An Afternoon With Good Food in the Park

Yesterday, out of the blue, we decided to get together with a friend and grill at our favorite get-together place, Kolekole Beach Park, which is just a mile north of us...

Earlier in the day I had prepped the veggies and the chicken and had all of it marinating in large covered plastic containers in the refrigerator until time to leave for the park.

Diane, a foodie friend in California had shared a few days ago a grilled version of a recipe she had found in the Edible Sacramento Magazine's version of a "Roasted Ratatouille Salad".  I called her to fine tune my version of her version of the magazine's version of the recipe....;-)

I sliced eggplants from our garden, Hamakua Springs Farm tomatoes and a big purple onion.  The zucchini and yellow crooked neck squash were cut in chunks and then quartered and the red bell peppers were quartered after seeding and devaining.

All the veggies were placed in a large, covered plastic container and generously drizzled with a previously prepared garlic infused olive oil - instructions follow - and sprinkled with sprigs of thyme from our garden.

The chicken pieces were placed in another covered plastic container marinating in guava juice and 2 heads of peeled and smashed garlic.

On arriving at the park we found that all the pavillions were taken, but there were two picnic tables with their corresponding grills unoccupied....because they were in full sun.  We didn't let it daunt us and chose the one closest to the mouth of the stream, which was actually the one which would be in the shade shortly...as soon as the brilliant sun descended behind the trees up on the Kolekole Gulch.  Thank goodness there was a pleasant breeze blowing.

Anthony lit the grill using charcoal and small pieces of driftwood found by the side of the stream while Becky and I set the table.

 

The Grilled Ratatouille Salad ingredients on the grill

Grilled Chicken Marinated in Guava Juice and Garlic and the Grilled Ratatouille Salad Platter.

After grilling, the 'salad' was sprinkled with freshly ground pepper, parsley sprigs - I wanted flat leaf but Anthony got the curly from the garden....;-) -, sprigs of the thyme and Sherry wine vinegar.  It was delicious!

The dessert was chilled fresh Dragon Fruit....but you'll have to wait for that post a bit later since there is so much I would like to share about this unusual and colorful fruit.

How to make the garlic infused olive oil

I emptied a whole 34 ounce bottle of Italian extra virgin olive oil in my 3 quart crockpot along with the peeled cloves from 3 heads of garlic.  Mash each clove a little bit.  Turn the crockpot on low and leave it until the garlic starts turning golden - it will be a few hours - At this time turn the heat off and skim the garlic out of the oil.  Save to use in other dishes.  Delicious mashed with toasted crostini.  After the oil cools, funnel it back into the bottle.  Can be stored in refrigerator, but it will solidify and need to sit out a little while. 

Comments

[Sonia]

Donna, thank you!......That was one of my son's ideas and we used to marinate our chicken in guava juice and garlic when we ran the deli. Our clients loved our chicken sandwiches!

[donna]

Sonia,
This looks lovely! I'd never thought to marinate chicken with guava juice. I'll have to give that one a try.

[Sonia]

Thanks, Gret...in fact that is exatly what we said when we were saying our goodbyes in the parking lot....!

[Gret]

Sonia, That sounds delicious and also like a day full of fun, scenery and comraderie. It sounds like one of those "Why don't we do this more often" days!