Ostrich Fillet Kebabs with Nectarine and Rosemary
Ostrich sosaties on the braai; an easy but delicious recipe
Having a braai (or, for non-South Africans, barbecue done authentically, ideally with wood and not briquettes) is a quintessentially South African cooking method.
And if you braai Ostrich meat, you can’t get more South African.
Ostrich meat is a great tasting lean red meat. It is low in fat and high in protein. This is the nutritional values per 100 g of ostrich meat according to Highgate Ostrich Show Farm:
1.1 g fat
0.4 g saturated fat
> 23 g protein
3.2 mg iron
Approximately 377 kJ kilojoules
It is no wonder that my blog post with easy steps to prepare ostrich steak currently gets more hits through Google than any other page on this website. Many people are not confident enough to cook ostrich. And for good reason; when not cooked well, ostrich can be tough and dry.
Cutting an ostrich steak in smaller chunks and braaing on a sosatie stick like a kebab, creates an even higher risk of the meat drying out, so it is important that you follow all the steps as below to still get juicy pieces of meat.
Ingredients to make Ostrich Fillet Kebabs with Nectarine and Rosemary
1 whole ostrich fillet (400g)
20g thyme
20g Rosemary
Smokey Maldon Salt
Freshly Ground, Black Pepper
4 large nectarines
4-5 tbsp of olive oil
How to Prepare the Ostrich Fillet Kebabs
Leave the steak out of the fridge for a few hours so that it is at room temperature when cooking. This is important, as you will otherwise need to leave the meat on the fire for longer, which risks drying it out.
Dry the steak completely using a paper towel, removing all moisture from the outside.
Cut the steak into 8 equal cubes.
Drizzle some olive oil over and cover with half the fresh rosemary and all the thyme leaves.
If you can plan ahead, it is best to marinade the steak overnight in an airtight container)Cut the nectarine into 4 equal quarters
Take 4 metal kebab skewers and thread on an ostrich cube, then a nectarine quarter, then ostrich and finally a nectarine quarter.
Press the remainder of the rosemary between the ostrich steak pieces and nectarine and then compact the pieces together.
Season generously with smoked salt and ground black pepper.
The secret to amazing tasting ostrich meat is to have a very hot fire.
You can also prepare the ostrich fillet kebabs in a hot pan. If using a pan, first preheat your pan without any oil. Once the pan is hot add in a small drizzle of high heat oil and then add the steak.
After cooking the ostrich kebabs on the side for about three minutes, turn them over.
When cooked to medium rare, take the steak off the heat and rest in tinfoil.
You should never cook an ostrich fillet past medium as it will dry out and lose its beautiful flavour and texture.Enjoy! Please tag me on Instagram if you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to see it!
This recipe first appeared on Juicy Delicious SA.
More Braai Recipes
Below the newsletter block, you will find some more braai recipes.
There are a lot of different types of meats you can cook on the braai. How about this Prime Rib Roast with Exotic Mushroom Sauce and Pak Choy? You can also make a Leg of Lamb on the braai or a Lemon & Herb Peri-Peri and Rosemary Deboned Leg of Lamb.
Other than meat, South Africans also love to put seafood on the braai. This braaied snoek recipe with plum jam is a winner.
If you’re looking for a side on the braai, you can either make this pull bread with pesto, mozzarella and Hellmann’s mayonnaise or make traditional braai broodjies (keep an eye out for my secret ingredient). If you have leftover gammon, these gammon braai broodjies are also to die for.
About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).
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