Best BBQ Recipes

The Perfect Steak

2012-02-05T18:43:00.000Z

What better way to end the weekend than with delicious steak and chips!

The perfect steak, grilled medium rare. No need to interfere with it. Olive oil, crushed black pepper, sea salt, simple and delicious!

Grill, turn, grill, stand and serve!

Absolutely bloomin delicious :)

Just wish I had some fresh horseradish for a sauce on the side. Instead I'm serving this one with a tasty sauce made from mushrooms, onion, creme fraiche and garlic mmmmm.

The Perfect Steak

Cheers!

Lamb Kebabs - Again!

2012-02-04T17:48:00.000Z

With snow forecast for London on this cold Saturday evening, I thought what better way to prepare for the elements than by firing up the Weber Kettle BBQ and trying out a new lamb kebab marinade.

For this mainade I thought I'd try the following ingredients:

Olive oil
Worcester sauce
Redcurrant jelly
Mint jelly
Lemon juice (1 freshly squeezed)
Chillies (2 crushed bird eye)
Crushed black pepper
Cumin
Paprika

Cover and marinade for a few hours, or overnight if possible - here's a pictuire of the lamb, cubed and in the marinade.

Lamb in the marinade

Pictures of the finished kebabs with BBQ roasted (lid down) vegetables to follow later

Already they smell amazing!

Here's the Weber fired up in the snow:

weber in snow

And the snow continues to fall!

Lets lift the lid for a moment. Here's a pic of the lamb kebabs mid grilling!

Lamb kebabs on the BBQ

And here's a pic of the kebabs straight off the grill! Cover and stand for 10 minutes.

Skewered up lamb kebabs

Here's a plate of tasty lamb kebabs straight off the skewer - simply delicious

BBQ lamb kebabs

And served up in a wrap!

Lamb kebabs with grilled vegetables in a wrap! Delicious!

Goats cheese wrapped in pancetta

2012-02-02T21:08:00.004Z

Anybody who's been to my house for a barbie will have tasted this starter.

Delicious goats cheese, wrapped in pancetta, tossed in oil and covered with garlic and black pepper.

Skewered and grilled in a tray (or you'll loose it through the grill) for 10 minutes until the goats cheese starts to escape and ooze out. Absolutely delicious!!

The perfect BBQ starter!

Goats cheese wrapped in pancetta

BBQ sweet potatoes

2012-01-25T21:07:00.001Z

Many people avoid these because they're either too soft or they don't taste that great, or they don't know what to do with them, or maybe never tried them; but I have to say, that when well prepared, sweet potatoes are absolutely bloomin delicious!

Delicious sweet potatoes

Here's the best way to prepare them:

cut to shape (these pictured above are nice chunky rounds).
place flat in a foil parcel, drizzel and cover with olive oil.
sprinkle with rock salt, crushed black pepper, garlic and thyme and fold to make a parcel, 1 layer deep.

Place the foil parcel over indirect heat, lid down (or in an oven) for 10 minutes to soften.

Transfer to the grill for 3 minutes to add some colour.

That's it! Done and delicious!

Duck on sweet potato planks

2012-01-22T13:49:00.000Z

Delicious duck breast, marinaded in orange, soy and honey - served on seasoned BBQd sweet potatoes.

This dish simply can't fail, and it tastes as good as it looks. Absolutely mouthwatering!

Grilled duck breast on sweet potato planks

After placing slits in the skin, leave to marinade in the ingredients listed above for a few hours, or better still, in the fridge overnight.

Salt well and grill for about 4 minutes with the skin side down, then 5 minutes on the other. Cover and stand for 5 minutes before slicing and serving on delicious planks of seasoned sweet potatoes!

Next time I'll go into some more detail on grilling the sweet potato to perfection!

January's Lamb kebabs

2012-01-20T20:12:00.002Z

The temperatures may have dropped in London but It's never too chilly to fire up the barbie and cook up some delicious lamb kebabs!

What could better than a plate of couscous piled high with delicious lamb kebabs?

Lamb kebabs on a bed of garlicky couscous

I marinaded these amazing kebabs in:

red wine
worcester sauce
garlic
olive oil
harissa paste

Grilled for 10 minutes - delicious!!

After about 8 minutes of grilling indirect, move directly over the flame to add some colour and flavour.

I used the juices from the lamb plus garlic to add flavour to the couscous!

New BBQ Lamb Marinde

2012-01-16T18:22:00.002Z

This, believe it or not is half a leg of lamb, butterflied, marinaded overnight and skewered up and grilled for 35 minutes before standing for a further 10. All ready for slicing and serving with hummous, wraps and BBQ'd veggies. Simply delicious!

BBQ Butterflied leg of lamb - click pic to zoom in

For this marinade, I included a delicious salt free spice from Penzeys called Arizona Dreaming bought over from the US by an old friend.

Don't worry if you don't have access to the Penzeys spice - simply substitute with a mix of paprika, cumin, coriander and garlic

The glazed appearance comes courtesy of the olive oil and Worcester sauce.

I'm increasingly adding Worcester sauce to my meat marinades as it adds to both flavour and glaze!

Here's a list of the ingredients:

Olive oil
1 tsp of Penzeys Arizona Dreaming
1 tsp Harissa paste (Sainsburys is best with a delicious sweet texture)
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
pinch of Ground black pepper
Some rock salt just prior to grilling

Mix together, stab the lamb all over with a fork (to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat) and marinade over night if possible. Allow to come to room temperature prior to grilling.

Stand, slice and serve. Absolutely bloomin mouth wateringly delicious!!

Christmas Day BBQ part 2

2011-12-25T09:05:00.001Z

The ribs are on low and slow

The day began at 06:00, lighting the smoker and rushing in amidst present opening and back out in the pitch darkness to layer the charcoal.

Ribs went on (2 racks) at 07:30 after applying the rub. Depending on the temperature this lot should be good to go around 3:30pm leaving time to BBQ the rest of the food.

We're also BBQing roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, roast potatoes and of course stuffing!

Here's a shot of one of the racks ready to go.

Rack of ribs coated in mustard and dry rub

Feels like there's rain in the air!

Lets take a peek under the lid in a couple of hours...

Here's how its looks, only 3 hours in. Still a long way to go.

Smoked ribs - 3 hours in to the cook

Time to prepare the stuffing. This one is made with the following ingredients:

bread crumbs made from a lovely fresh Campagne baguette
3 onions, chopped and fried in garlic and butter
chestnuts
sausage meat with fresh apple
salt and pepper
handful of chopped sage

Add the fried onions to the other ingredients and mix well. I have left the bread quite chunky rather than chopping it too finely.

I'll put this on with 45 or 50 minutes to go - with the spuds etc.

freshly prepared stuffing

Time to pause for a moment or two

Chilled San Miguel

And for those of you who have never attempted roast potatoes on the BBQ - take a look at these. Par boiled for 7 minutes, cooked, lid down with goose fat and seasoned. Done in 50 minutes or so!

BBQ roast potatoes

Christmas Eve BBQ

2011-12-24T20:58:00.001Z

Its Christmas Eve, so in preparation for tomorrows Christmas day smoked rib BBQ, here's a lovely BBQ pork belly dish with a fabulous, rich, garlicky red wine jus on the side.

I bought the 2kg of pork belly from The Ginger Pig in London's Borough Market. It is possibly the best pork belly I have ever tasted. The crackling was perfect!

Cooked for 2.5 hours at 180 degrees after an initial 30 minutes at 220 degrees.

This dish is so easy to prepare and tastes absolutely amazing!!

BBQ Pork belly, just off the grill - click the pic to zoom in

The pork belly marinade

Check out my dish from last week for the marinade. Essentially I placed the belly (skin side up and dry) in a marinade of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and garlic overnight, uncovered in the fridge to dry the skin out.

This gives the belly a fabulous flavour while keeping the skin dry to make the most perfect crispy crackling!

BBQ Pork belly, sliced and ready to eat

The beginnings of the Jus

Making the Jus

I pan fried the bones from the belly with red onions and garlic for 30 minutes.

After that I added a glass of red wine to reduce, then a juice from the pork plus 500ml of stock.

This is the perfect Christmas eve dish!

Or any dish for that matter!

BBQ - Weber kettle BBQ

Meat - Pork belly from the Ginger Pig

Verdict - delicious!

Christmas Day BBQ

2011-12-24T09:50:00.001Z

What better way to begin Christmas day than by getting up at 5:30 am to remove two full racks of pork ribs from the fridge and apply a home made rub.

The plan is to get the smoker layered and lit by 06:30am and get the ribs on, once the temperature is set at 07:00.

Rub ingredients - freshly prepared on Christmas eve morning:

Brown Sugar
Onion powder
Paprika
Chilli powder
Cayene pepper
Black pepper
Salt
Garlic powder

And here's the rub all sieved and ready to apply.

Rib Rub

I'll smear the ribs with French's classic yellow mustard before applying the rub.

Catch up on the progress of my Christmas day BBQ here

Smoked Garlic

2011-12-21T17:24:00.000Z

Most of the smoked garlic you find in the shops is cold smoked, however rather than waste the remaining heat in my WSM, or let a bunch of garlic go sprout, I smoked this garlic hot at around 100 or if you're from the US 212 degrees.

To prepare the bulbs, slice the base off and place on an oiled, salted sheet of foil.

Drizzle in olive oil and add a sprinkle of crushed salt and black pepper

Smoke for an hour or two with the lid down, until they look something like this in the picture here.

Once they're done the cloves will pop out with very little encouragement.

Once they're done you can do what you like with this deliciously smokey caremalised garlic! Spread it on bruschetta, blitz it into a smoky aioli or just eat it as it is!

Here's the garlic on the grill. It could equally be done in an oven at the same temperature!

BBQ Pork Crackling

2011-12-11T11:12:00.001Z

Slow roasted on the BBQ lid down for 3 hours - the most perfect crackling ever!

Marinaded in soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and garlic, cooked lid down for 30 minutes at 220C then a further 2.5 hours at 180C.

Rubbed with olive oil ald salt just before cooking

Simple as that, absolutely delicious, crips crackling and moist tender pork.

The picture says it all!

Here's the trivet made from the bones I removed from the belly and some garlic bulbs cut in half

And here's the belly just before cooking

2.5 hours in I added some apple juice to the tray and after cooking strained the contents of the tray, added some red wine and reduced by half to make the perfect jus!

Prepared on a Weber Summit S650 on a cold December night
Pork from The Ginger Pig, Borough Market
(less than £8 a kilo too!)

Pesto, harissa and garlic stuffed chicken thighs

2011-12-09T10:30:00.001Z

The most delicious chicken thighs ever! Boned, stuffed with pesto, harissa, soft cheese with garlic, skewered up and BBQd to perfection

Here you can see the finished results - still skewered and ready to slide off or carve across the thighs and serve with wraps or pitta and a nice salad.

Ingredients:

Chicken thighs,
Pesto,
Harissa,
Soft cheese with garlic,
Black pepper and salt

Step 1

Bone the thighs - this is easy and takes about 30 seconds each thigh. Lay flat and place some soft cheese, a dollop of pesto and a topping of harissa in the middle of each thigh

Step 2

Roll up each thigh and skewer through with 2 long skewers. Don't worry if some of the stuffing comes out, just shove it back in!

Before grilling sprinkle with crushed black pepper and sea salt.

Step 3

Grill on the BBQ lid down, or shove in the oven for about 35 minutes.

That's it

Best BBQ Pork Belly

2011-11-20T21:24:00.001Z

It may be November, but it's certainly not cold in London so lets fire up the barbie for some amazing pork belly!

BBQ Pork belly

Pork belly has to be one of the most underated but at the same time one of the tastiest and easiest BBQ dishes to cook!

If you really love crackling - then this is the best dish ever. Perfectly crunchy crackling thats equally soft and delicious. This dish is amazing!

Don't worry if you're too scared to go out and fire up the BBQ in the winter - this works equally well in an oven ;-)

I bought this fabulous pork belly joint from The Giggly Pig Company and I have to say it tasted incredible!

Before marinding, and the night before I BBQ'd it, I poured boiling water over the skin and left the pork belly uncovered in the fridge overnight to ensure the best crackling!

The marinade

After pouring over the boiling water, I marinaded the pork belly overnight in the following ingredients:

soy sauce
olive oil
garlic
ras el hanout spice
rice wine vinegar

When you marinade the pork - keep it skin side up so the marinade completely covers the base and sides without getting the skin wet.

The Grilling

To BBQ the pork, I placed it upon a garlic trivet composed of 6 half bulbs to both add flavour (plus contribute to the jus later) and prevent the pork sticking to the base of the tray on the barbie:

Also, just before cooking, rub in some olive oil to the skin along with some freshly crushed salt.

I BBQ'd the pork belly for 2.5 hours at roughly 180 degrees. After 1.5 hours I started basting the pork belly every 20 minutes or so to crisp up the skin.

I used the garlic and the sauce in the tray, with some additional red wine to make a tasty jou.

BBQ Pork Belly

Absoultely delicious! I served with caremalised carrots with garlic, crushed potatoes and apple sauce!

Here's a closeup of the carrots and garlic - BBQ'd for 50 minutes with olive oil and garlic.

Caremalised carrots with garlic

Smoked ribs with garlic

2011-11-06T20:26:00.005Z

After 7 hours of smoking - here are the results. Incredibly smokey and tender ribs!

Spare ribs smoked over apple with garlic BBQ roasties and smoked garlic dip - absolutely delicious!

The finished ribs. Check this mornings rib prep post here to see how they were prepared.

Delicious smoked spare ribs

The roasties were BBQ'd for 1 hour and 15 minutes with duck fat, salt, pepper, paprika and a bulb of garlic. Roasties just don't get any better than this!

bbq roasties

And here's the smoked garlic dip. I'll post up the process for this one up separately in a minute

smoked garlic dip

Rib rub ingredients

Incase you can't find the rub ingredients on my blog - here they are once more:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne

I normally get the ribs out of the fridge a couple of hours before smoking - just to bring to room temperature. You don't need the rub to be on any longer than this.

Cover the ribs with mild mustard and pat the rub on - covering all sides.

Soon as the temperature's right - put them on and keep the lid down for at least 2.5 hours without peeking!

Smoked ribs with garlic dip

2011-11-06T11:27:00.000Z

It's Sunday, it's November and although the sun is out it's a little chilly in London. So what better way to start the morning than by firing up the WSM smoker loaded with some big chunks of apple wood.

Here's the rack of spare ribs with my usual rub applied:

The Temperature on the WSM is a perfect 225f so on they go for the next 7 hours or so.

With a couple of hours to go I'm going to hot smoke some garlic to turn into a garlic dipping sauce. I'll use a few bulbs, sprayed with olive oil and the tops cut off.

Layered lumpwood with chunks of apple for smoke!

A few hours in I'll start to apply a tart wash with apple and olive oil.

Lid down, no peeking for at least 2 hours! Tune in tonight for the end results :)

Applying the mop

We're 2.5 hours in, the temperature is holding steady at 225f (or just over 100 in proper celcius) so it's time to take a first peek, apply the apple/olive oil mop and turn the ribs over.

Here's what they look like so far. They're a long way from done but you can see where they're headed!

Full rack of spare ribs - mid grilling

6 hours in

The garlic as been on for an hour - lets take a quick look

Smoking garlic

Caramelised smoked garlic

Here's the finished results in a later post - perfect smoked ribs.

Best Lamb Kofta on the BBQ

2011-11-04T18:16:00.001Z

It may well be raining in London but that won't stop me firing up the barbie and grilling some tasty lamb koftas on the barbie!

Spicy lamb kofta on the grill

These are best prepared the day before and stored in the fridge before skewering up. Don't forget to soak bamboo skewers for a few hours or they will catch on fire.

Here's a list of the kofta ingredients:

Minced lamb - 500g

Onion - 1 grated

Garlic - half a bulb, chopped

Honey - 1 tbsp runny

Harissa paste - 2 tsp

Ground coriander - 3 tsp

Ground cumin - 2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Black pepper - 1 tsp

Combine the ingredients with your hands in a large bowl. Divide in two, then four, six or eight depending on how long you want them and roll them out. Place on a chopping board, cover in clingfilm and refrigerate.

Once skewered, grill for about 8 minutes - turning a few times. Here's a shot of the finished dish. Delicious, spicy and fragrant!

Serve up with mint raita and anything else you fancy!

Fragrant, spicy lamb kofta

BBQ sweet potatoes

2011-11-03T21:40:00.000Z

BBQ sweet potatoes

The perfect accompaniment to any BBQ dish - delicious sweet potatoes!

The best way to BBQ these is as follows:

Season with salt, pepper and rosemary, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil. BBQ for 15 minutes in foil over the flame until they're nice and soft then remove from foil and place directly on the grill.

Keep an eye on them so they don't burn but make sure they get a good bit of colour - just like the ones in the picture above.

Season to taste and serve with your favourite BBQ dish.

Fabulously tender juicy sirloin steak

2011-11-03T20:42:00.001Z

Delicious Scottish Sirloin Steak

Great big chunky sirloin steaks. Seasoned with sea salt and crushed back pepper, along with a dash of Worcester sauce and olive oil. Grilled over charcoal for 3.5 minutes on each side. Absolutely delicious! Even the fat tastes good!

After cooking, stand for 5 minutes, covered in foil!

Sirloin steak, medium rare, a proper butchers cut! Delicious! I dare you to zoom in and not get ravenously hungry.

Planning Ribs and smoked garlic this weekend. Already ordered the ribs from my local butcher; going to pick them up tomorrow :-)

BBQ new potatoes with garlic

2011-10-31T21:02:00.001Z

The most astonishingly tasty garlicky roast potatoes, with rosemary and olive oil, grilled to perfection!

OK I have featured these before but they are simply amazing.

Par boiled for 7 minutes, placed in a tin tray with garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper and BBQd (or roasted) for 50 minutes, until golden!

Simply delicious!

BBQ Rump of lamb with garlic & rosemary

2011-10-31T20:46:00.002Z

Lamb with garlic and rosemary

Rump of lamb! This incredibly delicious, tender, garlicky cut of lamb is so often overlooked when it comes to BBQ'ing.

What could be better on this unseasonably warm halloween evening?

The secret is, lid down, indirect, low and slow lumpwood cooking. Below you can see three rump cuts, pierced and stuffed with garlic and rosemary, seasoned and drizzled with olil

lamb rump with garlic and rosemary

Here you can see the lamb rump, mid grilling when I lifted the lid for a few seconds to take a peek.

With a reduced load of charcoal, keep the lid down for 40 minutes or so until the rump becomes tender and starts to fall apart when picked up with your tongs!

Home made stilton garlic and chilli beef burgers

2011-10-23T20:59:00.001+01:00

OK, so everybody loves a burger. And we all love cheese! So here we have the ultimate home made beef burgers stuffed with delicious stilton, garlic and chilli and fired over lumpwood charcoal!

Ingredients:

minced beef - 1kg
onion - 1 finely chopped
cumin - 1 tbsp
garlic - 1 bulb finely chopped
chilli - 2 bird eye or similar
stilton - big chunk
salt & pepper to season

Stilton burgers on the grill

Begin by frying finely chopped onions with cumin, coriander, chilli and garlic and leave to cool. Combine this with beef mince and add salt and pepper to season.

For 4 servings, I divided into 8 discs and crumbled stilton onto 4. Press the discs together and firm up into 4 great big chunky burgers.

Burgers with stilton

The stilton burgers ready to grill!

We're on the grill!

Stilton stuffed burger with onion and fresh tomato!

As soon as you cut into this burger, the delicious warm stilton inside will pour out onto your plate. Simply fantastic!!

BBQ Lamb kebabs

2011-10-23T20:35:00.002+01:00

Lovely lamb kebabs, skewered up and cooked over lumpwood charcol on a chilly October evening. Absolutely perfect!

You can see the fresh coriander in this marinade. Click on the picture below to view the kebabs up close.

Delicious lamb kebabs

What I love about this close up picture is glowing coals under the kebabs plus the charred grate, together adding some immense flavour to those tender chunks of lamb!

Here's a list of the ingredients for these lamb kebabs:

Lamb - cubed 500g
Fresh coriander - a big bunch, chopped up
Cumin - 2 tbsp ground
Ginger - 2 tbsp grated
Garlic - 1 bulb crushed
Green chili - 1 seeded and chopped up
Garam masala - 2 tbsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp ground
Red wine vinegar - 2 tbsp
Greek style yogurt - 1 cup (125 ml)
Harisa paste - 1 tbsp

If you dont have all of these, don't worry - just throw in what you have

Cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, garlic - just a few of the ingredients

Grill indirect, lid down for around 14 minutes! These kebabs are absolutely delicious, the lamb should be pink inside and they should look amazing!

You might need a large plate for these kebabs!

Amazing stuffed peppers

2011-10-22T21:53:00.001+01:00

If you like cheese, then these peppers are for you!

Peppers stuffed with:

breadcrumbs
garlic
aged brie
grated parmesan
sun dried tomatoes
sun dried tomato paste
pesto
wild mushrooms
salt and pepper

The end result - peppers stuffed with cheese, pesto, garlic and sun dried tomatoes

Peppers ready to stuff

I only used the aged brie in this dish :-)

seasoned breadcrumbs with garlic and parmesan

Skewer the peppers with bamboo skewers and spread sundried tomato paste inside each one.

Begin to layer in brie, garlic, tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients

Pack in 2 layers of all the ingredients and sprinkle on parmesan then drizzle olive oil and place a dollop of pesto on top of each.

Grill for about 10 to 12 minutes then serve! Perfect :-)

Tandoori Lamb on the BBQ

2011-10-21T17:17:00.000+01:00

It's Friday night and normally I get that curry feeling. I do in fact have that craving for a bit of heat at the end of the week and although I fancy something spicy it's also a lovely clear crisp night! Perfect for a BBQ!

So lets combine the two and make some deliciously tasty tandoori lamb kebabs.

By the way - you don't need a tandoor to make these - any BBQ will do - just cook to one side of the flame so they don't burn.

Tandoori lamb over hot coals

The Marinade

I have so many versions - but here's a very simple one:

cup of natural yogurt
juice of half a large lemon
1/2 tsp of garam masala
1/2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp harissa paste. I like the Odysea varity
1 tsp mint jelly
squeeze of tomato puree

Cubed lamb, skewered up

The lamb

I use half a leg, butterflied, then cubed into big chunky cubes. Don't use pre cubed lamb as it's generally too small.

Marinade overnight if you can. If not a few hours will do fine.

Grilling

I'm using a tandoor but more often than not - I'll just use a plain old BBQ.

The advantage of this tandoor is twofold. Firstly, the temperature is incredibly high and secondly, with the oversized skewers buried deep in the coals, the heat passes up the skewers and cooks the lamb from the middle at the same time.

The shallots are there just incase any of the lamb tries to slide off into the coals.

These tandoori lamb kebabs cook in around 7 to 10 minutes, depending on how pink you want them.

Leave to stand for 5 minutes covered in foil before serving.

The Result

Tandoori lamb kebabs

And here - served up with extra garlicky couscous - bloomin lovely!!

Come back tomorrow - for traditional lamb kebabs on the Weber Kettle BBQ!!

The Best BBQ Duck Breast

2011-10-16T19:33:00.002+01:00

Just look at this amazing duck breast. Marinaded in freshly squeezed orange juice, a tablespoon of honey and soy sauce.

Deliciously crispy dark skin and perfectly pink inside. It tasts even better than it looks!

BBQ'd lid down on the Weber, set to one side of the coals for about 5 minutes on each side turning twice mid way.

Always begin duck skin side down on the grill

Leave to marinade for about 2 hours and stand covered for 5 minutes before serving.

The Perfect Steak

2011-10-16T19:28:00.001+01:00

Ribeye steak, seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled for 3 minutes on each side, turning and rotating by 90 degress every 90 seconds.

Leave to stand covered for 5 minutes, crack open a beer and serve with chunky chips!

What more can I say? This is BBQ heaven!

And here's a peek inside

Spicy Jerk Chicken

2011-10-09T17:26:00.000+01:00

Coming a close second to beer can chicken this is one of my favourite bbq chicken dishes ever! Monica, this one's for you!

It works especially well with thighs and legs! Click the pics above and below to zoom in.

The ingredients you'll need for this jerk rub are:

6 spring onions
2 Scotch bonnet chilies or 4 bird eye variety
2 tbsp of grated ginger (I blended the ingredients that you can see below)
Bulb of garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp allspice, ground
1/4 tsp cinamon
2 tbsp of cider vinegar
1 squeezed lime
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Olive oil - I prefer Karyatis from Odysea

If you're using chicken thighs, marinade them (after carving 3 slices in each) for a few hours and thread onto doubled up skewers to make them easy to turn on the BBQ.

You can do the same with legs. Personally thighs are my favourite!

Here's the start of my ingredients before blending:

And finally some delicious firey legs!

Finally, if you can't be bothered to make the rub, there's a Jamaican guy who sells a very nice 100 year old Jamaican recipe ready bottled up in Portabello market!

Enjoy!

BBQ Pork

2011-10-06T21:51:00.001+01:00

If you've never BBQ'd pork before - just look at these pics.

Forget the oven, this loin of pork with deliciously crunchy crackling was just begging to go on the BBQ.

BBQ'd indirect for just over 30 minutes after pouring boiling water over the skin, this pork turned out perfectly!

Sweet, juicy pork with perfect crisp crackling - BBQ heaven!

BBQ new potatoes with garlic

2011-10-06T21:27:00.001+01:00

This is simply the best way to serve up new potatoes. Click the picture below to zoom in.

Delicious new potatoes, BBQ'd with garlic, rosemary and a sprinkle of rock salt - simply fantastic!

I par boiled these potatoes for 7 minutes, placed in a tin tray with olive oil, rosemary and chunks of garlic and BBQ'd indirectly on the Weber with the lid down for about 30 minutes.

Best BBQ Ribs

2011-09-11T20:32:00.001+01:00

After last weekend's BBQ Ribs, my son Charlie complained that they weren't as good as the ribs he recently had in Smokey Joe's in Aruba.

I figure the key difference was that they had a sweet sticky sauce on them so in a bid to raise my game and my score from last weekend (5 out of 10) I smoked these ribs for 9 hours with the same rub as last weeks and applied a sweet sauce 1 hour before I took the off.

Here are the results - they tasted amazing!

Click the ribs below to enlarge - they look amazing full screen!

If you enlarge the picture above, you'll notice the pink smoke ring near the skin on these ribs.

Fresh off the BBQ

Oh by the way - apparently I scored 9 out of 10 for these ribs!

You can find the ingredients for the rub that went on the ribs here

Grilled Asparagus with Garlic and Pancetta

2011-09-08T18:45:00.001+01:00

What could be more simple and tasty?

Asparagus, wrapped in pancetta, seasoned with pepper and rock salt and griddled for 5 minutes with big slices of garlic, finished off with a drizzle of Iliada intense olive oil?

Absolutely delicious!

Smoked Ribs - day 2 - The Smoking

2011-09-04T19:13:00.000+01:00

Well - here we go!

First - 2 layers of lumpwood, unlit with a chimney full of lit charcoal on top, in the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker with 3 chunks of apple wood for the smoke!

On go the ribs. They've been in the fridge overnight with the rub and even before smoking they smell amazing! Here they are on the rack, over the coals and the apple wood.

The temperature is just right - around 225f.
On the WSM - the smoking zone is clearly marked with the grey area. As I'm using sugar in my rub - it's important to ensure the temperature doesn't go too high or it could burn!

After 2.5 hours - all looks in order!

Here we go - 7.5 hours later the ribs are looking perfect!
I would have left them in for another hour but everybody here is getting hungry - so they're coming off to stand for 20 minutes before serving.

Here we are - click the picture below to zoom in.
Smokey, apple flavoured - simply fantastic!

And a closer look!

One more thing -

Every couple of hours, I brushed on a tart wash made up of 2 parts cranberry juice and 1 part olive oil with a couple of teaspoons of the rub for goos measure.

I did add more lumpwood at the 5 hour mark (pre-lit with a chimney) and removed the top chamber, lid down until the smoking stopped - about 5 minutes :)

btw - you don't need a smoker to do these - any regular kettle (lid down) BBQ will do the job!

Smoked Ribs - day 1 - The Rub

2011-09-02T19:56:00.000+01:00

It's been far too long since I've smoked ribs - so tomorrow I'm firing up the WSM Bullet Smoker to cook some ribs low and slow!Here's some pics of the prep and the ingredients:The Ribs - Nothink quite like a large rack is there?

Here's a list of the ingredients for the rub:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne

And below - the ingredients all combined together:

Before applying the rub, smear the ribs on both sides with plain old mustard. I use the squeezy French's yellow mustard - its mild and makes for a perfect base.

Next, rub in the rub, all over and save the rest in an air tight container. Seal the ribs in a bag or dish and cover with clingfilm. Stick in the fridge and marinade overnight.

All done!

I'm going to smoke these in my smoker for around 8 to 10 hours tomorrow so tune in for the firing up of the smoker and the end results.

See the final smoked ribs here

Herb Crust Rack of Lamb

2011-07-17T18:59:00.000+01:00

This dish is simple to prepare, easy to BBQ and tastes amazing!

Step 1. Combine mustard and mint jelly to brush on the lamb before coating in the herb crust

Step 2. Prepare the herb crust by blending the following:

2 slices of stale bread made into crumbs.
4 Tbs. grated parmesan
Sprig parsley
Sprig thyme
Sprig coriander
Sprig rosemary
Drizzle of olive oil

Step 3. Cut the rack in half and season with salt and pepper

Step 4. Colour the lamb on all sides

Step 6. Once coloured (say 2 mins each side) apply the mustard all over then add the herb crust.

Step 7. Add back to the pan and put back in the BBQ/Oven for 10 minutes, turning once.

Why not add some seasoned crunchy garlic potatoes and delicious carrots.

Voila! The finished herb crusted rack of lamb! Remember to stand covered for 10 minutes prior to serving.

BBQ Duck Breast

2011-05-27T16:46:00.003+01:00

Tasty BBQ duck

Somebody asked me the other day: what is the best way to BBQ duck breast?

Here's the answer:

Step 1 - cut the skin

Make diagonal cuts in the skin (not through to the flesh)

Step 2 Marinade

I use, for 4 duck breasts - the juice of 3 oranges
Soy sayce - 1 tbsp
Honey - 2 tsp

Place the duck in the marinade and refrigerate for at least 3 hours

Step 3 - Grill

With your coals set to either side of the BBQ (indirect cooking), put the duck on the grill, breast side down for 4 minutes.

Keep the lid down

After 4 minutes - turn and grill for a further 5, keeping the lid down again.

After this time - move the duck skin side down over the coals for no more that 1 minute to colour and crisp a little.

Step 3 - Stand

Cover in foil and leave to stand for 5 minutes

Here's a close up of the end result before slicing

Step 4 - Serve

Slice and serve!

I served mine with baby carrots and asparagus grilled in garlic

BBQ Courgettes

2011-04-28T14:47:00.001+01:00

BBQ Courgettes with feta cheese and a balsamic drizzle

These round Courgettes look amazing and BBQ'd for a few minutes - they taste fantastic! They went really well with the feta, seasoned with flaked garlic, pepper and rock salt!

Vegetarian BBQ dishes don't come any easier than this!

Amazing chicken, spinach, garlic and chilli balti

2011-03-05T21:06:00.000Z

This is quickest and the best balti recipe ever! It's as good as any take out curry I have ever tasted! Just look at these pictures :)

Ingredients:

Onions 2
Spinach - a big bunch
Tinned tomatoes - 1
pataks balti curry paste - half a jar
Garlic - lots
ginger - big chunk chopped
Chilli - as much as you want :)
Tomato puree - to add towards the end

Step 1

Gently fry ginger, garlic, onions and chilli

Step 2

While you gently fry the above - blanch your spinach (thats 10 seconds in boiling water) the drop in your blender to await the ingredients in step 1

Step 3

Add the gently fried ingredients from step 1 above to the spinach in your blender - and blend!

And blended - what an amazing natural green colour - with a strong garlicky aroma!:

Step 5

Pan fry the second chopped onion with sliced garlic

Here'a the cheat - now add half a jar of Pataks balti paste (you can of course combine, ginger, garlic, cumin, fresh coriander, garam massala etc- but this is a quick version) and stir then add the chicken and put the lid down for 10 minutes or so over a low heat.

Step 6

Add the blended spinach, onion, garlic and chilli puree, stir in and simmer with the lid down for 15 minutes or so

Finally add some tomato puree and salt to taste - a quick and easy balti!

Click the picture for a close up!

Delicious!

Grilled Duck Breast in Soy Sauce, Honey and Orange

2011-02-28T18:29:00.000Z

A great duck breast recipe whether prepared indoors or out!

This one takes 15 minutes to prepare and about the same to cook.

I served mine with roasted balsamic vegetables, crispy garlic potatoes and a red wine and cranberry jus.

All you need for the marinade for 4 duck breasts is:

Freshly squeezed orange juice x 4
Soy Sauce - small cup full
Honey - 1 tbsp
Salt and pepper to season just before grilling

Gently slice the duck breast fat (not through to the skin) and marinade in the above recipe for a couple of hours.

Get a griddle pan nice and hot - with a dash of olive oil.

Griddle the duck breast - skin side down for 4 minutes, then turn for a further 5.

Transfer to a board, cover in foil and stand for 5 minutes or so.

And serve!

Tasty Tagine

2011-02-18T20:00:00.002Z

Tasty Tagine with chicken, potato, garlic, onions and garlic - lots of it!

Fancied a Tagine tonight so I thought I knock up this tasty saucy dish

Here's the original chicken tagine recipe posted elsewhere on the blog.

Meanwhile here are tonights pictures - Click to enlarge - this one's worth a close up look!:

And here - all plated up

Here's a list of the ingredients:

A tagine (or casserole dish or a heavy based deep pan - not aluminum)
6 chicken breasts - or enough to feed your guests
Water - 450ml
Bay leaves - 2
Onion - 1 grated
Salt - 1 tsp
Garlic - a bulb crushed
Saffron - a few threads
Olive oil - 1 tbsp (I always prefer Greek Olive Oil)
Potatoes 1 kg cubed
Coriander - 1 handful chopped
Thyme - 2 sprigs
Black olives - a dozen, pitted
Black pepper
Lemon - half squeezed

And here's a link to the other pics and procedure for preparing the tagine from an earlier post

Tomorrow - it's a new curry base sauce recipe!

Cinnamon Kitchen Review

2011-02-17T17:24:00.000Z

I recently went to the Cinnamon Kitchen in London and have been meaning to post a review for a while.

For starters I had a rather unusual sardine dish and for the life of me I can't remember what it consisted of, other than sardines of course.

From what I remember (blame the kingfisher) it was delicious!

Here's a picture:

The main course however was a different story. This dish was as incredible as it was original!

Described as "Char grilled rump of lamb, garlic and spinach" A truly fabulous dish with a price tag of £20. Not bad for a great setting, with great service and a fantistic, original menu

Here's another fantastic dish on the menu that night:

"Char grilled barramundi 'do piyaza' sauce"

Great setting, great food, great service - what more can I say?

Finally - here's a closer look at the main course menu:

Pork Belly Recipe

2011-02-12T13:34:00.001Z

Pork Belly with Noodles

I've only ever BBQ'd pork belly before but when I saw Delia knocking this one up on TV the other day I thought I'd have a go.

The end result? Amazing! This is such a simple (and cheap) but really tasty dish just look at this:

Ingredients:

Pork belly (I used 900g)
Dark soy sauce, 8 tbsp
Ginger - chopped - a big chunk
Star anise - 2
Cinnamon - 1 stick, broken up
Caster suger - 2 tsp
Rice wine - 6 tbsp
water - 2 tbsp

Begin by cubing your pork belly - just like this:

Add to large pan with soy sauce, water, ginger, star anise, and cinnamon

Cover, heat and simmer on a low heat for 45 minutes - here's my dish in progress:

After 45 minutes, turn the pork over and sprinkle on the sugar then add the rice wine. cover and simmer, turning every 10 minutes or so

The Pork should look something like this when its done!

Pork belly piled in a dish - delicious!

Serve on a bed of Noodles

Sushi Night

2011-01-23T08:28:00.000Z

Makes a change from a BBQ. Sushi is actually very very easy to make!

Chicken and Prawn Noodles with Garlic and Chilli

2011-01-14T20:51:00.003Z

Delicious, healthy, hot and spicy! What more can I say - the pictures say it all!

15 minutes to prep, 15 to wok!

ingredients:

- chicken breast
- raw prawns
- broccoli
- baby corn
- fresh coriander
- spring onions
- madrass curry paste
- fresh noodles
- garlic (a bulb)
- ginger
- red pepper
- ginger - 1 inch chunk

You don't have to use quite as much garlic and chilli as I have used here - but what the heck - it tastes way better that way :)

Step 1
Chop lots of garlic, chilli and ginger - see below

At the same time - get the noodles ready and place on one side. Prepare as much as you will need.

Prep the veggies:

- broccoli
- baby corn - quartered lengthways
- red pepper, quartered and sliced lengthways

plus (to add in final stage)
- spring onion
- coriander - chopped

Step 2
gently fry the above ingredients in sunflower oil - make sure not to burn - see below

Remove the veggies (plus garlic etc) and place to one side.

Add another tablespoon of oil then fry the thinly sliced chicken breast strips and prawns. Cook until just done then remove and add to the veggies.

To the empty wok add

- 1 tbsp of madras curry paste - for 30 seconds before adding:
- 150 ml water until bubbling
- 2 tsp light soy sauce

then add the cooked noodles and heat through.

Once the noodles are nicely heated and coated in the madras paste/water mix - add the veggies back in and mix thoroughly.

Serve just like this:

Enjoy!

Scrambled eggs with chilli, red onion and Parma Ham

2011-01-11T11:11:00.003Z

Once you start keeping chickens I guarantee that you'll never go back to shop bought eggs - free range or otherwise.

Here's proof - just look at the colour of these scrambled eggs, with chopped red onion, garlic, chilli and black pepper. Tastes even better than it looks thanks to 3 fluffy Gingernut Ranger hens!

Just have to ensure they stay well away from the BBQ!

BBQ Roast Potatoes

2011-01-03T21:00:00.001Z

Roasties don't get much better than this!

Par boiled for 4 minutes then BBQ'd with goose fat, garlic, a sprinkle of paprika, crushed black pepper and rock salt!

Crispy and garlicky on the outside - soft and fluffy on the inside. Really tasty!!

New Years Eve BBQ

2010-12-31T17:54:00.003Z

On tonights menu we have

BBQ Pork with garlic
BBQ Ribs
Spicy Chicken thighs
Lamb Kofte

As a starter - for one of the dips, I prepared spicy hummus with red pepper and feta.

On the side I prepared olive bread - lightly toasted with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of garlic. Here's a pic:

The ingredients for the Hummus:

- Chick Peas - 2 tins
- Odysea Red Pepper & Feta Meze - 1 jar
- Tahini paste - 4 tbsp
- Harissa paste - 2 tsp
- Olive oil - drizzle to get texture right
- lemon juice - 1 freshly squeezed
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Cumin - ground - 1 tsp ground

Just incase things get out of hand later - here's some pics of the lamb kofte - freshly prepared according to my best lamb kofte recipe here.

Here's the asparagus in pancetta:

BBQ Pork

2010-12-11T22:10:00.001Z

A warm December evening - perfect for a BBQ

BBQ pork often tastes a bit dry and tasteless. However if you get the temperature and timing right - BBQ pork can taste absolutely delicious!

Cooked for 1 hour and 45 minutes - this BBQ pork tasted amazingly tender, moist and delicious! The chicken thighs were a quick and easy addition to the menu - Marinaded, skewered and cooked for 25 minutes on the grill - impossible to go wrong!

Tasty BBQ pork with crackling:

On tonight's menu we have:

- BBQ Pork
- Chicken thighs peri peri
- Chunky chips

On the side I have some pork sausages and chunky chips

Preparation

Chicken thighs are often underrated - but they are undeniably tasty! I marinaded these in a peri peri rub (mainly chilli, paprika, garlic salt, garlic, pepper ) with olive oil for 2 hours.

I slit the thighs with a knife (not touching the bone) before marinading. Pre BBQing, skewer up so it's easy to turn and move the chicken on the BBQ.

Cook for 20 mins or until done.

Here's a picture of the thighs on the grill. Cooking indirectly as the oily peri peri marinade can result in flames!

Getting the temperature right for the pork:

I Grilled for 15 minutes at 250 degrees then after 15 minutes, dropped the temperature to a modest 220 degrees for a further 1 hour 30 minutes.

Total grilling time: 1 hour 45 minutes. Leave to stand in foil for 15 minutes after removing from the grill. Unfortunately my iPhone overexposed the picture below. The finished results were much better!

Here's a picture of the finished peri peri chicken! Keep skewered and covered in foil until ready to serve

Here's a picture of the finished BBQ pork!

Don't forget the chunky chips!

Total prep time: 20 minutes
Total cooking time: 1 hour 45 minutes (plus 15 standing)

Serve with wine, beer or whatever you fancy!

BBQ Pork

2010-12-11T22:00:00.000Z

A warm December evening - perfect for a BBQ

On tonight's menu we have:

- BBQ Pork joint
- Chicken thighs peri peri

On the side I have some pork sausages and chunky chips

Preparation

Chicken thighs are often underrated - but they are undeniably tasty! I marinaded these in a peri peri rub (mainly chilli, paprika, garlic salt, garlic, pepper ) with olive oil for 2 hours.

I slit the thighs with a knife (not touching the bone) before marinading. Pre BBQing, skewer up so it's easy to turn and move the chicken on the BBQ.

Cook for 20 mins or until done.

Here's a picture of the thighs on the grill. Cooking indirectly as the oily peri peri marinade can result in flames!

Getting the temperature right for the pork:

Here's a picture of the finished peri peri chicken!

Here's a picture of the finished BBQ pork!

November Evening BBQ

2010-11-14T11:28:00.002Z

A perfect evening for a BBQ

On tonights menu

- Asparagus wrapped in pancetta with garlic, olive oil and crushed black pepper
- Peri Peri Chicken (thighs skewered)
- Lamb kebabs
- Couscous
- Onions - skewered and grilled

Only an hour to prep and 20 minutes of wine fuelled dashing around. Why would anyone want to cook indoors?

Just a few pics:

Asparagus in Pancetta & Lamb Kebabs

2010-08-11T19:06:00.002+01:00

Quick BBQ side sharing platter using stuff I found in the fridge and kitchen

- prawns
- pancetta
- garlic (freshly sliced)
- Black pepper & salt
- Olive oil

And of course - what BBQ would't be complete without my legendary lamb kebabs.

Prepared after butterflying and cubing a leg of lamb.

BBQ'd for 20 mins

Leave to stand, covered in foil. Here's the finished dish! A huge pile of tender lamb kebabs

Latest version of Lamb Kebab Marinade Recipe

Natural yogurt - half a tub
Lemon juice - 1 squeezed
Mint jelly - 1 tsp
Harissa paste - 2 tsp
Pataks tandoori paste (2 tbsp)
Black pepper
Garlic - 1 bulb crushed
Olive oil - 2 tbsp

BBQ Chicken Thighs in Piri Piri and Lemon marinade

2010-06-27T08:31:00.003+01:00

Smoked these chicken thighs in a tasty piri piri sauce with added lemon and some fresh garlic.

Marinaded for about 6 hours in the fridge.

Using the WSM I smoked them for 1.5 hours around 250f. Wasn't sure what to expect but this was some of the finest chicken thighs I have tasted in a long time!

click the picture above to zoom in!

Here's a picture of the garlic dug up from the garden this morning - drying out in the sun! Tastes better than anything shop bought.

Ribs in the bullet smoker

2010-06-22T09:45:00.001+01:00

Six hours smoked at 225f - the best ribs ever!

Above - the finished ribs - piled in a dish - ready to eat!

Below - the rack of ribs with a dry rub attached. The ingredients for the rub:

- brown sugar
- white sugar
- paprika
- crushed black pepper
- salt
- crushed rosemary
- garlic powder
- ginger powder
- onion powder

Rub all over and place in a plastic bag. Leave in the fridge overnight.

Ready to smoke - speared with a skewer

Using a Weber Chimney to get the smoker going,

Ribs in and lid down at 225f for about 6 hours

Once the ribs are done, apply some BBQ sauce and put over the flame for a few minutes - voila all done!

More Lamb Kebabs

2010-05-17T09:37:00.008+01:00

I have to say these are possibly the best lamb kebabs I have ever made!

I used a slightly different marinade this time - here are the ingredients:

- half leg of lamb - cubed
- cup of natural yogurt
- juice of half a large lemon
- 1/2 tsp of garam masala
- 1/2 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp pataks tandoori paste
- 1 tsp mint jelly

Marinade the lamb for 10 hours. If you prep first thing in the morning then you'll just have to stick them on the grill in the evening!

I used indirect heat (about 220 degrees) for exactly 20 minutes.

Once they're almost done - at 20 minutes - place over the fire to add some colour for a few seconds on each side.

Take off the heat, cover in foil and stand for 10 minutes. I served mine with onion and garlic couscous.

Rotisserie duck

2010-05-03T20:50:00.003+01:00

Take one duck. Stuff with orange, crushed garlic and ginger. Rub salt into the skin and rotisserie for 90 minutes.

I set the 2 outside burners on high and started at 550f for the first 45 minutes.

After an hour or so, switch off the rotisserie and brush on some hoisin sauce.

After 90 minutes remove, cover and stand for 10 minutes. Remove breast, slice and serve with salad.

Testing the new Weber Smokey Mountain BBQ

2010-04-24T22:30:00.004+01:00

Here are some pics of tonights menu

Smoked pork belly - smoked for 5 hours

It's 7 hours and 30 minutes and the pulled pork shoulder is still smoking outdoors nice and low! I'm going to leave it for a few more hours as the temperature has stabled nicely. OK so back to the rest of tonights food.

Pork belly - smoked with hickory for 5 hours

Smoking temperature is just about right

Smoked Brisket - again smoked for about 5 hours

Brisket - cooked low and slow!

Orange peppers stuffed with cream cheese, garlic and chilli!

Peppers stuffed with cheese, chilli and garlic

Piri piri chicken

A quick peek - part way through

Perfect Pulled Pork

And finally - here's a pic of the pulled pork. I left the pork shoulder in the smoker all night and the weber smokey mountain maintained a temperature of around 215 - 220f.

Covered the shoulder in foil for an hour and finally pulled the meat off with a fork.The meat is tender and juicy.

I used a spicy apple rub on the pork over the same lumpwood and hickory smoke. Tastes amazing!!

I think that's lunch taken care of. Stuffed in a pitta with apple sauce :-)

A new addition to the family!

2010-04-23T19:55:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Weber Smoker!

It's my birthday next week but I couldn't wait to open this new smoker. It only took 20 minutes to put together and looks amazing!

Although I have the mothership (Weber summit s 650) with smoking capability - it's nothing on this charcoal powered dedicated smoking machine!

And here's the new smoker - wrapped up and ready for bed. Tomorrow I'll fire her up and test out some new recipes :-)

Time to plan what to smoke! Meat? Fish? Cheese? The dog?

Summer is here!

2010-04-10T09:04:00.000+01:00

OK maybe not summer - but it's not bad for England!

Time to fire up the Weber and start making the most of these light evenings. On the menu tonight we have butterflied leg of lamb, bbq asparagus in garlic, sweet potatoes, piri piri chicken and a bunch of other stuff!

Usual marinade for the butterflied leg - olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, crushed black pepper, paprika, garlic - all in 24 hours!

Butterflied Moroccan leg of lamb, marinated for 24 hours

BBQ asparagus in garlic!

BBQ seasoned sweet potato rounds

Lamb and Spinach Curry

2009-12-18T18:50:00.000Z

This tasty lamb and spinach curry has to be one of my all time favourite, authentic but easy to prepare curry dishes!

Here's a picture of the finished lamb curry

The ingredients you need are:

lamb
Spinach
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Turmeric
Black cardamom
Bay leaf
Tomatoes - 1 tin chopped
Tomato puree
Yogurt

Step 1

Marinade the lamb in a cup of yogurt with chopped garlic and ginger. Leave to marinade for a couple of hours or so.

Step 2

Blanch the spinach (200g) in hot water then puree in a blender. Put to one side.

Step 3

Add 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves and a black cardamom pod to oil and heat until the leaf starts to cook.

Add 2 chopped onions and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes

Step 4

Add 1 tsp of ground coriander and stir for 2 minutes. Then add half a tsp of ground cumin and after stirring, add some water.

Cook for a few minutes

Step 5

Add the lamb and all the marinade and stir in well. After 10 minutes add the tin or half tin of tomatoes plus some salt then cover and simmer until lamb is almost cooked - after an hour or so.

Step 6

When nearly cooked, add the spinach and season and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes

Here's the finished Lamb and Spinach curry once more!

Spicy Pork with Potato, Onion and Garlic Rosti

2009-11-28T09:33:00.003Z

If you have never tried pork tenderloin - this dish is dead easy to prepare and very tasty!

The tenderloin is prepared with a rub, then griddled for about 6 minutes each side before going into the oven in the griddle for 30 minutes on 350f.

Alongside the rosti I prepared a red wine sauce with shallots and mushrooms.

Pork tenderloin with potato, onion and garlic rosti - sauce on the side.

Ingredients for the tenderloin rub

Paprika
Crushed black pepper
Rock salt
Freshly chopped garlic
Chilli flakes

Step 1. Roll the pork in the rub while the pan is heating. Place in the pan and leave for 6 minutes without turning.

After 6 minutes, turn once then leave for another 6 minutes. If you have some shallots - place them round the edges so they start to soften and brown.

Pork tenderloin In the griddle pan

Pork tenderloin with shallots

Step 2. Right before you pop in the oven, place some shopped mushrooms round the edge then shove the whole pan in the oven for 30 minutes on 350f.

Pork tenderloin with mushrooms added

Step 3. Prepare the sauce

After 3 minutes remove the pork from the oven and the pan, cover with foil and stand for 10 minutes.

Add red wine to the pan with all the bits in and reduce. Next add some stock and 2 tsp of redcurrant jelly and reduce further. Thicken with cornflower if you like.

Red wine shallot and mushroom sauce

Preparing the potato rosti

For this slightly hotter version I grated potato then added fried onion, garlic and chilli plus salt and pepper.

Before adding the other ingredients to the potato, squeeze out all the water. Divide into rings, pack down place in a frying pan, cover with foil and cook for about 10 minutes each side.

Freshly Made Linguine Pasta

2009-11-27T17:02:00.015Z

Here are some pictures of last weekends pasta. It might make a bit of a mess in the kitchen but I guarantee it's well worth the effort!!

All the ingredients for fresh pasta are in the picture below:

Eggs
Flour (00 grade)
Olive oil
Salt
Optional - saffron water (just to add colour)

Step 1. Make a well with the flour and break in the eggs. Add the oil, saffron and a pinch of salt. Stir from the middle and keep stirring, bringing the flour in from the edges.

Step 2. Once you've got it all together, knead well on a floured surface for 10 minutes

The finished ball of dough is pictured below.

Step 3 . Using a pasta machine - roll out into increasingly thinner strips

Step 4. Roll back through the machine on the linguine setting (like noodles) then hang out to dry. If you don't have a pasta tree - try using something like wooden spoons - or even a plastic coat hanger might work?

Finally - cook for a couple of minutes, drain and serve. Fresh Linguine tastes amazing!! Check out the picture below

Fresh Linguine - click the picture above to enlarge

Lamb Shanks with caramelised shallots and red wine jus

2009-11-27T16:49:00.001Z

Slow Cook Lamb Shanks with Garlic

This is an easy dish to prepare and cook. If you like lamb, red wine and garlic - then this is well worth trying. The lamb is amazingly tender and falls off the bone!

Here are some pics - the recipe and ingredients are to follow.

Shallots, Garlic and Sliced Onions

Red wine, Shallots, Garlic and Rosemary

Enter the Lamb Shanks

The finished dish!

Slow Roast Lamb Shanks and Caramelised Shallots

Lamb Kebabs - new marinade

2009-10-20T19:32:00.002+01:00

Despite the cold weather I fired up the Weber BBQ last night and tested my new Lamb Kebab marinade.

To accompany the kebabs I prepared a bed of couscous garlic and onion - here's a picture of the kebabs on the BBQ grilling nicely:

Lamb kebabs on the grill - click picture to enlarge

Ingredients for the lamb kebab marinade:

cup of natural yogurt
harissa paste - 2 tsp
redcurrant jelly - 1 tbsp
garlic - half bulb crushed
lemon juice
tandoori paste - 2 tsp (pataks)

Directions:

Mix all the above ingredients together and add cubed lamb. Refrigerate for a few hours then take out and skewer up a couple of hours before bbqing.

BBQ on indirect heat, lid down for 15 minutes then remove, stand and cover for 10 minutes - allowing time to prepare the couscous.

Preparing the garlic and onion couscous:

Fry 1 chopped onion with 1 bulb of garlic and put to one side

prepare the couscous then add to the onion and garlic mix. Add the juice from the lamb as it stands and stir in well. Season and place on a large dish.

Un skewer the lamb and pile on the couscous. Here's a picture of the finished dish. Get stuck in!

Lamb kebabs on a bed of couscous - click picture to enlarge

Lamb Tagine

2009-10-04T09:07:00.004+01:00

A Tasty Lamb Tagine with Garlic, Onion, Olives and Chilli!

This tagine dish is a piece of cake to prepare - perfect for a dark, blustery Saturday evening!

I followed my original lamb tagine recipe here but used green olives and added bacon at the end for a bit of extra flavour. -

Here is picture of phase 1, the lamb with chilli, cubed and grated onion.

If you fancy a chicken version - here's a recipe for chicken tagine.

Serve with chunky bread!

Lamb kebab marindade

2009-08-20T15:34:00.003+01:00

How to marinade lamb kebabs.

Before we begin - lets take a look at the end result!

Perfect Grilled lamb kebabs - click picture above to enlarge

The lamb kebab marinade I used to create the kebabs in the picture above is really quick and easy, and a slight variation on my usual marinade.

The marinade ingredients:

Harissa paste - 3 tsp
Natural yogurt - 1 cup
Redcurrant jelly - 3 tsp
Lemon - juice of 1
Garlic - several cloves finely chopped
Black pepper
Salt to season - just before grilling

Combine all the ingredients except salt in a bowl and add cubed lamb. Marinade as long as possible. Mine below went in the day before for 24 hours.

lamb kebab marinade - click picture above to enlarge

Pre grilling, take the kebabs out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature then skewer up.

Grill until done, turn to brown all sides - this should take about 10 minutes, depending on the temperature of your grill.

Grilling lamb kebabs - click picture above to enlarge

I transferred from griddle to indirect once the lamb took on a good colour.

Perfect Grilled lamb kebabs - click picture above to enlarge

When the kebabs are done - remove, cover in foil and let stand for 5 or 6 minutes. Serve with hummus, wraps and a nice salad. Very tasty!

BBQ Rib Eye Steak

2009-08-09T10:50:00.001+01:00

It doesn't get much better than the perfect rib eye steak.

Over an inch thick, nicely marbelled, seasoned with salt and pepper and served with chunky chips and grilled onions, peppers and home grown garlic!

Rib Eye - medium rare - click picture to enlarge

Grilling the perfect rib eye steak

The rules are simple. For a 1 inch steak I fire up the Weber to around 500f to begin with, then turn down the flames under the bars I'm going to grill on, leaving the other, indirect flames on high.

Assuming the steaks are 1 inch thick - grill as follows. If like mine above they are bigger, add say 15 seconds on each side for medium rare. If smaller, take time off.

Rub some oil on the bars then put the steaks on at an angle (10 o'clock) - grill for 2 minutes
Flip over on the spot for a further 2 minutes
Flip over and change angle (2 o'clock) - grill for a further 2 minutes
Flip over on the spot for a further 2 minutes

Once done - remove from the grill, cover in foil and stand for 5 minutes or so.

Serve with chunky chips and grilled vegetables (see picture below)

Grilled vegetables with garlic - click picture to enlarge

Lamb Tagine with Chilli

2009-06-27T07:31:00.001+01:00

This tasty dish consists of lamb, potatoes, Chilli, tomatoes and onion olives and paprika. It looks good and tastes even better!

Tagine ingredients:

Lamb (I used a pack of 3 small rump steaks from Sainsbury's cubed)
olive oil
olives - black pitted- about 20 (I prefer greek olives)
new potatoes - 750g cubed
thyme - sprig of fresh
apricots - dried - about a dozen
onion - 2 large chopped into quarters then cubed
3 large chillies plus 2 bird eye chillies

Lamb tagine close up - click the picture above to enlarge

Step 1 - Cube the lamb and place it in your tagine/dish and season with salt and pepper - leave for 5 minutes.

Add some water (about 400g), plus the garlic and the bay leaves, and gently bring to the boil.

Once it's boiling - add the onions plus the chillies and simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add the potatoes plus the olives, put the lid back on and cook for about an hour on a gentle simmer

Lamb tagine cooking - click the picture above to enlarge

Once the lamb is done, sprinkle on paprika and transfer to the oven to finish off and brown the potatoes.

The finished lamb tagine - click the picture above to enlarge

Serve with crusty bread - very tasty!

Best BBQ Ribs Ever

2009-06-22T18:54:00.010+01:00

BBQ Ribs cooked low and slow - a full rack of ribs - tastes amazing!

For the health conscious - you can see that the fat layer has been removed from this rack of ribs. Not tried them like this before - I normally leave the fat on the ribs because it tastes so good! Nevertheless these ribs still tasted amazing!

full rack of ribs - fat removed - click picture above to enlarge

home-made rub for ribs - click picture above to enlarge

Step 1

Prepare the rub for the ribs - my finished rub is pictured above. The ingredients for the rub are:

paprika
all-spice
light brown sugar
crushed black pepper
celery salt
garlic salt
garlic powder
mustard powder
cayenne pepper

Rub the mixture all over the ribs, cover and seal and put in the fridge for a few hours or over night.

When you take the ribs out they should look something like the picture below:

rack of ribs - ready to BBQ - click picture above to enlarge

Step 2

Heat the BBQ to around 250f - my Weber has a temperature guage that makes this quite easy. Prepare for indirect cooking.

Set the temperature to 250f

Step 3

Prepare a BBQ Rib sauce to mop on occasionally as you cook your ribs. This mop can sit on the grill alongside your ribs - to bubble away nicely.

garlic and beer mop for ribs - click picture above to enlarge

The ingredients for the garlic and beer sauce are:

bottle of beer (this time I used black sheep pale ale)
cup of white wine vinegar
bulb of garlic
light brown sugar
olive oil
chilli

As you can see in the picture above - there's lots of garlic in it!

Step 4

Place the ribs on the grill - along with the mop and cook for about 5 or 6 hours.

BBQ Ribs on the BBQ - click picture above to enlarge

Turn every couple of hours and mop on the sauce every hour. Once they're done I like to blend up the garlic and beer sauce that's left to make a nice pour on sauce or dip!

BBQ Ribs - almost done! - click picture above to enlarge

Serve with chunky chips or just eat them on their own. A full rack should serve 4 hungry people quite easily!

Paella

2009-06-06T08:35:00.004+01:00

I love Paella! It's so easy to make and yet so tasty! Here are some pictures of a tasty paella I made the other day with mussels, prawns and chorizo.

The finished paella dish - click the picture above to enlarge

Begin by softening mushrooms and garlic, then add some chorizo before the rice. Keep stirring for a minute then pour in some white wine.

Once the wine has been absorbed, add the stick and stir - then leave for about 14 minutes, only stir occasionally if you have to.

Add the mussels and prawns towards the end

Prawn tikka curry

2009-06-02T20:16:00.004+01:00

A delicious easy to prepare Prawn curry.

First time ever with this new experimental recipe! I was initially planning to use the sauce as a marinade for skewered prawn tikka but decided to add some cocunut milk at the last minute before turning it into a saucy curry instead :)

Time to prep: 20 minutes plus 1 hour marinade
Time to cook: 10 to 15 minutes

Prawn tikka curry - click picture above to enlarge

Ingredients for prawn tikka curry:

To fry initially:

red onion 1
garlic - 1 bulb (use half in the sauce below)
prawns - 24 large raw
olive oil

And for the sauce:

lime juice - 2 tbsp
chillies - 1 bird eye
harissa paste - 2 tsp
garam masala - 2 tsp
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
ginger - 2cm, grated
coconut milk - 1/4 tin
1/2 the above garlic

Prepare the marinade/sauce as follows

Combine all the ingredients except the prawns, onions, oil and half the garlic in a food processor. Add the prawns to this mix and marinade for an hour.

Next fry the garlic and onions. See below

Onions garlic and prawns - click picture above to enlarge

Once the onions are soft, simply pour in the prawns with all the sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Prawn tikka curry cooking - click picture above to enlarge

Serve on a bed of aromatic lime and coriander basmati rice!

Lamb kebabs again!

2009-05-24T07:45:00.005+01:00

Can't resist them!

Piled high on on a mountain of couscous with added garlic, onion, cumin and coriander!

Here's my favourite lamb kebab marinade.

Lamb kebabs on a bed of couscous - click picture above to enlarge

Lamb kebabs on the BBQ - click picture above to enlarge

In all the perfect quick meal to eat outdoors on a warm summer evening :)

Best lamb kebab marinade

2009-05-17T20:50:00.006+01:00

OK the results are in. My new lamb kebab marinade is absolutely amazing. I'm never going back!

Following the simple marinade recipe here, I cubed the lamb and left it to marinade in the fridge for 24 hours.

Once skewered up I cooked the lamb over the grill for 15 minutes and stood under foil for 10 to settle.

Lamb kebabs on the grill - click picture to enlarge

Lamb kebabs on the grill - up close - click picture to enlarge

Lamb kebabs with sweet potato - click picture to enlarge

The finished result!

After standing for 10 minutes, I served up the lamb with sweet potato rounds, cooked in a foil wrapper with garlic chilli oil, fresh chillies, salt and black pepper. The sweet potato cooks on the grill in under 10 minutes (around 200c).

With a spoonfull of couscous, and some mint raita on the side - its quick, easy and the best lamb kebabs I ever tasted!!!

If you don't follow the links - the ingredients for the lamb kebab marinade are below:

Natural yogurt - small pot
Harissa paste - 2 tsp - the one pictured below from Sainsbury's is the best ever - slightly sweet with bits of chilli
Mint jelly - 2 tsp
Garlic - freshly crushed - 4 cloves
Lemon - 1 freshly squeezed.

BBQ Cheese straws

2009-05-16T21:41:00.003+01:00

Warning - don't make these cheese straws (twists) if you plan on eating later!

Deadly cheese twists with pesto click the photo to enlarge

While preparing the stuffed Camembert I had some spare puff pastry so I decided to make cheese twists with pesto as a taster!

Crikey - that was a bad move - the cheese twists above were so good (a dozen in all) that I have had to shelve the stuffed Camembert and the lamb kebabs until tomorrow night!

Ahh well - thats just a bit longer in the marinade for the lamb which is OK but the cheese? Lets just see how it lasts!

Lamb kebabs - new marinade

2009-05-16T18:28:00.001+01:00

I normally use this lamb kebab marinade here, however tonight I'm testing out a new recipe with some basic ingredients from my fridge & cupboards. Simply:

Natural yogurt - small pot
Harissa paste - 2 tsp - the one pictured below from Sainsbury's is the best ever - slightly sweet with bits of chilli
Mint jelly - 2 tsp
Garlic - freshly crushed - 4 cloves
Lemon - 1 freshly squeezed.

After tasting this marinade - I think it would make an amazing dip - Wow - hot and sweet! Much simpler than my other marinades as well!

Here are the prep pictures:

Lamb kebab marinade - click picture to enlarge

Lamb cubes in marinade - click picture to enlarge

Sainsbury's Harissa Paste - click picture to enlarge

I'll be leaving the lamb in the fridge to marinade for a few hours before skewering up with red onions and maybe apricots and chillies - not sure yet!

Also planning on stuffing a small Camembert cheese with red onion marmalade before wrapping in puff pastry and BBQing later as well :)

Satay chicken

2009-05-03T18:34:00.004+01:00

Satay chicken on the BBQ - delicious, quick to cook and simple to prepare

Here are some pictures:

Satay chicken on skewers

And here's the chicken in the satay marinade

Satay chicken in marinade

Ingredients and instructions to follow :)

Tandoori chicken

2009-05-03T18:33:00.001+01:00

What finer way to celebrate a bank holiday weekend than with tandoori chicken served in pitta bread with salad and home made hummus!

chicken in the tandoor - click picture to enlarge

Ingredients for tandoori chicken marinade:

Yogurt - 1 cup
garlic - 1 bulb - crushed
ginger - 1 inch chopped
paprika - 2 tsp
lemon - juice of 1, squeezed
turmeric - 1 tbsp
garam masala - 1 tbsp
cumin - ground - 2 tsp

Cube and marinade the chicken for a few hours then put in a tandoor, or failing that, cook indirectly with the lid down on, or even grill in the oven.

Family BBQ

2009-04-26T19:36:00.001+01:00

Sometimes you don't have too much time to prepare so when you have 9 people coming to a BBQ at short notice - my advice is to get out the old favourites that are quick to prepare, cook and serve up!

In this case we have on the menu:

Goats cheese wrapped in pancetta
BBQ sweet potatoes
Butterflied leg of lamb BBQ'd
Lamb Kofte
Chilli prawns
BBQ onions and mushrooms
Mint raita

This lot will take around 1.5 hours to prep and less than 60 minutes to BBQ from start to end :)

Alongside these dishes we have some couscous, wraps for the lamb, salady stuff, bread and lots of wine!

Here are some pictures of the food:

Goats cheese in pancetta - click picture above to enlarge

Marinaded leg of lamb on the grill - click picture above to enlarge

Lamb kofte - just off the grill - click picture above to enlarge

The finished spread! - click picture above to enlarge

BBQ Trout butterflied with Garlic and Lemon

2009-04-15T21:24:00.002+01:00

BBQ Trout in garlic, lemon and fresh thyme

Butterflied trout in garlic and lemon with sweet potato - click to enlarge picture

When you can buy 2 whole trout for less than 4 quid - this dish is a must!

Begin with your trout on a chopping board below:

Fresh trout- click to enlarge picture

First cut its head off then use a very sharp knife to separate the bones from the flesh down one side. Repeat on the other side. If you have never done this before - just follow the bones - it is very easy I guarantee!

Once you have separated the bones - pull the backbone out - is should come out quite easily and cut the final bit out with a knife.

The finished butterflied trout should look like this:

Butterflied trout - click to enlarge picture

Place the butterflied trout on foil - oiled and seasoned. then Marinade the trout with the following:

Fresh thyme
Salt
Black pepper
Lots of crushed and chopped garlic
Olive oil

Butterflied trout in garlic and lemon marinade - click to enlarge picture

BBQ the butterflied trout, Skin down on the foil, lid down for around 10 mins, indirect heat.

Tonight I served with sweet, seasoned potato rounds - check out the picture below:

Butterflied trout in garlic and lemon with sweet potato - click to enlarge picture

Lamb Kofte

2009-04-13T18:53:00.006+01:00

BBQ Lamb kofte - click the picture to enlarge

On the BBQ menu tonight we have spicy lamb kofte with jalapeno houmous, mint raita and cous cous.

I prepared the kofte a couple of hours ago and they are currently in the fridge ready to be skewered up and BBQd.

Ingredients for the lamb kofte

Minced lamb - 500g
Onion - 1 grated
Garlic - half a bulb, chopped
Honey - 1 tbsp runny
Harissa paste - 2 tsp
Ground coriander - 3 tsp
Ground cumin - 2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp

Combine everything together. Use a food processor if you like - I don't bother - I prefer to use my hands (more authentic).

Divide into about 8 equal portions and roll out - see the picture below. Cover and refrigerate if preparing in advance.

Lamb kofte - click the picture to enlarge

Meanwhile - soak bamboo skewers in water for a couple of hours.

When ready - skewer up

Lamb kofte skewered - click the picture to enlarge

To prevent them falling apart (this can happen - but don't worry - they will still taste amazing) - I'm going to start them off on some foil that I have oiled.

Lamb kofte on the BBQ - click the picture to enlarge

These lamb kofte should take between 8 to 10 minutes indirect, lid down on the Weber. After about 5 or 6 minutes I'll roll them off the foil and onto the grill - still indirect to prevent flare ups.

Lamb kofte on the BBQ - click the picture to enlarge

In the picture above you can see I have transferred the Lamb Kofte to the griddle. Once they're done - move to a board and cover with foil for 5 minutes.

Lamb kofte done and ready to cover - click the picture to enlarge

All done! Simple, easy and tasty!

Lamb kebabs

2009-04-12T08:25:00.005+01:00

BBQ Lamb Kebabs - This is the kind of thing the Weber BBQ was designed for:

Lamb Kebabs - click to enlarge picture above

It is well worth going out in the rain for 15 minutes to prepare lamb and chilli kebabs.

I used the ingredients in the picture below and followed this lamb kebabs recipe.

Risotto with garlic, asparagus and crayfish tails

2009-04-09T21:28:00.007+01:00

This risotto dish is a synch to prepare and tastes amazing!

Ingredients:

Arborio Rice
Crayfish tails
Some stock (you can make by soaking sun-dried tomatoes and dried mushrooms)
A bulb of good garlic - chopped
4 Shallots
Olive oil (I prefer Greek Olive Oil)
Grated Parmesan cheese - a good handful
Crushed black pepper

To prepare

Gently fry the shallots and garlic in the olive oil until soft - don't let it go brown - just transparent. Add the black pepper.

Meanwhile prepare a stock and keep on the boil.

Back to the pan - add as much rice to the garlic and onions as you need - say 150g for 2 people and stir for a few minutes. If you have some white wine - chuck half a glass in and reduce.

Keep adding the stock - a ladel at a time - never let the rice dry out. Keep stirring and if you like - test the wine some more while you monitor the rice.

After 15 minutes, throw the prawns in and stir. Check the rice for doneness and then add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir in well for a minute or two, add and stir in the sun-dried tomato paste - again taste for doneness - you may want to season.

Looftlighter

2009-04-08T20:20:00.004+01:00

I came across this strange looking gadget at the Ideal Home Exhibition.

It's called the Looftlighter and true to the claims, it actually fired up my lumpwood in under 60 seconds.

This amazing BBQ lighter is carbon neutral, fast and gets the BBQ going in seconds. It is quite simply one of the best BBQ gadgets I have purchased in ages!

I christened the Looftlighter on BBQ'd Lamb shanks over lumpwood the other night

BBQ lamb shanks

2009-04-08T20:04:00.007+01:00

I often hear people say 'don't BBQ lamb shanks'. The main reason behind this is because they are best off cooked slowly and these people aren't familiar with the indirect BBQ technique - preferring flare ups and burnt food!

So BBQ them slowly!

I grilled the lamb shanks below indirectly, lid down for 90 minutes and served them with stuffed mushrooms and griddled asparagus.

To prepare the lamb shanks, I made some deep slits with a sharp knife and stuffed in lots of sliced garlic and fresh rosemary.

Before grilling, I covered with olive oil and rubbed in freshly crushed black pepper and sea salt.

The finished dish is pictured above - Garlic and Rosemary Lamb Shanks with stuffed mushrooms, griddled garlic asparagus and a red wine and garlic jus.

One last thing - I started this BBQ for the first time with the Looflighter

Stuffed mushrooms

2009-04-08T20:01:00.002+01:00

This stuffed mushroom dish is a quick and easy side to any BBQ

Prep is easy:

take 1 large open mushroom and add -

smoked bacon or pancetta
stilton
olive oil
chopped garlic
drizzle with olive oil
crushed black pepper
sprinkle of dried Provencal herbs or fresh thyme

I prepared this mushroom dish to accompany BBQ lamb shanks with griddled asparagus

Garlic Lamb Balti

2009-03-28T20:34:00.000Z

This dish is so good that you have to prepare it at least once every two or three weeks! Just look at this fabulous pan of rich saucy garlicky balti lamb.

Here's a garlic lamb balti that I made earlier this year. I'm following a similar recipe but adding jaggery and tamarind this time to temper the sweetness | sourness.

Jaggery and Tamarind I often use when I make a patia dish such as as prawn patia. This is a fantastic hot | sweet and sour curry dish :)

Best get back to the kitchen

Oh by the way - this tastes even better the following day for breakfast!

Lamb stuffed with garlic and stilton

2009-03-07T19:42:00.009Z

After last weekend's success with the lamb stuffed with garlic, feta and apricots I have decided to push the boundaries and go for - leg of lamb, stuffed with garlic and stilton, on a bed of stacked sweet potato and topped with flame grilled asparagus in garlic, with a red wine and redcurrant jus.

Here's the initial pics of the lamb in preparation:

the picture above shows a half leg butterflied and slashed
waiting to be stuffed with garlic and Stilton - click to enlarge

the picture above shows the leg stuffed with garlic and Stilton - click to enlarge

the picture above shows the stuffed leg tied and skewered
ready for oven or BBQ - click to enlarge

OK - it's time to light the BBQ

20:48 The lamb has been on the grill for 26 minutes and the sweet potatoes have just gone on! The lamb will need 10 minutes to stand.

I have just started the Jus - with water, stock, redcurrant jelly, red wine, garlic and some cornflower to thicken.

I think I'll give the lamb 35 minutes then bring in to stand and prep the rest of the meal!

__________________________________

Here are the finished pictures

Ideally I would have sliced the half leg into quarters and placed horizontally with the asparagus on top. However with just 2 servings - I cut the half leg in two and placed on the sweet potato with the asparagus on the side :)

The finished dish is below. In an ideal world, the lamb would be sliced in quarters and would then sit neatly, cut side up on the sweet potato with the asparagus atop!

Curry Base with a dash of Asafoetida

2009-03-06T20:30:00.002Z

The evolving perfect curry base sauce.

I haven't come across Asafoetida in a while but I'm using it tonight as part of the ultimate Curry base sauce.

I began with gently frying chopped garlic and ginger for a few minutes until soft. I then added the asafoetida which is quite a pungent spice with an onion-like flavour that mellows on frying.

In the picture above I have just added a couple of finely chopped onions to the garlic, ginger and asafoetida - to be fried gently for about 15 minutes.

Next step add the following spices:

ground cumin - 1 tsp
ground coriander - 1 tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
paprika - 1 tsp
turmeric - 1/2 tsp

stir for a few minutes continuously - it will soon look like the picture below:

To this mix I will add 1 tin of chopped tomatoes and half a tin measure of boiling water - stir, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile I have added the following:

tamarind (sour)
jaggery (sweet)
tomato puree
coriander
salt to taste

Hey Presto - after 20 minutes - you should have a fantastic base sauce looking like the picture below:

Tonight it'll be a Garlic Chicken Balti.

I'll fry the chicken in oil and a cup full of the sauce from above and add extra onion, garlic and pepper. Once the chicken is done - It will join the base sauce and voila! the garlic chicken balti should be ready!

Leg of lamb stuffed with Garlic, Feta Cheese and Apricots

2009-02-28T19:17:00.007Z

To begin with - here are some pictures of the finished leg of lamb - stuffed, rolled and skewered. Time to prep this dish - 15 minutes. Time to cook - around 70 minutes plus 10 minutes to stand.

Finished Dish!

Straight of the BBQ - looking good!

Got a bit carried away with the food tonight! I have half a leg of lamb, and a crown of duck that both need using up so I'm going to BBQ them together.

Ingredients for the stuffed leg of lamb:

half/full leg of lamb
dried apricots - 10
garlic - 1 bulb
feta cheese
black pepper
salt
olive oil

The lamb I have just butterflied and will stuff it and roll it as follows:

Step 1 - butterfly the lamb

Step 2 - Stab all over on both sides with a fork then stuff lots of garlic into small slits just like below:

Step 3 - add dried apricots and crumble on some feta cheese

Step 4 - drizzle on olive oil and add some freshly ground black pepper

Step 5 - roll and tie the leg with some cooking string - it's now ready to cook! Mine will be going on the BBQ tonight

Now for the Duck

To keep it simple - I'm going to BBQ the duck - lid down for 70 minutes. I have prepared a marinade using soy sauce, black pepper and the juice of 2 oranges.

Score the duck fat, pour on the marinade and remember to rub salt in before BBQ or oven cooking!

here's the before shot:

Duck in Soy Sauce and Orange - Click to enlarge the picture

On the side - I'm preparing sweet potatoes in olive oil, black pepper and salt along with a dish of mushrooms, onions, and garlic, topped with a sprinkling of grated cheese.

Mushrooms, Onions and Garic - Click to enlarge the picture

Time to check the temperature on the BBQ - 200c to begin with

OK Lamb and duck are in! - Both will need roughly 75 mins - but I will monitor as neither want to be over cooked! Both will need to stand covered as well for 10 minutes.

Mushrooms, onions and garlic will need less time - so I'll pop them in in about 20 minutes

Sweet potatoes will only need 15 mins - 10 in foil and 5 on the grill direct.

I skewered the lamb to make turning it easier - I took it out after 70 minutes and covered with foil to stand for a further 10.

Finished lamb with lots of garlic, feta and apricots! Click to enlarge the picture

Finally - below is a picture of some of the duck - it tasted amazing!

BBQ Duck - Click to enlarge the picture

Garlic Chicken Balti

2009-02-22T19:31:00.004Z

Tonight it's a Garlic Chicken Balti - with extra garlic and chilli.

Tasty chicken balti

I'll be following my quick balti recipe as I have started a little late tonight :)

If anyone is looking for a really quick, simple authentic balti then this is the recipe you should try!

My home grown garlic is still going strong and the new garlic in the ground is showing around 5 inches of shoots above ground.

Schoolboy Error!

2009-02-07T18:29:00.005Z

Just checked the temperature and major disaster! I had the BBQ ribs below on 250c instead of 250f! Bloody hell that's 30 minutes on twice the temperature it should have been! Centigrade Schmentigrade!!! AAGGHHHHHHHHH

The ribs are naturally slightly burned on the meat/fat side but apart from that they look OK. Luckily we don't have friends for dinner or I'd be planning a new recipe right now. So much for low and slow!

We'll just have to see how it goes - they'll still need 3 hours despite the initial incineration.

I can't even point the finger at Bacchus for this one, nor Pierre (for those that have met him), as I've only had half a glass :)

Back to recheck the temperature and brush on some of the mop/sauce

OK - here's the damage - I think the ribs are going to be OK but if you click on the pics below you'll see just a hint of the burn caused by the too high temperature:

BBQ Smoked Ribs - in progress - click to enlarge

BBQ Smoked Ribs - click to enlarge

BBQ Ribs in the Snow

2009-02-07T17:50:00.043Z

After a week of snow - the weekend is finally here and I have just fired up the Weber Summit-S650. This feels like a true victory against the elements - bloody snow - I'm sick of it now :)

Weber Summit S-650 - click to enlarge

Tonight looks perfect for a rack of ribs! It's near a full moon (waxing gibbous) and it's bloody freezing out there. I prepared a rub for the ribs earlier using the following ingredients:

Rub:

paprika
light brown sugar
crushed black pepper
celery salt
garlic powder
mustard powder
cayenne pepper

This is one I have used before and it can be used in prep for a few hours or overnight in the fridge. Here are some before and after shots of these amazing looking ribs:

Ribs from the side - click to enlarge

Ribs close up - click to enlarge

The rub for the ribs - click to enlarge

Rub the rub in well with your hands then store the rack in the fridge overnight or for a few hours if you don't have time.

The ribs are now in the Weber on somewhere near 230 degrees f. I have added some hickory wood chips on the side in the smoker. These were soaked in water for an hour or so before I put them in the smoker.

After about 3 hours or so, once the meat is tender and pulling away from the end of the bones it will be done.

I'll start adding a sauce mop in an hour or so - this is currently sitting alongside the ribs in a container to infuse the following ingredients together:

Beer
White wine vineger
Lots of garlic
Brown sugar
Chilli

Best go and check on the grill temperature :)

Roast Duck

2009-01-11T19:44:00.003Z

I must admit to have neglected my blog recently so I'm back with the roast duck that I prepared for Christmas Day!

Here are the pictures. It was a large Gressingham Duck and I have to say it tasted amazing!! I prepared the roast potatoes with the fat from the duck and served it with roasted vegetables - a quick and easy roast prepared in under 90 minutes :)

On the side I prepared a shallot and and redcurrant jus.

Full recipe details to follow - just wanted to get back into the blogsphere.

Click picture to enlarge

Roast potatoes

I parboiled these for about 7 minutes, then gave them a bit of a shake to roughen up the edges.

Use some of the fat taken from the duck as it cooks, and pour over the potatoes, then give them a bit of a shake. Add some crushed black pepper and rock salt - pop in the oven until they start to turn brown and crispy on the outside - about 40 minutes depending on the temperature.

They should be crispy outside and nice and fluffy inside :)

Click picture to enlarge

I am currently back in the kitchen preparing a lamb tagine dish. It certainly beats watching dancing on ice!

Heston's 24hr beef

2008-11-30T21:07:00.000Z

After seeing some discussion around this dish on the BBC food forum - I thought I would post these pictures of my attempt of this amazing dish with a fine 2 bone fore rib of beef taken a year or so ago.

The pictures say it all for those who know this recipe.

A perfect 2 bone fore rib

Get out the blow torch to set of the chemical reaction

After the blow torch

After 24 hours at 50 degrees C

An amazing joint!