In the winter I was longing for long summer parties with friends and family. The idea was to make an outdoor kitchen with a seating area around our fire pit. It is half of July and we got as far as buying an amazing grill for that outdoor kitchen…that’s it for now. The summer is not over, but I am searching all over the place for delicious BBQ and side dishes ideas to make our summer parties awesome!
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Outdoor Kitchen
I love our deck! It is like an extra living space. Especially after I made our deck corner bench, it is so nice to hang out there.
The area underneath the deck is a different story. It is dark and it is not easy to keep it clean, especially after it rains.
The idea was to make an outdoor kitchen there, but I still don’t know how to make it bright, fun and useful. For now our newly bought griddle-grill combo hangs out on the deck and there is no plan in the near future to move it down where we have picnic tables and our fire pit. This last one is another project we need to tackle soon.
We choose for a griddle-grill combo, because we have a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends and family and I was thinking it would be easier to keep meat and fish separate from the vegetarian ingredients this way.
So far, it has worked. It is also fun to make breakfast on the griddle in the morning. Think of scrambled eggs, hash browns, asparagus, sausages or pancakes! But now we’re going for the big dishes:
BBQ recipes
Chicken Kebobs
Put wooden skewers in water before you add anything on it. This can prevent the skewers to burn on the grill. Cut boneless chicken in 1×1 inch pieces and marinate them for at least an hour ( 1 cup of ketchup, 2 tbsp Worchester sauce, 1 tbs maple syrup, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp pepper, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp mustard). Cut bell peppers and onions small in the meantime. Instead of chicken you can use tofu or tempeh. Make the skewers and grill them until the chicken is done.
Black Bean Quinoa burgers:
This is a recipe I always make (and I usually fry them in a pan inside, because these are very needed and wanted in the winter as well). Add lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber slices and your home made garlic sauce (see side dishes below). You can butter the buns and turn them upside down on the grill for a few seconds.
Vegetarian sausages
These particular sausages (Loma Linda Big Franks available at Amazon.com) are a childhood memory of a few family members, including my husband. Our kids started to love them too. Sometimes the kids grill them on a stick above the fire of our fire pit.
Grilled Veggies
We usually grill asparagus (with olive oil, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese), corn on the cob and zucchini (now we know NOT to cut the zucchini in discs, but in triangles, so the zucchini will be perfectly grilled this way).
Wrapped Salmon with buttery mini shrimp
I have found delicious salmon and tiny shrimp (“garnaaltjes” in Dutch) at Aldi. I always love small shrimp when I was little in the Netherlands. Cut the salmon in smaller pieces. In a piece of aluminum foil, brush some olive oil on the foil. Put the salmon on top with the small shrimp. Add pepper, salt, lemon juice and herbs like dill, oregano and thyme and add a piece of butter on top. Put on the grill for 10-15 minutes.
Spiral potatoes
I’ve never heard of these kinds of potatoes, but the first time I ate them was in Pella, a small Dutch town not to far from us and they even call them Dutch Potatoes. They have a special rotating cutting tool for it, but I think just to cut them with a knife should work too. With a sharp paring knife, cut a potato in a spiral pattern all the way down to the skewer, beginning at the top of the potato with the knife set at a 15 to 20 degree angle. Rotate the potato as you cut until the entire the potato is cut through in a spiral pattern. Stretch the potato down the skewer. Repeat with the remaining potatoes. Sprinkle with a marinate (olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, qeuso fresco and dried herbs of choice). Wrap the potatoes in aluminum foil and cook on the grill for 8 minutes. Unwrap the potatoes and brush the marinade on them again and grill them for 3 minutes more. (Source)
Griddle Recipes
As I mentioned before, the breakfast dishes are fun to make in the morning, but for lunch or dinner, the following are quick and easy to make as well:
Hash browns and Bacon
Without boiling the potatoes first, I cut the potatoes in 1/2 inch pieces and fry them on the griddle with butter, herb salt and butter. At the end I mixed in pieces of bacon.
Veggie Omelet
My husband would agree: the more cheese, the better! First we fry pieces of mushrooms, spinach, olives and tomatoes on the griddle. Sometimes we just mix in the eggs and scramble them with the veggies. Sometimes move the veggies to one side and make the egg omelet separate on the griddle, turn the heat on low, add the veggies and cheese to one side of the eggs, flip the other side over and cook the eggs slowly until done.
Tuna melt
Our youngest can eat tuna melt every day if she wants to. We use sourdough from Aldi. Empty a can of tuna (without liquid) in a bowl, add shredded cheese, salt, pepper and dried herbs. mix it all together and spread out on one piece of sourdough bread. put the other slice of bread on top. Brush some butter on the outsides of the tuna sandwich. Make it into a Tuna Melt on the griddle.
Savory Pancakes
The Dutch pancakes are thinner, like crepes and often eaten with savory ingredients. We like apple slices and cheese, or like me: baby spinach, brie and cashews. I never measure the ingredients to make the batter for Dutch pancakes, but it is roughly like this: 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cup of milk, a inch of salt and 3 eggs. Whisk all the ingredients together and spread out a ladle full of the batter on the griddle. Flip the pancake when the top is dry, then add the toppings. The apple slices and deli chicken or bacon I usually add when the batter is still wet.
I am still looking for more, especially vegetarian recipes for the griddle….do you have more? Please let me know in the comments below!
Side Dishes that are to die for
Yummy Pasta Salad
Boil 3 cups of pasta of choice (we like the macaroni or farfalle) with a bit of salt al dente. Let it cool. In the meantime boil ingredients of choice, like peas, green beans, corn, broccoli. Cut other ingredients of choice like cherry tomatoes, cucumber, mozzarella or feta, olives. Mix mayonnaise, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Mix all together.
Garlic sauce
Sometimes I miss the barbecue sauces from the Netherlands, but here is a nice garlic sauce you can make easily yourself and is delicious. Mix the following ingredients together:
- 1 cup Greek yoghurt
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp honey
- pinch pepper and salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- fresh chives
Spinach Artichoke dip
This is our favorite Spinach and Spinach artichoke dip. My husband always whips it up quickly. Put frozen spinach and a can of quartered artichoke hearts with some olive oil in a frying pan. Add 2/3 of pack of cream cheese and 2/3 of a cup of sour cream. Mix with salt and pepper and a cup of parmesan cheese. Taste and see if it is to your liking. Serve warm with corn chips.
Homemade bread or baguette
If we make a last minute decision to have a BBQ, I use a baguette from Aldi. When we planned a barbecue, I sometimes make a homemade bread ahead of time. Delicious with garlic butter, Paturain, tzaziki or just plain butter.
Drinks, something for everyone
Besides wine and beer (the summer beers with lemon for example) we make cocktails and summer mocktails for summer BBQ parties like these.
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.