BBQ 500 Club
A Summer Breeze Blows In from the 500 Club
The August Steve Raichlen 500 Club Ridiculously Delicious Dinner Plan of the Month
Submitted by 500 Club member Bernie Pass.
From Bernie…
Living in the SW USA where we have been over 100°F (37.8°C for our non-US friends) for about 40 days in a row, I wanted to keep the food light and refreshing. With that in mind here are my suggestions.
This is a great plan Bernie! We love these recipes. Perfect for August. And its 105 here in Spain. We encourage all 500 Club members to try Bernie’s Plan this month, all from The Barbecue! Bible, and post your photos to our site!
“Summer Breeze”
Grilled Gazpacho (pg. 93) Spain
“Gazpacho is Spain’s culinary lifeblood, a refreshing puree of vegetables that blurs the distinction between soup and salad. Grilling adds a smoky dimension that transforms this warm weather soup from the realm of refreshing to unforgettable.”
Spicy Fruit in a Tamarind Dressing (pg. 122) Indonesia
“An offbeat salad, called rujak, is one of the national dishes of Indonesia. The pairing of crunchy vegetable and acidic fruits makes an uncommonly refreshing combination for a barbecue. As for the dressing – a sweet, hot piquant mixture of peanuts, tamarind, and peppers – few salad dressings are more distinctively flavorful or refreshing. There’s nothing else quite like it.”
Grilled Sole with Catalan Fruits and Nuts (pg. 341) Spain
“Grilling isn`t particularly prevalent in Spain, but live-fire cooking lends itself to a number of Spanish preparations. Consider the following specialty from La Cuineta, a restaurant in Barcelona that positively oozes charm. The chef uses Dover sole, which is much firmer and meatier than what passes for sole in the US, but any grillable fish will do. The contrast of sweet with savory (currants and sugar, in this case, with pine nuts and seafood) is quite typical of Catalan cooking.”
Persian Rice with Cranberries (pg. 427) Iran
“Rice with sour cherries is a popular accompaniment to Persian kebabs. One evening, lacking both, I made the rice with dried cranberries. Their sweet-sour flavor was right on the money.”
Spice Grilled Pineapple (pg. 513) USA
“Americans don’t customarily grill fruit, but elsewhere in the world – especially in Southeast Asia – bananas and other fruits are often charred over glowing coals for dessert. Pineapples taste particularly good grilled; the charred flavor meshes nicely with the caramelized sweetness of the fruit.”
Brazilian Daiquiri (Caipirinha) (pg. 54) Brazil
“Every rum-drinking nation has a version of the daiquiri, and Brazil’s is the caipirinha. Made with only three ingredients – fresh limes, sugar, and cane spirits – the caipirinha seems simple enough and it goes down with astonishing ease. But woe betide the person who drinks several in rapid succession, for the caipirinha is made with one of the strongest spirits in the western hemisphere: cachaca. What distinguishes the caipirinha from the commonplace daiquiri is the conscientious crushing of the limes in the pitcher, an act that extracts the flavorful oils from the rinds.”
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