Barbecue

Five-a-day barbecue

For a carnivore, a barbeque can easily become too meaty: a sausage, a lamb chop, a chicken drumstick, oh and one of those minute steaks too – it all adds up. Ketchup does not count as one of the five-a-day. Here are my recommendations for vegetable dishes to cook on the barbecue to break up…

Sardines stuffed with chermoula

Sardines are good value compared to other fish and their oil content makes them perfect for a spicy sauce and will help keep the flesh moist on the barbeque. Stopping fish from sticking on the grill can be a problem, but a light coating of oil on the skin and a fish holder will see…

Banana chillis stuffed with halloumi

Serves 4 This recipe requires the larger pale, green, mild chillis common in Middle Eastern supermarkets, but I have known my local supermarket to stock them too. When you choose the chillis, bear in mind you will be stuffing them so get the fattest ones. They go well with tomato salad, pittas and lamb kebabs.…

Vegetable kebabs

Serves 4 These kebabs need as much love and attention as sausages and will take a similar time to cook, so don’t leave them until the last minute, nor put them on when the barbecue is at full heat. Ingredients 1 aubergine, cubed into 2cm pieces (chop these first and salt them as below) 2…

Sweetcorn relish

This relish really goes well with barbequed chicken or home-made burgers. If you don’t like chilli or you intend feeding the relish to children, omit the chilli. Start cooking this as soon as you can on the barbeque so that you can eat it with your meat. The relish will save in a jar until…

Beach Barbeque

Math recently acquired a portable barbeque, the Weber Charcoal Go-Anywhere Grill. It has a pleasingly vintage shape, and is solidly constructed. We spent an afternoon at Homebase checking out the other portable barbecues, all of which felt rather neurotic and liable to fall apart in a complete collapse of nerve. The Weber has a vented…

Orange and carrot salad

This goes really well with spicy kebabs, tucked up beside a small pile of warm pitta breads. Ingredients 200g carrots, peeled and grated Juice of half an orange 1 tbs white wine vinegar or juice of half a lemon Salt and pepper Pinch of cinnamon 5 dried dates, stoned and chopped 1 tsp honey 1…

Tangy squashy tomato relish

This relish virtually makes itself and is a vibrant alternative to ketchup. Ingredients 8 tasty tomatoes, cut in half horizontally 2 cloves garlic, peeled 1 red chilli, sliced in half lengthways or 1 tsp of paprika 1 tbs red wine or red wine vinegar 1 tbs olive oil Salt Equipment Barbeque/campfire Tin foil Bowl Sharp…

Fennel coleslaw

Serves 4 My daughter and her little friends dare one another to eat the school coleslaw, so ingrained is the revulsion toward this traditional side salad. But a freshly made coleslaw with fennel is delicious with barbequed chicken or fish. Ingredients 1 bulb of fennel, outer layer and stem removed and finely sliced, save any…