Another First...

Hubby finished work just after 3pm today and, as the weather was glorious, we decided that cooking dinner on the barbecue would be lovely. Our first barbecue of the year, fabulous! We quickly nipped down to Owain's Butchers in Aberaeron for some chicken, to grill alongside the sausages we already had in the fridge.When we got home, Karl went out into the garden to sort out the barbecue - a gas one, which makes impromptu decisions like today's a little easier. Meanwhile, I sliced the chicken and threaded it onto some bamboo skewers I'd left soaking in the sink, then made some garlic-and-parsley butter with which to stuff some mushrooms. These are one of our favourite barbecue specialities;

Barbecued Garlic Mushrooms

flat field mushrooms

butter

garlic, finely chopped

parsley, finely chopped

Blend butter, garlic and parsley together - as much as you need to fill the mushrooms you have. Spoon plenty of the garlic butter into each mushroom, spreading it out to the edges (you can do this in advance if you like - I often do it in the morning if we've planned a barbecue). Cook the mushrooms on the barbecue until the butter has melted and dripped down through the mushrooms, leaving tender flesh and a thick surface covering of garlic and parsley. The fat will cause the flames to flare up a little under the mushrooms, but the slightly charred underside is part of their charm.

Poor James was a bit young to eat much of the 'barbecue' fare (there's always another time), so he had a portion of his Root Vegetable Medley and then chewed on a bit of bread for a while.