Hope everyone had a great long weekend! We were so lucky to enjoy three days of incredibly beautiful, hot and sunny weather in Toronto which made not being at a cottage easier. Obviously all that outside-hanging resulted in A LOT of delicious BBQ-ing. Since I am most certain that summer has officially been kicked off, I’m going to share a few of my favourite recipes for outdoor eating foods. Enjoy!
The Potato Salad
Why anyone would ever buy potato salad out of a tub is beyond me. Yes, it is so gross its kind of good in a I’m-really-hungover-and-don’t-care kind of way, but, really, you shouldn’t buy or eat that kind of thing when the real deal is so easy to make. Here’s how to make my version:
Ingredients
(serves 4-6 as side dish)
6 medium sized potatoes, cubed.
1/2 large red pepper, diced.
1/4 large red onion (or half of smaller onion), diced.
2 celery stalks, chopped.
1.5 tbsp mayonaise
1 tsp mustard (I recommend Keen’s or a good Dijon)
season with salt, pepper and fresh herbs such as dill and chives (seen above).
Instructions:
- boil the potatoes in salted water until soft enough to poke a fork through one of the larger cubes. When ready, drain and set aside to cool.
- Once cooled off, place in a large salad bowl and add all other ingredients to bowl before mixing together well. One combined, taste to see if anything extra is needed (sometimes I put extra mustard in to add more kick, or a little more salt) when happy put in the fridge to cool until ready to eat!
Roasted Peppers w/ Garlic
So long as you don’t go to Metro and get ripped off buying two red peppers for nearly $5 (as I did this weekend), I’d say roasting your own peppers is always a better option than buying them jarred. Oh ps. they are also silly easy to make.
Ingredients:
Peppers – as many as you need.
Garlic
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions:
- Cut your peppers (a selection of colours is always nice, don’t neglect the green ones!) into halves, remove the stem and seeds.
- Place halves on a hot BBQ, flipping sides every five minutes or so until soft.
- Once softened, remove from BBQ and slice into strips (size is up to you), place in on a plate/pan/bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil then add freshly chopped garlic.
- Stir all together and let sit until ready to eat. See? Easy!
The Ultimate Burger(s)
It is nearly impossible to avoid The Burger in BBQ season, and why would you? As discussed with my friend Nina yesterday, they really can’t be that bad for you when you cook them from scratch – avoiding greasy pans and using good fresh ingredients – I mean, after all, eating a turkey burger would pretty much be the same as eating a turkey breast, just ground up, right?? Yeah.
I had two nights in a row of burger magic this weekend. One is my version, and one is a similar take on my version from a friend that I am stealing so that I can reveal both recipes to you – lucky!!
The Classic G Burger
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 onion chopped (full onion if small)
1 Granny Smith apple
1 large clove garlic, crushed and chopped
seasoning – salt, peppery, fresh thyme and oregano (or dry Italian seasoning).
goat cheese
roast peppers
Burger buns (your choice!)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (except for the goat cheese, roast peppers and burger buns) in a clean metal bowl. Use your hands to mix well. Once thoroughly mixed, shape 4-6 patties, placing on a plate. Cook on BBQ immediately or place in the fridge to wait.
- Once cooked, place patties on buns and top with goat cheese and roast peppers. Extra toppings I enjoy adding are: arugula/spinach and a mix of hot sauce/ketchup/BBQ sauce. Now eat, yay!
The “Other” Burger
This is basically the exact same as above with a few substitutions, equally as easy to make and delicious to eat!
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 onion chopped (full onion if small)
handful of chopped spinach
approx 4 leaves of chopped fresh sweet basil leaves
1 large clove garlic, crushed and chopped
salt and pepper to season
marble cheddar cheese
Roast peppers
Burger buns (your choice!)
Instructions:
- exactly the same as above for the “classic G burger” leaving the marble cheese and roast peppers out until the end to top. Extra toppings to add that are mega tasty are LOTS of Keen’s mustard, fresh spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes.
To add to the fun of your future BBQ, you could consider getting a puppy! Miss Jackie O. really made the whole weekend that much better. xo
