Spring BBQ, CookShow&Tell
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!
Author
By Minh
Minh is a food, photography, tv loving girl who on occasion likes to think that she can cook. I can't hold my drink for what its worth and have an unhealthy obsession with green tea products.
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This article was written on 05 Dec 2009, and is filed under cookshowandtell.
Current post is tagged
bbq, cookshowandtell, spring bbq
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The prawns and black sesame macarons look so good. Great weather for a BBQ.
That looks amazing Minh – thanks for sharing. It’s always great to get together for a BBQ – especially now with the weather turning! The grilled octopus looks amazing!
.-= Trissa´s last blog ..Fideos (“Toasted Pasta” Paella) =-.
awesome looking bbq. i think you’ve just given me some great ideas for what i want to do for my next birthday bbq which i’ll test run at xmas time. for the prawns i’d shell them beforehand though and marinate so you don’t have to worry about peeling them. i wanna do the marinated octopus on skewers too. the Haloumi cheese skewers look good too — did they work ok? have never thought of doing that. do you have any great recipes for chicken satay skewers? mine always seem to turn out a bit dry.
.-= Simon Food Favourites´s last blog ..Seahorse: Seafood & Italian Restaurant, Randwick (14 Oct 2009) =-.
sashimi looks awesome!
go the mexican hat, gringo-style
Great idea to have all that seafood – bbq’ed octopus with sweet chilli sauce is always a crowd-pleaser, too.
.-= Belle@OohLook´s last blog ..Saigon Saigon in Glebe – my lucky lucky door prize =-.
Sounds like a great day with all the EST crew over a barbie. Home cooking fun beats dining out anytime!
.-= billy@ATFT´s last blog ..Postcard from Cambodia – Siem Reap (Part 1) =-.
Is that a sombrero that Howard is wearing?
Looks like a great, filling BBQ but with es&t at the helm, I’m not the least bit surprised
I don’t get why you’d eat prawns if you hate them so, shell or no shell. The only prawn shells I’d eat would have to be deep fried so they end up like a cracker but even then not often. I love crunchy but I don’t see the same appeal in prawn crunchiness for some reason.
Linda is a machine. There’s nothing yet I’ve seen of hers that I’ve disliked or thought was meh.
hahaha nice hat howie! and oh baby the grilled octopus is calling to me
.-= chocolatesuze´s last blog ..Bacon baskets- Is DON Is Good [10] =-.
BBBBBQQQQQ ^^! Now it is Summer lots more BBQ to come!! Mannn you guys always have such awesome feasts
.-= FFichiban´s last blog ..DON Pie + Competition! =-.
Looks like so much fun! And it is always a great time if all goes well in a BBQ.
.-= penny aka jeroxie´s last blog ..Market Lane in Prahran and my first experience with clover =-.
Wow, smorgasbord is almost an understatement! I’m with you on the haloumi. That squeekiness is so odd and yet so appealing. Love Linda’s macarons too.
.-= Y´s last blog ..The possessive pronoun of cake =-.
joey: It’s always weather for a BBQ
Trissa: Thanks! The Octopus was everyone’s favourite I think!
Simon: I think we only skewered the Haloumi from sheer laziness, less work to turn them! With Chicken Satay, I’ve got a post on that coming up!
Noel: LOL that stupid hat was so big.
Belle: We can thank Teresa for being our awesome Seafood provider, she loves the fish markets!
Billy: Definitely! And easier on the wallet for sure.
Simon: Oops, just bad phrasing on my behalf. I love prawns, to the point that I’ll battle the shells for them! But only 1 or 2 before my impatience gets the better of me.
Chocolatesuze: I have a craving for more…
FFichiban:
What can I say, we’re just awesome like that.
penny: Always fun if you’re out with a group of friends!
Y: Thanks Y! The squeakiness is the best part <3