As my wedding date draws ever closer it became apparent that I needed to get the groomsmen together and inform them of their responsibilities. Inevitably this took the form of a bbq. I had decided early on that if I was going to cook for the boys it would be a meal for men. (Read: all protein, no starch or vegetable and all grilled.)
So the menu..
Protein #1: Quail.
My mafioso overlords recently shot, or in some way "murdered up" some wild quail. The chefs offered it up to me and I couldnt resist. The key with this was to let it marinade for upwards of 3 days in a (very!) potent combination of chiles, red wine, balsamic, garlic and fresh herbs. Grill them up gently and baste with a honey/chipotle glaze.
Protein #2: Shrimp
Simple: marinade for 20 minutes in garlic, honey, tequila, smoked paprika, lemon and lime juice and grill quickly.
Protein #3 Merguez Sausage
A morrocan/ spanish style lamb sausage it has a great flavour of cumin, garlic and just a hit of smoke. Grilled quick they develop a great crusty skin while maintaining a moist interior. A perfect snacking sausage.
Protein #4 Sirloin Steak
Can't have a manly bbq without steak. These were restaurant quality, 36 day dry ages sirloins marinated over 5 days in garlic, chile and herb oil. There was very little I could screw up here.
Sauces:
Chimmichuri: Great all purpose condiment.
3/4 cup chopped parsley.
2 garlic cloves
2 chile peppers
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Macerate all in a mortar and pestle and let sit for 24 hours to allow flavours to come together. (good on the steak, and anything else grilled)
Honey Chipotle Glaze
2 gloves minced garlic
1 chile pepper
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp butter
Cook the garlic off in the butter and deglaze with the white wine, mix in the honey, salt and pepper. Reduce by half and cool. This is perfect with the quail!
Mint Sauce
Macerate 3/4 cup of mint, 1 tsp sugar, 3 tsp white balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp garlic, salt and pepper to taste and chill in refrigerator for as long as possible--perfect with the sausage.
All in all a succesful event. The fact that this was bbq'ed in an outrageous thunderstorm, after copious beers and prior to the korean loading my dishwasher with hand soap....made the food quality irrelevant- but according to sober sources everything was enjoyable.
As a side note: the case of beer left by my groomsmen had no bottom to it, so when I attempted to move it 28 bottles of beer exploded all over the floor, leaked into the basment and flooded the cat. It was awesome.
