bbq'ing like a bauss

i love bbq.

i love to bbq.

i love cooking outside.

i love the marked reduction in dirty dishes.

yesterday was pretty busy - i cranked out a lot of food. sometimes being this busy would make me a little grouchy but yesterday was fun. the fact that it was raining was perfect for smoking on the grill & everything turned out just as i had planned.

in addition to the market tomorrow i'm also catering a rather large bbq function, hence the ridiculous amount of food. i managed to double up on things though to have items for the freezers as well, which has made my life a million times less stressful this week.

so the first thing i made was smoked mac & cheese.

it started off with an applewood smoked cheddar cheese sauce, to which i added poblano peppers (in between a bell pepper & a jalapeno), cumin & chipotle powder.

then i added corn, cherry tomatoes, green onions & loads of ooey, gooey mozzarella cheese. once the pans were all filled up, i smoked it on the grill for about an hour - nothing too overpowering. i've done this one for cooking classes before & it's always been a big hit. i was only able to make a few so come early or send me a tweet if you'd like to reserve one.

small $8 large $16

next up was the beef brisket. i made a wet rub of whole grain mustard, horseradish, coriander, crushed chillies & black pepper to create a nice crust.

then i braised it overnight on a bed of onions & garlic until it was quiveringly tender, and then i smoked it on the grill with a little bit of mesquite & hickory.

ta-dah!

then i pulled it apart, added back in all of the caramelized onions, made a homemade bbq sauce with all of the cooking liquid and mixed it all up. it's getting served up with some creamy horseradish mashed potatoes and wilted kale.

small $10  large $20

this week also saw my stock of bbq sauces get replenished. the maple bourbon & chipotle lime flavours have been selling like hotcakes so i made double batches this week.

small jars (250ml) $5  large jars (500ml) $7.50

my kale is also growing like crazy so i made a fresh batch of white bean, lemon & kale soup to make use of it all. 

the soup is vegan & gluten-free, but i cook the beans for ages so they take on a nice creamy consistency, then i add a bunch of roasted garlic, oregano, kale & basil and lemon to brighten it all up.

then for salads everything is time permitting today, but if all goes according to plan, i'll have the sweet potato, quinoa, broccoli & 4-bean varieties on the menu tomorrow. 

i just have to get all of my baking done first. 

cupcake flavours are:

vanilla-vanilla

carrot-maple

banana-peanut butter

red velvet-raspberry

chocolate-chocolate or mint

i'm also experimenting with cherry vanilla today... we'll see how it turns out.

i'll have the rhubarb-strawberry & cherry-raspberry cheesecakes this week, snickers, cookies, macaroons & i think i'll make passionfruit tarts this week. i may also experiment a little with the shortbread bars...

ok time to spring into action. see you tomorrow & sunday.