It's about that time when clothes are shed, skins are bronzed, girls become beach babes, guys become hunky lifeguards, and meals turn from a boring let's-sit-around-a-table-while-its-dark-outside to a let's-endlessly-gorge-ourselves with burgers and bratwurst until the sun goes down at 10. Yes I am talking about the gatherings everyone loves--barbecues. Bbq's are popular for a number of reasons: its quick, its easy, you can invite all of your friends, and its a great excuse to get outside. It is the quintessential summer activity in the United States, in which all the mothers who are tired of making meals day in day out let the men grill, in which men sport their latest bbq-frocks and boast about how they have perfected the sirloin. Bbq season is certainly among us at Colorado College--as I'm sure many of you have noticed, we have been averaging about three bbq per week. I must say, however, that as much as I enjoy the social aspect of bbqs, eating the same frozen patties and pre-cooked hot-dogs can certainly get a bit old. So here's how you can spice up your bbq with something a little more personalized, a little more zesty, and something even the kids can enjoy!
Make-your-own-patty. Making a burger patty is so easy I'm surprised more people don't do it. Ground beef is also incredibly cheap--I bought probably around 6 pounds of ground beef for under $20. Patties are like many of the other things I've written about--crepes, stuffed chicken, rubs--you can really use your creativity to do anything with them.
Now my brother and 10 of his dance friends are touring the country performing and doing workshops. They are called 50collective (comprised of 50 dancers) and they are amazing and wonderful and everyone should check them out. Heading from Chicago to LA, they stopped at Colorado College this tuesday to do a workshop and performance. Being road-worn starving artists, I held a bbq for them at my house. And they devoured everything. I mean ev-er-y-th-i-ng. I'll tell you why.
Rosemary-feta-portabella patties. It being my brother and all, it wouldn't well do to have just your average frozen patties. It needed to be better. So I bought ground beef, chopped in some rosemary, some sheep feta, some portabella mushrooms, some chopped garlic, chives, and finally, sprinkled it with truffle salt. Using my hands, I then proceeded to mesh it all together--like kneading dough. I then took small handfuls of this ground concoction, rolled into balls, and then flattened into a patty, ready to be grilled. Once cooked, they were topped with deliciously sweet grilled onions. Here's what they looked like before they were grilled:
There are many variations you can make to this recipe. For example a few months ago, I made homemade patties and put in gorgonzola crumbles, mushrooms, garlic, crispy bacon bits and a fried egg on top with runny yolk (just like they do in Espana and South America). It was cooked stove-top and was also positively scrumptious.
To serve on the side of these rosemary patties, I also bought some bratwurst, and served that with grilled onions, sauerkraut and relish. Hot dogs are really nice at bbqs because they are quicker than burgers for the really hungry folks, plus the obvious, they are delicious.
Given that these young dancers had been living on various American fast food joints on the road, they were in dire need of some fresh vegetables and fruit. So as any good bbq would have, I cut up some watermelon. A little trick I learned in Mexico is to sprinkle a little bit of salt and chile powder on the watermelon. This salty-spiciness really brings out the sweetness of the fruit. But of course, a good watermelon is great on its own.
I then made a mixed green salad with cold corn (another summer favorite--god I am excited for some Indiana corn!), peas, tomatoes, chives, and some cucumbers. To counteract the heaviness of all the meat in the bbq, I wanted to make a really light, really refreshing salad dressing. So I took two containers of goat milk yogurt (has the same sort of dry taste and texture as Greek yogurt), threw in about a cup of chopped fresh mint, the left over diced chives, olive oil, salt and pepper, and finally about 1 1/2 tablespoon of cumin. God I love my cumin! And it was fantastic! It gave the salad a sort of middle-eastern meets Mediterranean taste. People ended up putting it on their salad, their burger, their vegetables, and their hot dogs, so it's a great sauce/dressing for anything.
Next, I decided to make roasted vegetables. So I took a baking sheet, threw on raw asparagus, chopped bell peppers, onions, whole jalapeno peppers, and doused all of it in olive oil, sprinkled on garlic, salt, pepper, chives, and rosemary. Once the bbq began, I covered the sheet in tin foil and put the vegetables in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. When they came out, they had absorbed all of the wonderful salt and rosemary flavor, while remaining crispy.
To finish it all up, I made chocolate chip, butterscotch, pecan cookies. It was my mom's recipe! Great every time. Here's the recipe:
Preheat oven: 375 degrees
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 oz. chocolate chips (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Mix flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and mix in brown sugar. Add beaten egg and vanilla to butter and sugar. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add chocolate (and butterscotch) chips and chopped nuts. Spoon into little balls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes and it will be soft and gooey! I know they are good when someone in my house in the middle of the night eats 8 of them and leaves a trail of cookie crumbs...cookie monster?
And there you have it! A bbq feast with all the amenities for 12. A hungry 12. And there are your bbq basics! Roasted veggies, salad, watermelon, burgers, bratwurst, and homemade chocolate chip cookies to top it all off.
Now go off and try it my little brewskies!
Love & Doughnuts,
The Mrakulous Kitchen
No comments:
Post a Comment