Andalucían Beef Kebabs

It's dropped to a "cool" 38°C here in Monte Lope Álvarez tonight – good enough reason to fire up the outside kitchen oven and make something with a bit of heat in it, inside and out. These beef kebabs without skewers turned out to be exactly what the night needed.

I had 200g of beef mince and a head full of Adana kebab – the long, spiced Turkish sausage usually moulded onto flat skewers and grilled over charcoal. No skewers here, and no pul biber either, so these became oven baked beef kebabs in their own right: chilli flakes and paprika standing in for the Turkish pepper, fresh mint instead of parsley, and the oven doing the work a grill normally would. Not a copy of the original Turkish style beef kebabs, just inspired by them.

Ingredients (serves 1 hungry person)

• 200g beef mince
• ½ small onion, grated and squeezed dry
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• ½–1 tsp chilli flakes
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• Small handful fresh mint, finely chopped
• Salt, generous pinch

Method

1. Mix the mince with the grated onion, garlic, chilli flakes, paprika, cumin, tomato paste, mint and salt.
2. Knead well until the mixture turns tacky and holds together – this is what keeps the shape without a skewer.
3. Shape into 2–3 thick sausages and place on a lined baking tray.
4. Bake at 200°C (180°C fan) for 20–25 minutes, turning halfway.
5. Skip the grill – a flash of the flame gun once they're out of the oven gets the same char, moving it steadily so nothing scorches before it's properly coloured.

A quick caveat on timings: this oven is small, cheap, and more than a little temperamental – I bought it purely because it claims to hit 230°C and I had visions of proper pizza. The grill element doesn't work at all, which is the real reason the flame gun gets involved rather than just finishing things underneath. Some days the oven runs hot, other days it dawdles, and this was a dawdling day – the 20–25 minutes above turned into a genuine 30 in mine, plus a good 5-minute rest before I went anywhere near it with fire. Treat the timing as a guide, not gospel, and go by colour if you're not sure – that's the nature of beef kebabs without skewers.

Served with a crisp salad and a spoonful of one of my fermented hot sauces – heat on heat, but the cool crunch of the salad keeps it honest. This is now my go-to way to make beef kebabs without skewers when the grill's not an option.

This recipe is part of the Beef & Veal Hub – browse the full collection for more beef and veal recipes.

It also features in my Spanish Recipes collection — regional classics, tapas, seafood, rice dishes and food cooked from Andalucía and the road.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef