's a chance they could catch fire!
• The sprig gets thinner from the base to the tip. No need to whittle a point for your skewer. Just use the narrow tip to spear your food once all the needles are removed.
• For lighter food like shrimp, fish or vegetables, the sprig alone will give you a rosemary flavor. If cooking chicken, beef or pork, you may want to include some of the chopped rosemary needles in your marinade. It's a very strong herb, so a little goes a long way!
• If you don't use the needles for your marinade, keep them in a jar with the lid open for a few days until they dry out. Then store for future use (like roasted potatoes!)
• Substitute a rosemary skewer in any existing kabob recipe, using your usual meat, veggies and marinade. Or skewer meats that you're adding to another recipe, like I did with my shrimp tacos below.

I tested it out at the first opportunity on some shrimp tacos. I normally just marinate the shrimp and then sauté them. Instead, tonight I skewered the shrimp with my rosemary twig. Here's my recipe for rosemary skewered shrimp.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. shrimp
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 T. olive oil
1 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 medium-sized corn or flour tortillas
lettuce
avocado
salsa

Instructions

In a shallow dish, combine garlic, oil, lime juice and salt and pepper. Add shrimp and let sit for 10 minutes. Heat a stove-top grill pan to medium heat. Remove needles from two 10-inch rosemary sprigs and skewer 4-5 shrimp per sprig. Add shrimp to grill plate and pour in extra marinade. Cook about 1 minute per side. Remove shrimp from heat and from skewer. Add shrimp, avocado, salsa, lettuce, and any other toppings you desire to your tortilla.

Serves 2 with the addition of some chips, beans or rice on the side.