Italian meatball and halloumi cheese kabobs.

No celebration or mediterranean dinner is complete without kabobs, they're a must on any meze table. Todays dinner was just that, full of meze's (appetizers) such as kabobs, pizza, marinera sauce, and focaccia bread. Italian style meze dinner. These kabobs are far from ordinary and packed with Italian flavours. Serve over focaccia bread and drizzle with marinera sauce. Tonights dinner was amazing to say the least. Lets just say that Tyler Florence fabulous focaccia had a wonderful affair with my Italian style kabobs.



Ingredients
1/2 kilo lean ground beef
1 medium egg
1 slice wheat toast
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon tyme
1/2 teaspoon dry sage
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
2 tablespoon marinera sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 pack halloumi cheese cut into 1 inch cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Tyler Florence fabulous foccacia bread recipe, follows.

Directions
Cut your halloumi cheese into 1 inch cubes. In a small bowl toss your the cheese with 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon redpepper flakes and set aside.Toast the slice of bread for 1 minute or just until it hardens up a it but not completely toasted. Add the toast into your food processor with your oregano, sage, and tyme. Pulse for a few seconds or until breadcrumbs are formed. In a nonstick pan over medium low heat saute the onions until they become translucent. Cool for 2 minutes. In a large bowl combine the onions, minced garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, marinera sauce, and mix with a fork to combine. Add the ground meat and mix by hand just until combined (do not overmix). Take a desired amount of meat and evenly shape the mixture into meatball or sausage shapes. Thread the meat on to your skewers alternating each piece of cheese with meat or vise versa. I used 3 pices of cheese to 2 meatballs on each skewer. Preheat your grill until hot (medium high heat) and brush with oil. Grill the kabobs for approximately 10 minutes to 12 minutes or until no longer pink and throughly cooked. Brush the kabobs with the marinade from your cheese and turn to cook evenly about halfway through.

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This foccacia bread is simply amazing, the only thing I did was left out the kalamata olives. The sodium in the halloumi cheese was enough for one day.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons rapid-rising dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups flour
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Cornmeal, for dusting
Toppings:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
10 Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1 tablespoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary


Directions
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, proof the yeast by combining it with the warm water and sugar. Stir gently to dissolve. Let stand 3 minutes until foam appears. Turn mixer on low and slowly add the flour to the bowl. Dissolve salt in 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the mixture. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium. Stop the machine periodically to scrape the dough off the hook. Mix until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold over itself a few times. Form the dough into a round and place in an oiled bowl, turn to coat the entire ball with oil so it doesn't form a skin. Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise over a gas pilot light on the stovetop or other warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Coat a sheet pan with a little olive oil and corn meal. Once the dough is doubled and domed, turn it out onto the counter. Roll and stretch the dough out to an oblong shape about 1/2-inch thick. Lay the flattened dough on the pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, coat a small saute pan with olive oil, add the onion, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes until the onions caramelize. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Uncover the dough and dimple with your fingertips. Brush the surface with more olive oil and then add caramelized onions, garlic, olives, cheese, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Bake on the bottom rack for 15 to 20 minutes.