A couple of braais

I had occasion to do a couple of braais during the weekend, and as usual I will jump at the chance to do a braai. Janet and I had agreed to cater for my Masonic function for twenty people on Saturday evening and this necessitated quite a lot of work on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

My friend at the Saldanha Vleismark (Butchery) sponsored more than half the price of some 8kg of prime de-boned leg of lamb, three lovely big legs which I had decided to braai. First I rubbed them with olive oil and then liberally sprinkled with Aromat, a bit of garlic flakes and some mixed herbs and then I left them to marinate whilst I got the fire going. While this was happening I opened two bitterly cold Castles for us.

By the time my coals were good and hot it was also time for the second beer, I placed the legs on the grid and contentedly surveyed my work. Braaiing is after all, very thirsty work! Note to self: Next time remove the hosepipe before taking the bloody photo!

I kept the coals good and hot and kept turning the meat over and after about an hour they were all perfectly medium to rare. I savoured the wonderful aroma (and a few crispy edge pieces) as I removed them from the grid and placed them in an aluminium dish. To celebrate my success I cracked another cold Castle.Janet had in the meantime made three lovely milk tarts and as there are no children around I was allowed to lick the bowl! During the course of the evening and the next morning we prepared creamy Aromat potatoes (one of my favourites) and roasted butternut squash. It was a very successful meal by all accounts, I certainly enjoyed it.

My second braai was for lunch on Saturday before the meeting and we had my buddy Alan staying over with us, I marinated some chicken portions in olive oil, white wine, black pepper and mixed herbs and braaiied them along with some boerewors and potatoes in tinfoil.

There you have it, quite a typical South African braai meal except for the fact that there were no chops this time, but this was after all just supposed to be a quick and light meal; the boerewors is the protein, the potato for the carbs and remember that I told you earlier that at South African braais chicken is considered a vegetable!

It does look rather good though, doesn't it? It was.