Welcome to the second installment of my ‘Divine Dinner Parties’ series – designed to take the panic out of your next dinner party or get-together by providing you with all inspiration you need in one place! I know when I entertain it’s normally a bit of a scramble as I rush home from work and tear through recipe books to try and find something that strikes the balance between “easy to prepare” and “delicious to devour” so I’m hoping these posts make it a bit easier.
The first installment, Bohemian Dreams, was all about easy-to-throw-together soul food and rustic decor elements, and this time, due to popular request, we’re celebrating everyone’s old favourite: the Backyard BBQ.
Forget overly fussy lunches or stuffy dinner parties and invite your besties over for a lazy afternoon in the backyard, where the barbie and the tunes will be cranked and the vibe will be as chilled as can be!
Sunshine, fresh food packed with flavour, simplicity and laughter is what it’s all about – a celebration of longer days and warmer nights. Break out the frisbee and the cricket set, run through the sprinkler in your teensiest bikini, stretch out on a banana lounge and don’t forget to fill the Esky to the brim with your beverage of choice! Easy, breezy, beautiful (Cover Girl – ha!)
Meat/ Seafood
Mexican Steak Salad
You will need:
Flank steak, trimmed of any excess fat
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tbs crushed capsicum
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs chili powder
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 cup red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup coriander, roughly chopped
Juice from 1 lime
3 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 avocado, diced
I cup baby spinach/ lettuce
1 tbs freshly minced cayenne
1/2 cup toasted pepitas
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
For instructions, view original recipe on Bev Cooks.
Crispy Prawns with Lemon Myrtle
4 large green prawns
1 cup rice flour
1 tbs lemon myrtle leaf spice, ground
1 tsp paprika, sweet
Pinch chilli powder optional
Sea salt
½ cup cooking oil
2 fresh chillies, finely chopped
Lime wedges for serving
For instructions, view original recipe on All Recipes.
Serving tip
Sprinkle with a little fresh chilli and sea salt. Pile onto a plate and serve with lime wedges.
Vegetarian
Vegetarian Mini Pizzas
Makes around 8 – 10 small pizzas or 1 large
You will need:
Tomato sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp capers (drained)
Pinch of dried chili
1 1/2 cup of canned tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
Topping
4 pre boiled potatoes
Marinated artichoke hearts
Kalamata olives
1 zucchini (marinated)
1 eggplant (marinated)
4 brown mushrooms, cut in quarters
1/4 fennel, thin slices
Small tomatoes
2 small spring onions, divided in half
1/2 broccoli
100g goat cheese
Salt and pepper
Fresh rocket to put on after the pizza has been in the oven
For instructions, view original recipe on Green Kitchen Stories.
Vegetable Tian
You will need:
2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
1 large sweet yellow onion cut in half and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 potatoes, unpeeled
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
3 large Roma tomatoes
Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Dried thyme, to taste
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
For instructions, view original recipe on For The Love of Cooking.
Salads
Capsicum, Chickpea and Cherry Tomato Couscous
You will need:
100g wholegrain couscous
100g cherry tomatoes
1/2 red capsicum
Can of chickpeas
Chives
Curly parsley
Pine nuts
For dressing, view original recipe on Salad Pride.
Tortilla Salad
3 cups kidney beans, room temperature or warm
1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds (or pepitas)
1/4 cup this dressing (or other favorite vinaigrette), or to taste
2 cups chopped cauliflower (stems, leaves, florets), boiled in a bit of salted water for just 20 seconds, then drained under cold water
2-3 big handfuls of tortilla chips
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1 small (watermelon) radish, sliced paper thin – can supplement with regular radish or vege of your choice
1/2 avocado, sliced
For instructions, view original recipe on 101 Cookbooks.
Sweet Stuff
Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles
You will need:
1 ½ cup pureed strawberries
½ cup crushed vanilla Oreos – not even sure if we have these in Australia, so substitute with any vanilla biscuit
2 cups vanilla yogurt
For instructions, view original recipe on Bakers Royale.
Apple, Ginger & Cranberry Vodka Cocktails
1 cup cloudy apple juice
1 cup cranberry juice
50ml vodka
Ginger Ale
Ice
For instructions, view original recipe on What Katie Ate.
+ Over to you! If you were heading to a BBQ and were told to ‘bring a plate,’ what would you bring?
+ Finally, if you like this post, would you mind clicking ‘Share on Facebook’ below. Thanking you! x
Image and recipe sources: Moodboard images; Mexican Steak Salad; Crispy Prawns; Vegetarian mini pizzas; Vegetable Tian; Couscous salad; Tortilla salad; Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles; Vodka Cocktail
This looks absolutely amazing and I love your tips. I want to make all of these recipes, especially that vegetable terrine.
Thanks Jaclyn, so happy you enjoyed it! x
Yay! Love that you included vegetarian options. I want to BBQ it up this weekend after reading this.
Thanks Serena, my partner is a vegetarian (and I don’t eat a heap of meat either) and he always gets left out so I’ve been conscious of including yummy vego options in these post! There are so many of them these days which is great! I’m craving a BBQ too…. yum! x
BBQ perfection!! I love love love this post!! I love this whole themed meals series actually. Can’t wait for the next one . X
LOVE this post!! So detailed. It’s perfect.
Perfect for this time of year – summer is just one second away and hooray for BBQ season! All those recipe’s look amazing! loving the salads – going to bust out a few of those i think! Thanks for the pre-weekend inspiration rach… xxx
oh and the prawns!! i didint mention the prawns – GET IN MY BELLY! haha
Thanks so much Erin! xx
And Liz, how DELICIOUS do those prawns look, and so easy to make! I’ve definitely got BBQ’s on the mind, especially with this amazing weather xx
Oh this post makes me look forward to backyard veggo BBQs! I always take veggo skewers to a meaty BBQ and everyone LOVES them, even if they aren’t veggo!
http://www.fizzleout.com.au/2011/03/bbq-veggo-skewers/
oh my goodness this bbq looks amazing. please invite me to this bbq!!!
Once I’ve finished my detox lady, we need to do this BBQ for sure! x
This is amazing. And don’t even get me started on that food. This is almost how I imagine my wedding reception. It has such a relaxed and social vibe. x
Isn’t it perfect Claire! I love that vibe too… super chilled, with great company and cruisy tunes! When is your wedding? xx
That’s the big question. We’re both very indecisive by nature so we throw a location/date around for a day, only to have a new idea dawn on us the following day. It’s quite a cycle really. Haha. We’ve almost been engaged for two years now, but I think we’re slowly getting closer to pulling a day together x
Haha, well good news that you’re getting closer! By the time we get married in May next year we would have been engaged for 18 months so I know what you mean. We havent really progressed much at all but now that we’re 8 months out, we’re keen to go nuts… working to a shorter deadline always works better for us anyway! Best of luck with your planning, I can imagine your wedding will be incredible xx
Thanks lovely. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts leading up to your big day x