Family BBQ

The weather today was much better than expected and Dan had some of his extended family over so we all decided to do a BBQ at his mum’s house in St Albans.

Having said before that Dan doesn’t cook, he does in fact do a mean BBQ and tends to take charge completely of all cooking all the food and even making the burgers from scratch.

Today was no different and while Ali (his mum) set about making some sides and salads, Dan got started on the burgers.  To the beef mince, he adds eggs to bind it, then chilli and garlic and salt and pepper.  I’m not sure of the exact quantities as he makes it up every time.  (Of course you could add any herbs/spices/vegetables that you want to the mix and use any type of mince – I’m thinking lamb mince with mint would work well, or maybe beef with spring onion and cumin).  Then mold them into burger patties and they’re ready for the BBQ.  You can see the recipe here.

Today, we also had lamb steaks and chops, sausages, some vegetables and halloumi to go on the grill.  Picked fresh from the garden, we added some rosemary and olive oil to the lamb for a bit of a change.

Then it was all up to Dan to work his magic with the BBQ…

This is definitely where he feels in his element, comfort-wise when it comes to cooking and after about half an hour, everything was ready.

There was so much food, as is always a case with a BBQ and you always feel like you have to have something of everything.  There were plenty of different salads, a bean one, and an avocado one aswell as bread rolls, and all the usual BBQ sides.  Inevitably we all ended up full to bursting…and then dessert arrived….

Fruit and Cheese – the two desserts I can actually eat (I do love a goat’s cheese log – might be my favourite) – so I just had to have a bit of each.  We sat talking in the sunshine late into the evening before heading back to London to get ready for the next week.