It's that time of year again! I love summer. I get a break in the
kitchen because my husband starts grilling outdoors and we start having
cookouts on a regular basis. There is nothing better than the taste of
food cooked on the grill. We enjoy the taste from our charcoal grill as
well as our gas grill. Along with the taste, our charcoal grill is
small, perfect when we cook for just the two of us. Our grill is a small
Weber kettle that we've had for years. Using this grill also helps my
husband keep his charcoal grill cooking skills intact.
We have
lots of family get together's in the summer and when we do we can have
up to fifteen or twenty people. That's when our big gas grill gets a
good work out. It's not unusual for us to have five or six big barbecues
a year. My husband and I supply the meat and our friends and family
bring the side dishes. We always grill hot dogs and hamburgers,
especially when we have kids attending. We barbecue chicken, pork,
steaks and sausages. Occasionally we cook lamb. We have a great
selection of marinades that offer lots of different flavors. We have
Caribbean, Indian, Asian and Moroccan flavored marinades. We usually
brine the pork we cook, which helps guarantee that it stays moist.
Needless to say, buying the meat for up to fifteen people can be
expensive, so we ask those that attend to bring a side dish.
We try to keep it as simple as possible while still making sure we don't have too many of the same dishes. We keep a check list and ask for one of the following; a green sala
d, a macaroni salad, a potato salad, a hot
or cold vegetable dish, cole slaw or bbq beans. Then there's the
desserts. We ask for a cake, fruit or ice cream. What we don't do is
tell someone what type of macaroni salad, or what type of potato salad,
or what type of cake, etc. That way we're always surprised. We have some
friends who like to bring dishes that will compliment our meats and
marinades. We have a friend who brings a wonderful soba noodle salad
with peanut sauce, cilantro and spring onions that goes really well with
our Asian marinated chicken. Another friends brings a couscous salad,
full of fresh veggies when we serve Moroccan.
When it's just the two of us enjoying a light summer meal I like to make my favorite shrimp and caper salad recipe from Chef Cat Cora. It's easy to make and flavorful. It's a perfect side dish for a grilled filet mignon. I also like to make a homemade steak sauce called Henry Bain steak sauce. It beats the socks off of any bottled steak sauce. Sometimes when we grill steaks we use Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Steak Magic. When we do, we don't put anything else on the steak as it's full of flavor. This steak seasoning goes well with grilled red potatoes and grilled corn on the cob.
When someone brings a new dish with them we ask that they bring a few copies of the recipe too. This works really well because there is always someone who says "I want the recipe!"
We try to keep it as simple as possible while still making sure we don't have too many of the same dishes. We keep a check list and ask for one of the following; a green sala
When it's just the two of us enjoying a light summer meal I like to make my favorite shrimp and caper salad recipe from Chef Cat Cora. It's easy to make and flavorful. It's a perfect side dish for a grilled filet mignon. I also like to make a homemade steak sauce called Henry Bain steak sauce. It beats the socks off of any bottled steak sauce. Sometimes when we grill steaks we use Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Steak Magic. When we do, we don't put anything else on the steak as it's full of flavor. This steak seasoning goes well with grilled red potatoes and grilled corn on the cob.
When someone brings a new dish with them we ask that they bring a few copies of the recipe too. This works really well because there is always someone who says "I want the recipe!"
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