FF thanks you!
I love the fresh, raw wild jumbo shrimp/prawns from Costco. They're sweet and meaty and good eating. They run about 20 bucks for a large package, and there are enough prawns in a pack to get 2-3 meals out of it. They freeze beautifully.
My favorite way to prepare them is to marinate them, then skewer them with veggies (in this case, mushrooms) and throw em on the grill for a couple minutes per side. To serve them, I take them all off the skewer and pile them into a bowl, but you could just let everyone take their own skewer.
We served these as part of a surf-and-turf dinner with grilled porterhouse steak and BBQ corn on the cob.
For this recipe, you don't want to add the lime juice until just before grilling or else you'll end up with ceviche.
GRILLED CHILI LIME TEQUILA SHRIMP
Makes enough marinade for about 15-20 prawns. Rinse and peel prawns leaving the tails intact. Pat dry and place prawns into a medium bowl then add:
Toss gently and well to coat and refrigerate for at least an hour. Just before grilling add:
Toss again. Thread carefully onto skewers alternating prawns and veggies. Grill for 2 minutes per side until just cooked through. Do not over cook.
Here they are just on the grill:
And, hey! My photo made Tastespotting! (Finally...)
For my husband J.'s 38th birthday bbq blow out, I made a marinated, butterflied leg of lamb (two of them, actually) that I grilled...until I started a small grease fire in our grill. Thankfully, the lamb was almost done and about 20 minutes in a 350º oven was enough to finish it to medium-rare perfection. Disaster averted.
The Greek theme of the party was the easiest ever. I marinated the lamb over night, drained the yogurt over night, had all the greek salad ingredients prepped mostly in advance. I purchased the vat o' hummus at Costco where they carry my favorite store-made brand, and when dinner was ready to be served, we fired the grill back up and warmed up some Trader Joe's flatbread.
a big ole Greek salad with kalamata olives and sheep's milk feta
It was fun party, so fun that I also ended up cooking a pile of spaghetti alla carbonara at 1:00 AM to help stave-off any potential hangovers (Trader Joe's carries Citterio diced pancetta which I buy 4-at-a-time and keep in freezer for such occassions)...It didnt quite work since I woke up "suffering from exhaustion" that only 4 Advils and an El Grullense chile verde burrito could cure.
Half way into the festivities, my five-year-old declared that it was, "The best party ever!" Happy Birthday, J.!
MARINATED GRILLED LEG OF LAMB FOR A PARTY
2 boneless, butterflied legs of lamb removed the netting and laid flat
8-10 sprigs of rosemary, leaves removed
1 whole head of garlic, peeled
4-6 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves removed
1 cup of red wine
1 cup of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Combine everything but the lamb in a food processor and whiz until a uniform paste is achieved. Shmear all over the lamb, working into all the cracks and crevices, and then refrigerate overnight. (You can place the lamb in large zip-loc bags.)
To grill: preheat grill to high for 15 minutes. Salt lamb again on both side with coarse sea salt. Reduce heat to med-high then grill the lamb approximately 15 minutes on each side, with cover closed, checking occassionally. Remove from grill, tent with foil for 10 minutes before carving and serving. Serves 12-15 people. Accompaniments: Greek salad, tzaziki, hummus, and flatbread.
Sometimes, there's nothing like a giant plate of sandwiches. Especially if it's at a pool party for your kid's 5th birthday and everyone is hungry from swimming.
The best part though, is the leftovers. There's nothing awesomer than being able to go the fridge and pull out an Italian combo anytime you feel like it. I feel like Stephanie Plum (and if you've read Twelve Sharp, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout).
Can I just say, I love the afternoon light in our backyard? I never ever take photos with flash and afternoon is my favorite time of day for the beautiful, golden light.
On Saturday it was burgers, BBQ kosher chicken, and cupcakes (Wallie and cupcake crumb mouth).
Then on Memorial Day, we brought out the big guns. Schaub's "black meat" aka marinated bottom sirloin (which my husband likes to refer to as "baby seal')...
And sangria (which I drank way too much of):
I made some sides (grilled chicken pasta salad with red peppers and fresh baby spinach, broccoli salad) and bought a side (rosemary orzo with golden raisins)...and people brought more sides.
Chicken kebabs off the skewer.
The condiment tray (I love me some condiments).
"Healthy" crudités with non-healthy dip and salt and pepper (Italian-style).
...and despite me giving away "meat carepackages" to everyone who came (we also cooked up about 2 dozen sausages and a slab of salmon) we have enough food left over to last us through until Labor Day, it seems.
God, I love cooking outdoors. It really can't be beat.
Keeping it simple on a Saturday with grilled hot dogs on toasted buns, and fusilli-tuna salad. If we had potato chips on hand, this meal would be perfect.
For the fusilli tuna salad: combine a package of cooked, cooled fusilli with enough mayo to bind. Add finely diced onion to taste. Toss in a can of drained, rinsed, and flaked albacore tuna. Squeeze in the juice of one lime. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix. Chill for an hour. Serve. (It may need a touch more mayo after being refrigerated.)
Okay this time, I mean it. I am going to cook corned beef at least once more before next St. Patrick's Day. It's so good. Every time I eat it I say, "It's so good! and then a year goes by.
To go with the corned beef I made smashed potatoes (butter gold potatoes roughly mashed with butter, buttermilk, and regular milk) and soda bread (which I baked in my cast iron skillet).
The best part of dinner was sitting outside (outside! in March!) eating our dinner. It was a lovely evening and from our vantage point we could see all the kids (all 9 of 'em) piled on top of each other watching tv. We could sit and relax and talk and laugh while the kids watched movies and ate cookies that they thought were sneaking without us knowing about it.
Instead of the Guinness we ended up drinking many (many) bottles of wine, and the kids stayed up almost three hours past their bedtime, but it was okay. It was one of the best times we've had in a long, long time.
My idea for what to make for our Super Bowl party changed about a thousand times over the course of the week. We knew we wanted to do something sandwichy. We thought about Togo's (too many choices). We thought about getting a bunch of Vietnamese sandwiches (J. thought peeps might think they were too weird, but god I love them) then we thought about a build-your-own sandwich bar. Which is what we intended to get fixin's for when we set out for Costco this morning.
But then, we had another, final change of course mid-stream and it became all about chili dogs. So chili dogs are what we are having.
It all starts with chili, about six-gallons-worth. (6 lbs of extra lean ground beef, 6 lbs. of whole peeled tomatoes, 3 lbs of tomato puree, 3 lbs. of beans, 3 onions, half a head of garlic, 4 bay leaves, fresh oregano, secret homemade chili powder, extra-super-spicy chili powder from a friend, a bottle of beer, and lots of love.)
To go with the chili we have hot dogs (all beef and the "healthier" *snort* chicken) with all the usual condiments, plus chopped onions and tomatoes, and shredded cheddar cheese.
Also on deck is tuna mousse (photo above).
I'm also making deconstructed deviled eggs "a la Ikea" (where I got my inspiration, photo above). I'm halving eggs and topping them with a squiggle of salmon pate and black and red lumpfish caviar. Some will simply be sprinkled with truffle salt.
Since I was at Ikea buying pate and caviar, we'll also be having an assortment of Sveeeeedish cheeses including one made with aquavit which I am excited to try.
I'm making guacamole since we picked up the trash-can-sized bag of chips at Costco.
And to wash it all down. Sweet, sweet beer.
Friends are potlucking the rest of the appetizers and I can't wait to see what gets added to the mix. Back to stirring chili. If you have your menu planned, please share it!
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