First bbq of the year!

In the weekend we had our first bbq. Two of my sisters were here, as well as the new boyfriend of one of them, so of course while it was “just a bbq” I still had to make a dessert to impress!!

The bbq itself was fairly basic – Steak marinated in a mixture of coriander, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice and chilli powder. To go with this I made a yummy roast kumara salad (organic kumara from the Takapuna market roasted in a mix of spices including cumin and coriander, then served at room temperature with lemon zest, flat leaf parsley and crumbled feta) and a green salad with avocado and toasted almonds. I like to keep my green salads pretty simple. I’m not big on having hundreds of chopped up little things in them – I usually just serve some baby spinach or rocket with toasted almonds and a nice vinaigrette. My sister had brought some lovely bread as well.

Pudding was yummy though. Individual chocolate pavlovas with raspberries inside, lots of whipped cream on top and some new seasons strawberries. I followed the recipe in Annabel Langbein’s latest book. She is one of my favourite cook book authors. Her recipes are simple but sophisticated. These pavs were great. Just a normal pavlova mixture, but then with melted dark chocolate swirled through and some frozen raspberries put in a hole in the middle with more egg mixture on top. They turned out my favourite way – crisp on the outside but gooey in the middle. They were a success! I would definitely make these again.