BARBECUED food is more delicious and more fun than any other type . . . and a great way to bring the family together.
I have always said I’d barbecue everything if I had the time. And now I do.
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This week, Which? magazine released a top ten of foods you didn’t know you could cook on an outdoor grill, including cake, oysters and pancakes.
It makes sense, as everything we fry, simmer or bake in our kitchens today was originally cooked on a fire.
So I fired up my barbie and here are some of the interesting creations I rustled up. Give them a go.
Cheese
THE South Americans are the kings of barbecued cheese.
Provoleta, which is hard to come by here, is a delicious barbecued chunk of cheese served with chimmichurri, the South American barbecue super-sauce.
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To make your own provoleta, grate any hard cheese – a 50/50 mix of mild and mature cheddar works best – into an oven-proof dish and place on the grill.
For the chimichurri, take a handful of any green and fragrant herbs – a mix of chives and coriander is my favourite.
Chop your herbs finely, along with a clove of garlic, and mix with salt, a good slug of extra virgin olive oil and the juice of half a lime.
It is spectacular with any barbecued meat or on sweetcorn or jacket spuds.
Once your cheese is bubbling on the barbecue, spoon on the chimichurri and dunk away.
Personally, I don’t think camembert is particularly improved by cooking. But the box it comes in is very handy if you want to barbecue it.
Slice the camembert in half so you have two wheels.
Line the two halves of the box with tin foil and put a wheel in each. Add a sprig of rosemary and place on the grill until melted. Instant fondue.
You will need dunkers, too. Anything is fair game.
Chunky toast soldiers or crispy chunky chips, raw broccoli, asparagus, whatever you’ve got.
Pizza
IF ever there was a skill worth learning, it’s making pizza from scratch.
The ingredients are so cheap and with just a little practice the results can be so mouthwatering.
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Domestic ovens don’t really get hot enough to cook homemade pizza properly.
Barbecues do, but you will need a pizza stone or something flat and heatproof to absorb the direct heat from the coals and radiate it evenly into the pizza dough. Paving slabs, bricks and cast iron can all work.
It’s worth investing in a pizza paddle too but a flat (clean!) shovel can work.
Start with a simple marguerita and as you get better, add extra toppings like salami and chillis.
To make the dough, mix together 500g flour, 350ml water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp yeast and leave in a covered bowl in a warm place for a few hours, or ideally overnight, to rise.
Divide the dough into six to eight pieces and squish one piece flat on a floured surface with a rolling pin or your hands.
Ideally it will be round but the shape doesn’t really matter.
Spoon on passata and top with cheese.
Load on to the cooking surface with your paddle and put on the BBQ lid. It won’t take long.
Sprinkle with fresh or dried oregano to serve.
Cake
MY 11-year-old daughter Sable wanted to see if we could make a cake.
I didn’t think it would work but it was a revelation – literally the nicest cake I have ever eaten.
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It is best to wait until the coals have cooled a little so the heat is gentler but there is more room for error than you might think.
YOU NEED:
- 175g softened butter
- 175g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 175g self-raising flour, sifted
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
METHOD: Put all the ingredients into a bowl and beat with a spoon or a hand mixer for 1 minute, or until just combined.
Don’t beat the batter too much – just long enough to make it smooth.
Butter your cake tins and half- fill them with Sable’s mix, then place on the grill and keep an eye on them.
These took about half an hour. They are delicious eaten while still warm with loads of butter.
Marshmallow
MARSHMALLOWS cook brilliantly on fires but be careful that little ones don’t burn themselves.
Try to get your hands on the really big marshmallows. Luckily for us, our local garage does them.
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Simply whack one in an ovenproof dish about twice the diameter of the marshmallow.
You can make a cut in the top of the mallow and squish some chocolate down into the middle, too.
Again, you will want to wait until the coals have started to cool off a bit but just place the whole thing on the grill and close the lid.
Keep on checking but you will know when it is ready. If you have got the temperature right, it will puff up like a perfect soufflé.
Sprinkle with nuts to serve.
Fruit
FRUIT barbecues work surprisingly well. It smells absolutely incredible as it is cooking and gets so much sweeter and juicier.
Big chunks of watermelon grilled like steaks are a firm favourite with my lot.
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Pineapple can be a fantastic substitute for a beef burger for vegetariansPineapples can be cut into slices and flipped like burgers too. They are great for vegetarians as a meat substitute in a bun with cheese.
Lemons and limes are great natural flavour enhancers – a quick squish can work wonders for barbecued meats.
If you halve and grill them first, they look sexier and give up their juice more easily.
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Apples and pears cook really well. An apple on a skewer will keep little ones happy for ages and is less likely to burn mouths than a marshmallow.
Bananas can be sliced lengthwise, stuffed with chocolate and placed on the grill until the chocolate has melted into a gooey banana mush.
Kids love them and they are great with a slug of rum for the grown-ups.
Alex James cooks Chimichurri steak flatbreads on the BBQ
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