Monday, November 29, 2010

Breaking out the barbie

With the warm weather well and truly here, it was about time I pulled the cover off my barbecue and fired it up again. I'd first planned to do some barbecued fish (p112) but when I saw the dubiously runny-eyed tarakihi available at Pak N Save yesterday, I changed my mind.


Instead, I left my barbecuing until today, when I wandered up to the Mad Butcher after work and grabbed a pack of sirloin steaks. On arriving home, I mixed up some barbecue marinade (p190) and started on a kumara salad (p177).


The marinade (a simple mixture of tomato, soy and sweet chilli sauce, with garlic and sugar) took only a minute or two to throw together. I had a steak marinating and was chopping up my kumara when Mum and Dad dropped in. Since I had a couple more steaks, I talked them into staying for dinner.


I coated the other two steaks in marinade and put the kumara on to boil. This was to be cooked until "just tender" but I'm afraid I got distracted chatting to my parents and watching Masterchef: the kumara was a bit soft for salad purposes by the time I took it off the heat.


When the kumara had cooled down, I chopped it into chunks and added spring onion, mayonnaise, sour cream, a little curry powder, and some chopped walnuts. Stirring this through turned the kumara even more mushy, but never mind - it's not about how it looks, it's how it tastes, right?


I put the completed salad back in the fridge and took out the steaks. The barbecue had been heating up for around ten minutes, so I went and put the steaks on. I'm not very skilled at the art of steak cooking, so it's lucky none of us are terribly picky. I just cooked the steaks for as long as it took to throw together a green salad then took them off to rest.


The marinade on the steaks had scorched a bit - Mum tells me you're supposed to blot off the marinade before putting it on the barbecue. I'll have to remember that next time: I really didn't mind the charring taste-wise, but I hear it's not very good for you.


My steak and salad made a perfectly acceptable meal. Sure, the kumara was mushy, but it tasted a lot better than it looked. And while I felt my steak was a bit overcooked, the marinade gave it a lovely flavour. (Mum and Dad both politely claimed that their steaks were perfectly cooked. I doubt it, but they got eaten anyway!)


So if you're looking to have an "outdoor cooking experience" in the near future, don't overlook the Edmonds book as a source for ideas. The barbecue marinade is easy and tasty, and if you're sick of ordinary old potato salad, why not try a kumara one? Just try not to overcook the kumara!

1 comment:

  1. I'll have you know my steak was exactly right and being sirlion even more so seeing it's my favourite cut of steak. It doesn't seem to dry out as quickly and has a soft texture yum yum. I'd recommend the kumera as well.Green salad is green salad and always good.c

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