It’s that time of year again! I love summer. I have a break in the kitchen because my husband starts grilling outdoors and we started having regular cookouts. There is nothing better than the taste of food cooked on the grill. We enjoy the taste of our charcoal grill as well as our gas grill. Along with the flavor, our charcoal grill is small, perfect when cooking just the two of us. Our grill is a little Weber kettle that we’ve had for years. Using this grill also helps my husband keep his charcoal grill cooking skills intact.
We have a lot of family gatherings in the summer and when we do we can have up to fifteen or twenty people. That’s when our large gas grill works well. It’s not uncommon for us to have five or six big barbecues a year. My husband and I provide the meat and our friends and family bring the sides. We always grill hotdogs and hamburgers, especially when children attend. We grill chicken, pork, steaks and sausages. Occasionally we cook lamb. We have a large selection of marinades that offer many different flavors. We have marinades with Caribbean, Indian, Asian and Moroccan flavors. We typically brine the pork we cook, which helps ensure it stays moist. Needless to say, buying meat for up to fifteen people can be expensive, so we ask attendees 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 maintain a checklist and request one of the following; a green salad, a macaroni salad, a potato salad, a hot or cold vegetable dish, coleslaw or barbecued beans. Then there are the desserts. We ordered a cake, fruit or ice cream. What we don’t do is tell someone what kind of macaroni salad, or what kind of potato salad, or what kind of cake, etc. So we are always surprised. We have some friends who like to bring dishes that will complement our meats and marinades. We have a friend who brings a wonderful Soba Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce, Cilantro, and Scallions that goes great with our Asian Marinated Chicken. Another friend brings a couscous salad, full of fresh vegetables when we serve Moroccan.
When it’s just the two of us enjoying a light summer meal, I like to whip up my favorite Shrimp and Caper Salad recipe from Chef Cat Cora. It is easy to make and tasty. 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 any bottled steak sauce. Sometimes when grilling steaks, we use chef Paul Prudhomme’s blackened steak magic. When we do it, we don’t put anything else on the steak as it is full of flavor. This steak seasoning pairs well with grilled red potatoes and grilled corn on the cob.
When someone brings in a new dish, we ask that they also bring a few copies of the recipe. This works very well because there is always someone who says “I want the recipe!”
We make the most of the beautiful summer weather to enjoy the company of family and friends and to enjoy recipes new and old as well.
