Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with the Big Green Egg and turning out some great dishes, even if I do say so myself. I've also eaten out at Byron Burger and St. John's Chop House with the Thirsty Thursday (TT) boys as well as The Punter with some other great friends. The trend here has been I have had some great meat dinners, fab steaks, good burgers and great company.
One drunken Thursday night, no doubt, the TT boys came up with the idea of cooking some nice meat on the Big Green Egg as a way of ushering in the summer. Why not I though. Well I guess they were thinking steak night at Nic's with a few beers. But I have time on my hands so it was never going to be that simple.
A week or so after the idea had been floated I watched the Great British Menu Does Comic Relief. This was the usual format where chefs competed against each other to produce the best starter, main and dessert with one exception, they had to be funny/witty dishes. The winner of the main course served a goat dish and at this point the idea came to me, if we're going to do a meat night it should be a different night, not just cracking steaks, burgers or sausages.
I did a little research and found a recipe for pulled goat. But that wasn't enough for me. With the help of Colin telling me about and taking me to Johnsons of Old Hurst (near Huntingdon), I've managed to source a few stranger, more exotic ingredients. The idea still is this is a meat feast, the focus will be mainly on meat with a couple of salads and veg sides. So the menu will therefore look something like this:
Starter
Warm wood pigeon salad with a balsamic vinaigrette
Main Course
Meat tasters to include:
- Smoked Sunday rib of buffalo roast over charcoal
- 10 hour Big Green Egg slow cooked pulled spicy goat, served with warm brioche burger rolls
- Zebra steaks with a simple salt and pepper seasoning
- Impala haunches, griddled and served with a shallot, brandy and cream pepper sauce
- Thai style crocodile medallions
- Smoked rump of kangaroo cut on the bias
- Antelope burgers in brioche rolls with gherkins, salad and chipotle mayonnaise on the side
For the less adventurous:
- Homemade beef burgers, Nic's secret recipe
- Sweet chilli pork sausages
- Pork sausages
- Griddled garlic and lemon marinaded chicken breasts
Dessert
Totty's lemon meringue pie
or/and
Balsamic marinaded strawberries with meringue
So what do you make of that then? Would you like to try a menu like this out?
I'll post some photos after the event.