Backyard BBQ
Lissa Coffey
I love grilling outside – we get to enjoy the backyard, and there’s less mess to clean up in the kitchen! Whether you’re making meat, fish, chicken, or veggies, there are lots of great ready-made marinades that add wonderful flavors to the main dish. Remember to marinate in the refrigerator, and not at room temperature. Always marinate in a non-reactive container, such as ceramic or glass, rather than aluminum. After marinating meat, seafood or poultry, discard the marinade.
Your barbeque needs to be thoroughly cleaned at least once a year. You want to clean it with a brush and high heat after every time you use it, but a heavy duty cleaning is recommended before you start your BBQ season. Just remove the grates and wash with hot soapy water. Wipe down the inside and outside with hot soapy water. Remove old or dirty BBQ stones and replace with fresh ones. With the stones out, wipe down any grease or ash that has accumulated at the bottom of the barbeque. Remember to also check your cleaning brush, mitts and utensils. If any are worn out, replace with new tools.
I’m a vegetarian, so when we do BBQ it’s either soy burgers or fresh vegetables. I marinate slices of eggplant, zucchini, onions and portabello mushrooms in an oil and vinegar dressing with some fresh basil. The oil helps keep the veggies from sticking to the grill. I love to serve the veggies with a big green salad and focaccia bread, you can make sandwiches out of the bread and veggies! Yummy!
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