Saturday 18th Oct '08

SAZZY'S SPRING SENSATION

Today I got up early to prepare the food for my little BBQ. I'd sent the invitations out about a week ago, asking for everyone to bring a small plate of food beginning with the letter 'S' to fit in with my "Sazzy's Spring Sensation" theme.

The dishes I'd decided to make myself:
Sangria
Spuds
Stuff on Sticks
Salmon nibblies
"Spinifex & Stones" nibblies
Sandwiches
Salads


I also bought some sausages for the BBQ. Christina made some cupcakes last night - the 'sweets'.

When everyone had arrived (I didn't invite too many people as I wanted to keep it a small event) I finished making the Sangria. Unfortunately, in my excitement to get stuck into it, I forgot to take photos of it! Let's just say it was a huge success and we finished every drop of it. I followed the Sangria recipe I found on Taste.com.au but instead of preparing the fruit on the day, I sliced it all up last night and let it 'marinate' in the sugar and Cointreau overnight. I bought a few bottles of the Banrock Station sparkling shiraz and used sugar-free lemonade. Absolutely devine!

I made two types of sandwiches.

Turkey with Cranberry & Caramelised Onion Relish
Cream Cheese with Dill & Cucumber Slices

I spotted a can of turkey paste while at the shops yesterday and thought I'd give it a try. Yum! It even smells like real turkey when you open up the can.


For the nibblies, I used the rest of the Philadelphia cream cheese and spread some on each piece of Melba toast. On half of them, I put a small sprig of dill and rolled up a small slice of smoked salmon to create a rose shape. The other half I stuck some fresh chives into the cream cheese so that they stood up and wedged a few slices of spanish sausage that I'd sliced and cut in half. These I named my "spinifex & stones" pieces, in keeping with the 'S' theme.

I made two salads. In one I used spinach leaves, crushed walnuts, slices of Granny Smith apples, and a dressing made from olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. The other salad was baby cos leaves, marinated squid and chives. Last night I'd cleaned some squid that I found in the freezer and marinated it in some lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic and Italian parsley. I fried it in a pan and added it to the salad with the pan juices and an extra splash of olive oil. Yum!

My skewers turned out rather nicely on the BBQ! I made a little brush out of a stalk of lemongrass, just as my Mum used to do when we had BBQ's up north. They add a lovely flavour to satays, and since I had marinated the beef on my skewers in a similar spice mixture to that of the satays my mum makes, the lemongrass flavour was a nice touch. I love these two photos of the skewers and the sausages. The lighting was perfect and they look like they're straight out of a Donna Hayes recipe book, don't they!?



The following is what my lovely guests brought:

Kong & Meng - Spring Rolls

Noel & Fleurette - Sushi

Ling & Shallen - Scones *need to get a photo!


We eventually migrated over to Noel and Fleurette's place in the evening where I got hungry and got a yummy tuna and cheese toastie made for me. Once I got mine, everyone else wanted one too - and why wouldn't they? They were delicious!

So...after drinking from 12noon until 1am, I have to say that today was one of those brilliant days where you start out with a plan, and then go with the flow. Love days like these.

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