BBQ'd Grouper and Shrimp

Red Grouper (Lyretail)

Wednesday nights are burger nights at the Olivas household. I grilled up some Motsiyas Burgers. You can see that post here. But I also grilled some grouper and shrimp and that's what this post is all about.

Many of you know I love to go fishing. Our last trip out to the southern banks of Guam, we did pretty well. Most of the fish went to the local market. But every fisherman also takes home a bucket of fish. That amounts to about 30 pounds. My wife Lupe and I are big fish eaters. Here is a photo of my take-home fish..

I decided, with Lupe's recommendation, strongly I might add, that I would BBQ that nice red grouper in the middle. 

Here is a better picture of it.

Red Grouper (Lyretail Grouper)

It would be plenty for us. It's about a 16 inch, 3 lb. fish. It would make a nice meal.

My grandson Jacob was over and he did the cleaning honors. I cut two diagonal slices on each side of the fish, just so the lemon and lime could penetrate better as well as the sea salt.

I cut up some coconut branches to lay on the grill. This is a local non-stick method used for fish. Grilled the fish for about 45 minutes over medium heat on my wood-burning BBQ pit. 

At the same time that I was grilling the grouper I was also grilling some marinated shrimp. I marinated the shrimp for about 4 hours using calamansi lemon, lime and orange juice, canola oil and salt and black pepper. This was kept in the refrigerator until time came for it to be grilled.

Marinated grilled shrimp.

After slaving on the pit for about an hour, it was all served up for my wife Lupe. I still held out in order to eat my Motsiyas Burger first. Then I had a little fish and shrimp. 

Here is the spread for Lupe. 

With this Lupe ate boiled banana in coconut milk as her starch (super delicious) and the thick, corn tortillas made locally.

Here is a picture of the aftermath....

Well needless to say, we were all happy campers who ate more than we planned on. But it was so good we couldn't help ourselves.

Looking forward to the next BBQ. That would be tomorrow. I have chicken in the refer all thawed out.

Until next time....

BBQ'd Oysters

BBQing or going to a BBQ is one of our favorite pastimes. You get great food, great company and generally have a great time. What's not to like? One of my favorite appetizers at any BBQ are BBQ'd oysters in their shells.

BBQ'd properly, and eaten island style, is a win-win for you and it's so easy. Here is what I do...

Cook the oysters with the larger part of the shell down on the grill. When you look at an oyster, of course the shell has two halves. One is larger and more pronounced than the other. You want to cook it with the larger shell half on the grill so that it will hold in all the oysters natural juices while cooking. If you BBQ it with the smaller, shallow side down, all the juices will drain out.

You will know when the oyster is finished cooking because the shell halves will separate. Do not overcook as this will dry the oyster meat out.

Once done, then pry off the top thinner shell half. Pour a little bit of lemon finadene and suck it all down.

The finadene tastes a lot better if you make it hotter by smashing more hot pepper in the sauce.

Go to my BBQGuam blog site for the recipe and instructions for the lemon finadene: http://bbqguam.blogspot.com/2011/04/lemon-finadene-guam-bbq-dipping-sauce.html

BBQ's oysters are a great sampler, or "chase-sa", as we say on Guam. It goes great with a nice ice-cold "cocktail" as well. Enjoy.

Until next time....