Our first outdoor dinner of 2008: a photo essay

After almost five months of the most snow this city has seen in 35+ years, we are finally seeing warmer weather.

To set the scene, this was our front yard on March 28. The mountain is over 6 feet tall. I know this because my husband could not see over it, and he's 6'2". Our barbeque has been buried under the same amount of snow on our back porch.



Here's a photo of my lima bean on the same day we dug the barbeque out. That was also March 28.



Here's a photo from tonight. No snow! Shorts! Summer hats! Particles of food flung pelle-melle on the deck! (better here than the dining room floor, I tell you).



If it looks like dinner consisted of barbequed sausages and roasted red peppers with pasta, you'd be half right. The intent was there, but the barbeque gremlins were against us. We were able to heat it up, but once we flipped a dial, any dial (and not the OFF dial) the flame shut off, and we had to finish cooking our lovely barbequed meal in the oven. But I digress. The most important thing is that it looks like warm weather will be here for a while and we will be able to sit outside.



And so, our first dinner outside was a success. We still have snow though. This was a photo from yesterday. That same mountain of snow is a whooole lot smaller....



Sausages, Pasta and Roasted Red Peppers

serves 3 (or 2 adults and two toddlers)

Honestly, this recipe is super easy. We literally threw it together. Almost not worth writing down, but I will, for the sake of the blog.

Ingredients

4 sausages - 3 mild italian for us, 1 breakfast sausage for the lima bean, who is not into spicy right now
2 whole red peppers
2 cups rotini pasta (I'm guessing here folks, because I just fill the pot with what I think will feed us)
olive oil
pesto (optional)

Preparation
Pre-heat the bbq.
When hot enough, put the sausages and red peppers on the grill. Cook until the sausages are ready, and the peppers slighlty blackened
Boil water for the pasta. Put the pasta in the boiling water and let it cook until al dente.
When the sausages are ready, remove from grill and cut into 1/2" slices.
Remove the red peppers and slice open. Pare away the burnt skin and slice the peppers lengthwise into thin slices. Cut thin slices in half.
Toss everything into a bowl and add olive oil to season. Serve with a salad.

Next time I plan to add grilled asaparagus as well. I think it will add a nice flavour, and also colour.