What's on the Grill: 73rd Birthday Edition

Last Friday was my Dad's 73rd Birthday.  In order to keep him on his toes, or more realistically, speed up his next cardiologist appointment, his four siblings flew into town to surprise him.  Wow, that sounds so simple and sweet…which, it was, once the surprise was sprung.  The lead up, however, was tricky.

Dinner was on again and off again at least 3 times.  The plan was for Zoë and me to take Mom and Dad to dinner and then surprise them with 6 extra dinner guests.  However, Dad got sick, Mom got sick, reservations were on, reservations were off and then finally, I applied something I learned when I was three: guilt.

With both Mom & Dad on antibiotics and my application of a few gentle heart string tugs involving a theme of already purchased sea bass and a precious cake, the venue was changed to our house and the dinner was on.

Surprise!

It has been two years since all of Dad's brothers and sisters have been together.  For a big family, they are a close knit bunch, even though they live all across the country.  I can certainly relate their feelings to what I share with my own siblings.

Speaking of, as they made the rounds, Dad wondered if my bothers and sister were there too.  Nope, sorry Dad. We only surprise you on even numbered birthdays.

The family was great in helping us get ready. For starts, we had a couple hours of head start which led to a little beer tasting.  Although, I'm still trying to forget my non-beer loving Aunt's homebrew critique…"it's not as bad as that other one I tried".  My beer loving Uncle was quite pleased.  I'll take that as a win.

Admittedly, it was a little intimidating trying to feed 10 people.  Especially when the meal consisted solely of fish.

I had to activate all of the grills and while the gang mingled, we went to work.  When I say "we", I meant Zoë and me.  The rest of the group just proved that any age group can be corny in our backyard.

Here was the menu: Grilled Chilean Sea Bass with Red Chile, Allspice and Orange Glaze, Ultimate Planked Swordfish, Parmesan Breaded Scallops and mixed grilled vegetables.

The swordfish was a variation of a planked salmon I've done.  I opted to plank it, because it gave me a little bit more leeway while I worked everything else.

The scallops I've also done before, but instead of planking, I grilled them right on the grate.  The newest addition was the glaze for the sea bass.  I find sea bass really easy to grill and incredibly forgiving.  However, I wanted something more than just a quick hit of heat and the resulting tender flesh.

For the glaze, I went to Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill.  Although originally paired with tuna, I felt it worked really well with the sea bass.  It's definitely on the "do again" list.

Red Chile, Allspice and Orange Glaze

Adapted from Bobby Flay's Boy Gets Grill

3 cups orange juice

1 T rice vinegar

2 t ground allspice

1 T ancho chili powder

1/2 cup canola oil

salt and pepper

Pour the orange juice into a medium saucepan.  Heat and reduce until left with 1/2 cup.

Transfer the orange juice reduction, vinegar, allspice and chili powder to a blender.  Combine.  Run the mixer and slowly add the canola oil until emulsified.  Salt and pepper to taste.

The key to all of this was timing.  I placed the vegetables on first.  Since I used potatoes that were not parboiled, I needed the extra time to ensure they cooked properly.

The planked swordfish took the longest, so for the remaining fish, I used it as my benchmark: 20 minutes.

At the T-15 mark I added the sea bass.

Normally, the sea bass takes under 10 minutes.  However, this was two pounds of Chilean greatness.  The first side took about 6 minutes, and was then flipped to the position above to finish off (skin side down).  I applied the glaze frequently.

Finally, I dropped the scallops down at about T-10.

Amazingly, every thing came off together and was cooked perfectly.  OK, tell a lie, I would have preferred to have pulled the swordfish off just a tad sooner, but it was still good.

As Zoë and I regulated ourselves to the "kids table", we watched on with delight as all of the other "kids" and their spouses laughed and told stories of their youth.  It was a pretty amazing evening and we were excited to be a part of it.

Earlier in the day, we had picked up a cake.  Besides Dad's birthday, my Aunt and Uncle also had close proximity birthdays, so we commemorated all three.  When having the cake decorated, I made sure to point out to the bakery that font size was important. One of the birthday recipients was in his seventies and I wanted him to read it.  Thankfully, I didn't have to up the cake size to make it happen.

What a weekend.  Happy Birthday, Dad.  You are an amazing father and role model.  You also inspired my love of grilling.  That's double points, in case you were counting.