There for a while we talked about cooking out, BBQing, grilling, smoking, and just about every other way of cooking on your patio or deck. But I must confess, I have been remiss in keeping anyone who cares up to date on what I've been preparing for my friends and family.My first apology goes out because I didn't write a post on the Seafood Extravaganza I hosted back in May for my family visiting from Texas and my friends who also had some family visiting from Texas. We prepared food for 7 adults and two kids aged 9 and 2. The main course(s) consisted of:
Two smoked beer-can chickens -A better use for Budweiser than drinking it for sure!
4 pounds of grilled Scallops
2 pounds of shrimp, 1 pound grilled, 1 pound steamed with Old Bay (and more Budweiser).
2 pounds of steamed mussels.
I was so damn busy preparing that much seafood I clean forgot to take pictures to post.
So a couple weekends ago my friends Shawn & Elena came over. And the same thing happened. Mrs. Dog got the hell out of the way and I prepared everything. No time for pictures.
We had tomatoes with mozzarella, basil, olive oil & pepper as one appetizer.
We had Azitao cheese from Portugal and Fromager d'Affinois from France with bread and blackberries as a starter too.
The salad was a wild concoction I've served before which is watermelon with vidalia onion in red wine vinegar and fresh mint.
The main course was a surf & turf of sorts with a 1.25 pound porterhouse for everyone and another 2 pounds of grilled scallops.
For dessert we had chocolate cake and a 10 year Tawney Port from Calem in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
So I screwed up and didn't tell anybody about that one.
Last night (again no pics) I decided to have a "Corngasm" by grilling some tasty local ears I bought on the way home from work. To compliment this I decided to try a variation on a recipe for gourmet hamburgers I saw on Barefoot Contessa. The main thing here is that she says to use a "good" Dijon mustard. You mix the mustard in with the ground beef, salt and pepper and add whatever other ingredients. My additional ingredients were finely chopped white onion and jalapeno peppers. So anyway, I reached into my pantry and discovered the key ingredient that made last night's burgers the best I have ever made. Billy Bee Honey Mustard!!
Man, I'm telling you that stuff is GREAT! My burgers were juicy and tasty and perfect. I suggest you run out and get some Billy Bee mustard pronto. Because I have the feeling (and I'm going to find out tonight) it's going to be just as good on the Hot Italian Sausages I'm grilling tonight.
And the Billy Bee blueberry honey is great also. Try some on your English Muffins for breakfast. Presumably it's the honey in the honey mustard that makes it so good. Either way, Billy Bee has the Stilladog seal of approval for use in your kitchen or on your grill.
