Summer has ended, luckily for us in Chicago, the weather is
still awesome. And that’s not something that we say often! This summer, we
grilled and grilled a lot! With time I learned that hosting a BBQ party is very
different from regular ones!
Here are a few tips that helped us host grilling evenings at
a frequency of two per week :-)
Be safe: Ensure to instruct the kids to be away from the
grill when you are cooking. We generally keep some games (Ring toss/ bean bag
throw/ water guns) at the other end of the deck. It keeps them entertained and
I am not stressed.
Imagine a triangle. Grill being on one corner, the kids
activities on the other and the drinks on the third corner. This layout helps
keep the party flowing well, kids away from hot grills and drinks cooler!
Planning:
Menu: Have a broad idea of what you are grilling. Raid the
produce section and be well stocked! For a vegetarian grilling event, have 2
mains which are heavy and then a lot of accompaniments to go along with it.
Food Prep & Cooking:
- Appliances: Apron, Gloves, Grill cooking utensils, grill
mats and foil! Be always safe and these are one time expenses and totally worth
it!
- In our house, I prep/ marinate and Sumit grills. Admist
the coversations and relaxing, he tends to forgets that food is still on the
grill and then I jump into the rescue (You see how I slid that in)
- One thing I recommend is 1-2 things at a time! Start with
the lighter items, one at a time and then progress. I have realised with time,
though you may have 6-8 items ready to be grilled, your party will always be
more relaxed on the deck!So just taking is slow and cooking 1-2 things at a
time is highly recommended. This way everyone including you gets to enjoy the
weather, the conversations and the food!
- We grill in a 'sequence' defined by increasing order of
flavours and cooking time. Implying things that grill quickly go first! Simple
reason, at the onset you are hungrier and food should come in quickly, as the
evening progresses you and your friends would enjoy the breaks in food!
Drinks:
I highly recommend a main cool drink, be it sangria, a
punch, jal jeera. It just makes me feel nice to pour cold jal jeera then
opening a can of La Croix, I am just saying!
Keep a mini cooler/ Ice box ready and stocked with the group
favorites. Have a variety of cans/ bottles ready for serving!
I have learned over time and now attached a bottle opener to
my cooler, this way I am not scrambling for this essential item
Water: I prefer just having jars/ reusable bottles ready with
water and ice! We as a family have been trying to avoid plastic bottles and
considering we host a lot of friends over BBQ, having the reusable bottles is
ideal (and cheaper!)
Condiments:
I have a tray ready with my essentials: Salt, Pepper, Chilli
Flakes, Lemon Wedges, Hot Sauce, Ketchup, Chaat Masala etc. and definitely a
knife!
Of course there are edits to these based on the menu for the
evening.
Serve Ware:
- Food Prep: If you use skewers, pre-soak. i generally avoid
them. I use glass containers for the
marinated vegetables and then use the same ones for serving after grilling.
(Read less clean up time for Sumit!)
- If your space allows a a table where you keep the
marinated food and then eventually the grilled food. I line up the marinated
food in the order that Sumit will grill (Read FIFO- First in First out), makes
it so much easier
- Have ample serving spoons, forks etc handy... you do go
through them very quickly!
- Keep paper plates, bowls, napkins, flatware ready. I
highly recommend using the paper dishes, since you will be grilling a variety
of things and walking and chatting around! (Read less clean up time for Sumit!)
- Thrash Can: A MUST. keep it lined, empty and ready to go.
If you recycle (which you must), keep a double bagged paper bag ready!
(Read less clean up time for Sumit!)
Pot Luck/ Grilling:
- Most of my grilling gatherings have been with dear friends
over and I enjoy the cooking process, so I tell them, please come and enjoy!
But if you are hosting a larger party, keep it simple for
yourself as well. A salad, a dessert, some drinks are perfect and simple requests for your guests to bring along!
Menu Ideas:
- Always keep a cold appetizer/ fruits ready for the
evening: Simple things like a tossed salad, chopped watermelon helps. You can
be fancy and have fruit skewers ready, but trust me if you grilled as often as
we did, you want a simple repeatable model
- Finger foods like chips, salsa, pretzels etc should be
served but in smaller portions, you would rather have the guests fill up on
grilled gorgeousness!
- Marination: If you want marinate the night before it helps
with the flavour in the vegetables/tofu/paneer what ever you are planning on.
If your evening is more impromptu, fret not, increase the qty of herbs and
spices in the marination by a little and even 30 minutes of marination is
enough.
- Grilled vegetables with cold dips is always a hit: Think
Grilled asparagus with a creamy pesto dip, delish!
- Think concoctions, you have 10 beans and 1/2 pepper lying
around, slice them up marinate in olive oil, salt and pepper! Tada... Gril and
then serve with crubled goat cheese (Ready!)
- For kids, encourage them to try everything coming off the
grill, they will enjoy the 'not sit down and eat' type of meals. In addition,
if you have more kids may be have a main like Mac N Cheese or something as a
back up is a great idea!
- Trust me when I say this, a cold pasta salad is a hit with
the kids and more with the adults!!!!
So have fun, enjoy the process and remember: Grilling parties are fun, simple, can be impromptu and you tend to eat a lot more...
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