(I’m in the office today, but am getting a little cranky because the cafeteria is closed. I can’t work without an egg sandwich and cup of coffee. So, a question of the day and then off to find food.)
One the major benefits of being in the burbs is the weekend barbeque. Last weekend, we had 14 family members over to celebrate the June birthdays. It took us a while to figure out how to serve that many people, while semi-monitoring the kids, while actually eating and drinking ourselves. After two years, I think we’ve got our system down pat. Here’s our menu:
Appetizers: chips, salsa, homemade guac, carrots, cheeses from Trade Joe’s, onion dip with the Knorrs soup mix — It’s simple and that onion dip is killer.
Main course: London Broil (marinated for 24 hours in soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, lemon, oil, garlic, vinegar). The key with the meat is to slice it very thin. Sausage. (Who doesn’t like sausage?) Hot dogs for the kids, because some of them can’t eat steak yet and just end up spitting out half chewed meat on the side of their plate.
Sides: boiled mini potatoes with butter, thyme and sea salt, corn on the cob, pasta salad, green salad. — The potatoes and corn just go in big pots of hot water 20 minutes before dinner. It takes no thought and can be done with a glass of wine in hand. The pasta salad can be outsourced.
Dessert: cookies, cake, coffee
Drinks: yes
Question of the Day: What’s your formula for a good barbeque? Do you have a new recipe to share?
Apt. 11d 
We have two favorite BBQs. One is the Mexican grill. We marinate skirt steak, pork tenderloin and chicken in tequila with lime juice, onion garlic and salt and pepper. We serve with grilled tortillas, salsa, guacamole a bunch of roasted vegetables- the crown goes wild.
The second is steak sandwiches. London broil is marinated in balsamic vinegar. It’s grilled, sliced super thin. There is also roasted garlic and roasted tomatoes. The garlic is spread on to a dutch crunch roll, then goes a few slices of steak, then roasted tomato and then basil leaves. With this one we serve potato salad, coleslaw and corn on the cob. The crowd’s head explodes.
LikeLike
Our yard is big, sunny, and level, and in our neighborhood it’s sort of rare to get all 3, so our place is attractive for team events. We’ve had the end-of-season parties for our sons’ teams this year – we do a lot of Italian sweet sausages, easy, always a hit, and the standard industrial frozen hamburgers are amazingly easy and dependable. I salt the burgers with adobo when they go on the grill. The other really dependable hit (and cheap! and easy!) is chicken thighs, $1.19 a pound in the family size at the local non-chain grocery and marinated in the usual vinaigrette/heavy garlic/red wine vinegar/olive oil. The thighs work a lot better if I give them 20 minutes in a 350 oven before putting them on the grill, otherwise I have to work hard not to char them on the outside by the time they are cooked through.
LikeLike
Sounds like a great bbq!
We entertain a lot. An easy bbq for us is chicken with bbq sauce (homemade or bottled, in a pinch), plain chicken legs for the kids, quickie baked beans, a big salad with a good viniagrette, maybe some mac n cheese for the kids, plus lots of fresh fruit like grapes and strawberries. Appetizers might include some kind of nice dip or hummus and maybe a cheese plate. Brownies or choice of fun ice creams for dessert. We also like making pitchers of drinks for the grownups, like sangria. I try to cook or prepare only a few dishes, and then put out good potato chips, fruit, etc. to fill in.
We also pre-cook the chicken a bit in the oven or microwave, esp if we are having a big crowd.
LikeLike
We are chicken people (though burgers and brats happen, too). I do not pre-cook or pre-boil chicken. I’m just too stubborn for that. Thighs are good, virtually impossible to overcook (which is the key challenge with chicken on a grill – do not over cook…). But recently I have been doing boneless breasts. Very hard to get right because very easy to overcook. Marinating is good, and a good helping of bbq sauce. In any event, this weekend I tried something new: hickory chips. You soak them and put them on the charcoal (I do not do the gas grill thing; I was a boy scout: I light the fire without fluid and use charcoal…). They kick up smoke and add a nice hickory taste to the chicken. Has anyone done the mesquite?
LikeLike
Oh, those potatoes sound good!! We’re vegetarians, so we usually do a bunch of big filling salads (corn/avocado/tomatoes; barley, black eyes peas, corn, tomatoes, basil vinaigrette; etc.), guac/chips, and veggie burgers with ketchup, mustard, etc. The salads can all be made ahead of time and refrigerated until serving time.
LikeLike