Spring BBQ, CookShow&Tell
5 December 2009
When the temperature is threatening to breach the 30ºc barrier on a spring day, there is really is no alternative than to have a BBQ! Rather than battle for space at one of the local parks, we decided to keep it close to home and cooked ourselves a feast in Linda’s backyard, keeping it simple with a smorgasbord of meat, seafood and the occasional dollop of salad.
We’d somehow managed to get the entire es&t team all together on the same day, and along with a few of Linda’s High School friends, we had a full house to feed. With the sun burning down on us we looked at the pile of meat we’d accumulated and somehow doubted we had enough food. We would soon learn that we were indeed wrong and had enough to feed not only us, but also Linda’s siblings!
Howie loves this silly hat of his, but it drove us nuts in the kitchen when it took up more room than he did!
Octopus Marinade
Teresa our local pestcartarian has done has a Fish Markets run for us and come back with bags of Octopus, Sashimi, Prawns and Oysters. We made a quick decision to marinate the octopus before throwing them on the BBQ – don’t expect any recipes as we simply threw together anything we could find in that kitchen!
The marinade is separated into the ‘Chilli’ and ‘Non-Chilli’ as squishies is useless when it comes to anything with a touch of heat in it. In hindsight, the chilli marinade probably could have done with a few more chillis in it, as the heat wasn’t really discernible after cooking.
Prawns are a must at any BBQ! Keeping in theme with the day we just skewer these little babies before cooking them on the grill. Opinion is split 50/50 on the best way to eat them; with half of us tenderly peeling the shells and consuming the flesh, and the other half (myself included) simply munching down on the prawns shell and all. While I love the sight and smell of prawns on the BBQ, I actually hate eating them! I may be in the half that eat the shell, but that’s only because I’m too lazy to peel them once they’ve come off the heat.
Bacon Slabs
I have no idea what cut (or animal!) this meat came from, I suspect pork as I immediately nick named them ‘Bacon Slabs’. The mushrooms are the steroid kind and I have to resist plucking them off the grill early. I’m a committed meat eater, but I’ll admit that my favourite BBQ item would have to be mushrooms. Raw or grilled, I’ll take them either way!
Meat
Does meat expand when it’s cooked? The final platter of meat seemed to hold twice the amount of raw meat that we’d put on the grills, enough to satisfy any carnivore. The lot is topped off with a few skewers of our favourite squeaky Haloumi cheese. The cheese actually triggers off an argument in the group with some not understanding the appeal of having your cheese squeak as you eat it. What’s not to like, I say.
Grilled Octopus
We’ve kept a simple system for the Octopus, all of the non-chilli are in the foil boat with the chilli ones skewered on sticks. They’re a lovely chewy counterpoint to all the meat on the table and the copious amounts of lime juice we’ve incorporated into the marinade give them a zesty tang.
Sashimi
Teresa has become our resident Sashimi queen, stocking us with the standard Salmon & Tuna, but topping it off with extra servings of Kingfish and our new favourite variety, SwordFish which has a fatty almost granular texture. There were also 2 varieties of Oysters on the table which I seem to have missed in my camera foray.
Black Sesame Macaron
It’s almost impossible to mention Linda without mentioning the Macaron now. In a frenzy of midnight baking the night before she’s made up a huge batch of mini Black Sesame Macarons on my request as, shockingly, I’ve never actually tried any of her Macarons until that day. Watching the Macarons rise in the oven and biting into one, I have to acknowledge her Macaron Supremacy. The Macaron’s were left on the benchtop as we cleaned up after the BBQ and by the end of the day, were decimated.
Stuffed to the brink, Squishies, Teresa and I all collapse on the couch to watch some food TV and I’m asleep in moments. I have a vague memory of waking up about 30 minutes later, wandering out back only to see the others out back participating in a frenzied game of badminton. Crazies, the lot of them. I can’t wait for our next BBQ!
Trissa
Simon Food Favourites
Noel || 
Belle@OohLook
billy@ATFT
Simon
chocolatesuze
FFichiban
penny aka jeroxie
Y
What can I say, we’re just awesome like that. 
minh
The prawns and black sesame macarons look so good. Great weather for a BBQ.