BBQ Party

We had a couple of friends over to celebrate BIL's birthday. The weather was warm and breezy... perfect for a "summer is almost here" BBQ.

We made Carne Asada with flank steak we picked up at Costco. We got 2 heaping bags full of white corn that we bbq'd in the husk that was delic. We warmed tortillas on the bbq and grilled up foil packet with onion and red peppers cut into thin strips.

Carne Asada
2 pounds marinated flank or skirt steak (serves 6)
10-12 flour tortillas
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup orange juice
6 cloves garlic crushed
1 medium white onion chopped
2 Tbs ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Tabasco

Place steak in center of cooking grate. Grill 15 to 19 minutes for medium, turning and brushing with reserved marinade once halfway through grilling time.

Place foil packet of vegetables on the cooking grate beside steak during the last 10 minutes of grilling time.

Wrap tortillas in heavy-duty aluminium foil; place on cooking grate beside steak during the last 5 minutes of grilling time. Turn tortilla packet once halfway through grilling.

Slice steak diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Serve in tortillas with peppers and onions, salsa and guacamole. Enjoy!

Easy BBQ Skewers, Pasta Salad & Grilled Corn

Coupled with a simple pasta salad and grilled corn cooked in the husk, these colorful skewers top off the perfect bbq... delish!

Skewers
short rib flanken meat, cubed
chicken steak, cubed
green pepper, cut into square pieces
red onion, cut into square piences
small red vine tomotoes
whole white mushrooms

Dry Rub Marinade
(about 2 tablespoons of each depending on the amount of meat)
ground black pepper
cumin
chili powder
paprika
Chinese 5 spice

steps
1. Soak skewers in water at least 30-60 minutes before preparing ingredients.
2. Place meat in shallow dish and sprinkle with seasonings making sure to coat pieces.

3. Let marinate in the fridge at least 30-60 minutes.

4. Skewer ingredients get a good mix of veggies and meat.

(Yes, veggies are good naked without any seasonings.)

5. BBQ about 15 minutes over low heat until meat is cooked through and veggies aren't falling off the skewer.

Pasta Salad

package of elbow pasta

small bag of brocolli and carrots

bunch of asparagus

steps

1. Cook small elbow pasta according to package.
2. Blanche brocolli and asparagus cut into small bite size pieces and carrot cut into thin lengthwise slivers.
3. Mix together pasta and veggies.
4. Pour on a light dressing or marinade. I used about 2 tablespoons of an apricot chiopotle marinade I had handy but I've also used a rasperry vinagrette which works nice.

Maple Planked Citris Salmon

This is so simple I don't know why we haven't done this before. We bought a maple cedar plank at Whole Foods and tried it out on the barbie with salmon that had been marinating in a citrus sauce. The obvious advantage to grilling with a plank is easy clean up and a taste to die for. The salmon was buttery moist with a slightly nutty flavor that complimented the citrus marinade divinely.

Ingredients:
1 cedar plank and spray bottle
1 salmon (a cut that covered the plank served about 6 people)
crushed garlic
olive oil
a few lemons
(Or you can do what I did and use a citrus garlic dressing - I used Paula's Roasted Garlic fat-free dressing - and add a couple of lemons from your backyard or the store to look like it was made from scratch.)

Steps:
Soak the plank in water for a minimum of one hour.
Combine crushed garlic, oil and lemon juice including the pulp in a deep dish.
Rinse salmon and marinate - I like to let it soak a couple of hours in the fridge.
Slice salmon in sections without cutting all the way through to make serving easy.
Place lemon slices on top of the salmon for presentation.
Pre-heat the bbq on high 350-400 degrees.
Put the plank on the hot grill, close the lid and heat 3 min.
Turn plank with tongs, close lid and heat another 3 min.
Place food on plank, close lid and grill to your liking (about 15-20 min).
Spritz water while grilling to keep the plank from flaring up.
If plank is not too charred it may be used again.

Here we are enjoying a cool evening in our backyard with our friends Matt & Sandi and my sister Rachelle and her husband Andrew while the salmon is grilling. Marc our "griller" is standing in the back with a homemade brew Matt & Sandi brought over.

The salmon was sereved with a simple salad tossed with walnuts, jack cheese and dried fruit, along with fresh-squeezed lemonade from the extra lemons.