Garlic Butter

Have you ever had fresh garlic, straight out of the garden? It´s delicious and it´s beautiful:

It´s really garlic, although you might think it isn´t! Wish I could add smell to this blog, then you´ll be convinced...!! It has a very strong flavour!

Because today is a lazy lovely warm sunday, I´ll give you a good and short recipe: garlic butter!

You need:

2 cups of the best butter you can find, at room temperature

1 bulb fresh garlic (ugh...yeah one bulb..)

pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

Use a garlic press for the bulb and mix all the ingredients together. Put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Lovely on bread, shrimps and steak!

Enjoy your day!!

Fajitas, my way

I have to admit that I never made fajitas before, and now all I can say is that I regret that!! This was really Heaven On A Plate, and maybe it wasn´t exactly the way it should have been made, but as long as a meal makes you feel like this one did....then it´s ok with me!

And because it was so good, I´m gonna make this again on monday....can´t wait!!

The ingredients I used for this recipe:

2 beef tenderloins (you can also use flank steak)

2 avocados, ripe ones

2 cans of sour cream (small cans)

1 package of guacamole mix (I used the brand Santa Maria)

tortillas (I used herbs and garlic tortillas, wow!)

2 large onions (one white, one red)

1 large red bell pepper

1 hot chili pepper (or choose your own favorite)

shredded aged cheese

a few tomatoes

cucumber

First of all, time to light the coals!

Slice the onions and peppers and sprinkle them with some olive oil. They will meet the grill first, before the other ingredients do.

After this it´s time to make the guacamole, that´s easy because all you have to do is mix the avocados with the mix and add 1 can of sour cream. Easy does it! Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation. Put this in the fridge.

Then slice the tomatoes and cucumbers and arrange them on a plate with the other can of sour cream.

For the beef I used a barbecue rub from the brand NoMu, this is a South African brand, and they have several rubs. For meat, chicken, fish and vegetables.

Put the onions and peppers on the grill, use direct heat and don´t forget to stir! After 10 minutes you can put the basket away from the heat and start grilling the tenderloins for about 5 minutes.

Wrap the beef in foil and let it rest for a few minutes. And now comes the tricky part, and I screwed up 2 times, no pictures of that! The package of the tortillas said, you should preheat them, then stuff them and then back on the grill.

Don´t. It won´t work, unless you like black tortillas, and I don´t.

Slice the beef and put the pieces on one side of a non-pre-grilled tortilla, add the onions and pepper mixture, sprinkle with a lot of cheese and place this carefully (!) on the grill, not using direct heat! Close the lid and wait a minute, do a check if the cheese is melting and then move it over to your plate!

Add guacamole and sour cream and then......

no further comment, I loved it.........

Oh I almost forgot to serve some wine with it, a rosé this time, a dry french one:

For your information: it wasn´t empty when I bought it!

And now, please excuse me, I´m gonna dream about these fajitas......make them!

Planked Salmon

It's finally summer here in Holland! Don't expect too much of the summer here.... every day with a temperature above 75F is like a summer day for me! And even though I do use the Weber in the winter too, nothing beats the combination of sun, grilling and wine (or beer)...

A very tasty and easy recipe is Planked Salmon. It doesn't require a lot of time to prepare, so there's more time for you to spend outside!

First of all, make sure you soak the plank in water long enough (at least 2 hours) before you start grilling. For an extra great flavor you can use wine or beer too. I used a cedar plank for the salmon.

Other ingredients you need:

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Maple Syrup

ground black pepper

This goes on top of the salmon (make sure you buy salmon fillets with skin!):

After you prepared the barbecue (make sure it's real hot) put the plank above the coals and close the lid. After a few minutes you can turn the plank around and place the salmon on the hot plank.

Don't open the lid too often, just check once or twice. Normally it takes about 20-25 minutes depending on the size of your salmon fillets.

You can serve this for example with a green salad and some asparagus you've sprinkled with olive oil, pepper and parmesan cheese and then grilled for about 5 - 8 minutes:

Add some bread and don't forget the wine! A Chardonnay for example will pair very well with this dish, but if you're an adventurous type you really must try a Pinot Noir, lightly chilled.
NOW you're ready for a delicious dinner!

Note: this is the plank afterwards:

Shigen!

A good dinner always starts with an appetizer, and therefore I´m starting this blog with that too. And not just some average one, nooo, this is really tasty, unusual and stealing the show!

Look at this beauty:

What is it? It´s shrimp, chicken and bacon....all in one!

The genius who came up with this recipe is Tom Porter, you´ll find his recipe here. And while you´re there, don´t forget to check out the rest of his website!

What do you need for these babies? Large raw shrimps, chicken breasts and bacon! First you'll start with cutting the chicken breasts in rather large cubes and let them marinate in the rub for a while. For the chicken rub I used a mixture of Old Bay Seasoning and smoked paprika powder. Clean the shrimps and slice them almost all the way through. Put one piece of chicken in a shrimp, wrap it with bacon and use a toothpick to hold it all together.

In the meantime I soaked some wood chips in water, peach this time. That would give an extra yummy taste to the Shigen!

It´s important to keep the temperature of your smoker or barbecue very low. Tom used a smoker in his recipe, but since I don't have one I had to use the Weber barbecue. It turned out that it's no problem to do this little project with a Weber OTS. When the temperature had reached 240F, I added the wood chips to the coals and the Shigen were ready to be put on the grill!

And this is after about 25 minutes, almost done, and that smell was very promising!

The BBQ sauce I served with the Shigen was a roasted garlic-honey sauce, and I added a little Sriracha, just to give the sauce a bit of heat.

I assume I don´t have to mention that they were all gone very soon....! Try them, with your favorite rub and sauce, it will definitely be a huge success at your next party!!