Its Barbecue Time!
For my mom’s birthday I went all out classic bbq! Barbecue chicken with homemade root beer barbecue sauce, delicious eggy potato salad, strawberry spinach salad and fresh strawberry lemonade. It’s strawberry season here in California and my grandpa had brought a big flat of them over from the local strawberry stand! They were sweet, juicy, and delicious!
For the chicken I used roughly these recipes from Bon Appetit. I didn’t make the mop for the chicken but I did use the spice rub. I baked the chicken in a covered baking dish until it was almost done then basted it with barbecue sauce and finished it off on the grill. This kept the chicken moist and tender but still had the smoky flavor from the grill. It was a big hit among my family!
The potato salad also came from Bon Appetit. I followed the recipe almost perfectly except for that instead of using 5 hard boiled egg yolks, I used 4 whole hardboiled eggs. My mom said it was the best potato salad she has had in a long time!
The strawberry spinach salad was really simple and gave a nice sweet and fresh contrast to the potato salad. I used one bag of spinach, a couple handfuls of fresh sliced strawberries, some candied pecans, and Trader Joe’s raspberry vinaigrette.
Now for the lemonade! I am lucky that my grandpa has about 7 citrus trees in his back yard and 2 of them are lemon trees. The lemons that come off of them are so sweet and juicy that it is hard to believe they are the same thing you buy at the supermarket. They make the best lemonade I have ever made! I start by making a simple syrup out of 1 and 1/2 cup sugar and 2 cups water on the stove. While that is dissolving, I cut and juice the lemons. You need about two cups of juice. After that you want to mash about 3/4 cup of strawberries and mix the strawberry mush in with the lemon juice. Add the simple syrup and add water to your desired level of lemony-ness (I usually do between 6 and 8 cups). Add some lemon slices for garnish and voila! You have some delicious lemonade!
