Category: BBQ

Pork Skewers with Cabbage Slaw and Peanut Sauce

.Reading time 3 minutes.
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Marinated (though uncooked) pork is (still) a win!

Serves: 4

This is a really tight, really nice execution of this style of dish.

The pork is aromatic, full of flavour, sweet, sour and of course, chargrilled with a wonderful crust.

The peanut sauce is sophisticated; sweet and sour again, dry and with a slightly earthy undertone. Nothing like the crap you’d find in a bottle.

And a fresh slaw to round it off.

Everything compliments the other. A real balance of flavour.

I found this in a magazine and as long as you can start it the night before, you have the week’s winner on your hands.

No washing up for you.

Cook it and seriously enjoy.

Ingredients

Pork

½ bunch coriander, leaves chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
100gm ginger, finely grated (a good 6 or 7cm piece at least)
3 small red chillies, finely chopped
¼ cup honey
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1kg pork neck fillet, sliced into 1cm strips (we used pork loin though only to feel healthy)

Peanut sauce

1 1/3 cups (200gm) roasted unsalted peanuts
1 tbs sesame oil
2 tsp grated palm sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
Juice of 1 lime, plus wedges to serve

Cabbage slaw

¼ sliced red cabbage very thinly sliced
1 red onion, very thinly sliced
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

Method

You will need 12 metal skewers or soaked skewers; start the pork the night before.

  1. To make the marinade, combine coriander, garlic, ginger, chilli, honey and oil in a large bowl; add pork, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
  2. For the peanut sauce, process the peanuts and sesame oil in a food processor to a rough paste. Add remaining ingredients with 2tbsp of water and process until smooth and combined. Set aside.
  3. For the slaw, place all the ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine.
  4. Remove the pork at least 1 hour prior to grilling; preheat the grill to a high heat.
  5. Thread the pork onto skewers and cook for a few minutes each side until charred and cooked through.
  6. Serve all together with a squeeze of lime.

Smoky Barbecued Salmon with Paprika and Cumin

.Reading time 1 minute.
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Lordy!

Serves: 4

This would be a really fun dish to share; whole piece of salmon flaked on a big board, some salads and potatoes at the side.

Yum.

Cooked this on a grill plate inside on account of the 9c outside weather, though on a BBQ in summer, it would be a real winner.

Easy, healthy, tasty and dramatic to look at.

Another salmon number that you’ll love.

From Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s The Chef gets Healhy.

Ingredients

2 tbsp hot smoked paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 salmon fillets skin on (160gm each) or 640gm piece, skin on
Rocket leaves to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the BBQ, grill plate or a chargrill pan to high.
  2. Put the paprika, cumin and olive oil in a small bowl and stir to combine. Rub the spice mix all over the salmon
  3. Cook the salmon on the grill for a few minutes each side until cooked though still pink and starting to flake.
  4. Remove from the pan, rest for a few minutes and serve with the rocket alongside.

Marinated Korean-style barbequed beef with miso slaw

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 6

Another fabulous Bill Granger recipe and so easy. And healthy!

Another weeknight dinner locked in.

It is from his book Everyday Asian and thus far, not only are the dishes simple enough to be done every day, you’ll want them every day.

A few hours of marinating and the steak is so tender and ready for that sort of hot grill BBQing that makes this sort of marinade sing. Luscious.

The slaw is great too – really great – and pairs well with the steak.

It isn’t Rockpool (RIP 2016) though it is easily achievable, fun to make and nobody will complain.

Because if they do…

According to Bill, the kiwifruit is to help tenderise the meat. I guess so: I think it is a bit of a wank though you enjoy cooking and it is a bit out of the ordinary right? Plus people will know you’re a Masterchef inserting such unusual ingredients!

Ingredients

Beef

½ ripe kiwifruit, peeled and mashed
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar
3 steaks, 2.5cm thick (about 800gm) (We used scotch, though maybe rump?)
Chinese chilli relish (we used hot sauce)

Miso slaw

200gm white cabbage, shredded
200gm red cabbage, shredded
4 celery sticks, cut into batons
1 red onion, thinly sliced
(Or of course, being the middle of the week, use a bag of raw slaw mix from the supermarket)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white miso paste

Method

Beef

  1. Put the kiwifruit, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar and vinegar in a small bowl and combine. Place the mixture with the steaks in a ziplock bag and massage the marinade into the steaks. Set aside and marinate in the fridge for 3 hours or more.
  2. Heat the grill to high. Shake the marinade off the steaks and grill for 3 minutes each side.
  3. Rest and then slice on the diagonal.
  4. Serve with the miso slaw and Chinese chilli relish (or hot sauce).

Miso slaw

  1. Place the cabbage, celery and onion in a large bowl.
  2. Combine the vinegar, sugar, lemon juice and miso paste and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
  3. Pour over the vegetables, stir to combine and serve with the beef.

BBQ Thai Basil and Ginger Pork Chops (with Tomato Salad)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

There is this wonderful website (well, Instagram) I follow called What to Cook.

It is by a father/daughter team where he cooks really simple, fresh and fun food and she takes great photos of the food. They look like they have so much doing it and they are obviously eating well.

I have only cooked one of their recipes (this one) though I have a bunch more lined up. Its modern, bistro-quality food and during the week, that’s just fine.

I let this marinate for two nights before BBQing and together with the salad, a bottle of white we opened and my favourite travelling companion Nat, we had a perfect weeknight in.

Ingredients

4 large pork chops,
1 Thai chilli, finely diced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
½ c fresh thai basil leaves
Pinch of salt
Juice of 1 lime

Tomato salad

1 bunch butter lettuce, leaves torn
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
1 oxheart tomato, sliced
2 baby cucumbers, sliced
½ cup bean sprouts
¼ cup fresh mint leaves

Salad dressing

3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp palm sugar, grated

Method

  1. Place the chops in a dish, then add the chilli, ginger, garlic, salt Thai basil, lime juice, cover and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours (or as long as you want).
  2. Preheat your BBQ over a high heat. Once preheated, BBQ the chops until cooked and then cover with foil and rest for 5 miutes.
  3. To serve; assemble the salad on the plates and drizzle with the dressing. Add the chops and (in their words) “enjoy”!

Lamb marinated in yoghurt

.Reading time 3 minutes.
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Lamb sans glug.

Serves: 4

Super simple Matt Moran recipe I pulled from The Australian Financial Review in 2008! Gives you some indication of the backlog.

I was introduced to ras el hanout about 10 years back and it is one of the most versatile spice mixes you can get. Ras el hanout means ‘house spice’ and in Northern Africa and parts of the Middle East, every spice shop competes with their own version of it.

Some interpretations have up to 30 spices included in it.

You won’t find it at Coles though Herbies and David Jones (Food Hall) have it.

I haven’t made it myself though I have included Matt Moran’s take on the spice and once I am out of my current supply, I will give it a go.

I served the lamb with cous cous (which according to Natalie I cannot master and so she refers to it as ‘glug’) with chicken stock, almonds, currents and coriander and at Nat’s highly successful recommendation, roasted red onion pieces and baby carrots, sautéed in the pan with honey.

You’re welcome!

Ingredients

600gm lamb backstrap
100gm natural (fat-free) yoghurt
1 tsp ras el hanout
Bunch of mint, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp preserved lemons thinly sliced

Ras el hanout

2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp table salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground fennel seeds
3 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cloves

Method

  1. For the ras el hanout, combine all the ingredients well and store in an airtight container.
  2. To prepare the lamb, cut the lamb into 3cm pieces. In a bowl, mix the yoghurt and ras el hanout with half the mint. Place the lamb in the bowl and coast with the marinade. Marinate overnight.
  3. To prepare the skewers, soak some bamboo skewers in water for an hour (to prevent burning).
  4. Pre-heat the grill to hot. Place four to five pieces of lamb on each skewer and season with a little salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
  5. Grill the skewers for a minute on each side.
  6. Serve the lamb and scatter over the preserved lemon and remaining mint.
  7. Glug.

Neil Perry’s barbequed butterflied lamb leg with cumin, lemongrass and ginger, Italian-style coleslaw and vine-ripened tomato salad

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

I pulled this recipe collection from The Good Weekend magazine in 2010 and only managed to get around to cooking it last night.

It is a real, Friday-night treat. Marinate the lamb during the day, pull it out of the fridge when you get home, get the grill clean and hot and whilst chargrilling the lamb, prepare the really simple and elegant salads.

With a glass of red, this is – and was – a great way to say hello to the weekend.

Ingredients

Lamb

1 lamb leg (about 2kg) butterflied
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 lemongrass stems, peeled and sliced into fine rounds
3cm piece fresh ginger, chopped
2 tsp roasted cumin seeds, half crushed to a powder, the rest whole
1 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
3 tbsp chopped mint
¼ c extra virgin olive oil
Freshly cracked pepper
Lemon wedges to serve

Coleslaw

1 baby cabbage or half Savoy cabbage, finely shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to season
Extra virgin olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Shaved parmesan

Tomato salad

4 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into chunks
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to season
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Method

Lamb

  1. To make the marinade, put the garlic, lemongrass, ginger, cumin and salt in a motar and pound into a rough paste in the pestle. Add the herbs and pound for a further minute then stir in the olive oil and mix well. (You can also process in a food processor but don’t make too smooth a paste.) Spread the marinade evenly over the butterflied lamb and leave in the fridge for at least an hour to infuse, remember that the lamb need to be removed from the fridge an hour prior to cooking.
  2. Preheat the BBQ medium-high. Cook the lamb for about 6-8 minutes per side depending on your preference of rare to medium-rare. Remove and cover with foil. Rest for 10 minutes.
  3. Carve the lamb into 5mm slices and arrange on 4 plates, pouring over any of the resting juices onto the slices of lamb. Give a good grind of pepper, place a lemon wedge on each plate and serve immediately… with the…

Italian-style coleslaw

  1. Finely shred the cabbage.
  2. Put in a large bowl and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
  3. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar over, at a ratio of three parts oil to one part vinegar. Start to toss the cabbage ensuring that it doesn’t become wet and only moist.
  4. Toss through the shaved parmesan – the more the better people – and serve… with the…

Vine-ripened tomato salad

  1. Season the cut tomatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve immediately… with…
  2. A bottle of red wine!

Chicken Yakitori Skewers

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 2

This is a great dish with a really unique, Japanese-BBQ style of sauce.

Really easy to prepare served with rice.

Remember to soak the bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes before threading the meat.

Ingredients

¼ cup sake
¼ cup Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin (rice wine)
2 tbsp caster sugar
6 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm pieces
Ground white pepper to taste
2 green onions (spring onion), trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, halved
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 green onion, extra, thinly sliced diagonally

Method

  1. Combine the sake, soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
  2. Combine the chicken and half the sauce in a bowl. Season with ground white pepper. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  3. Thread chicken, green onion and mushrooms alternately onto the skewers. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the skewers to the pan and cook for 6 minutes or until cooked through.
  4. Transfer to a platter and spring with extra green onion. Serve immediately with the remaining sauce.

Middle Eastern Beef and Parsley kebabs

.Reading time 1 minute.

 Serves: 4 – 6

What a cracker; serve this with a full accompaniment of Lebanese sides and dips – as we did for the boys whilst up the coast on a recent holiday – and all your mince wishes will have been granted.

Ingredients

1kg extra lean beef mince
2 tbsp butter
1 x fresh parsley, minced
2 onions, chopped finely
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper (if you have seasoned/flavoured pepper, by all means)
Wood grilling skewers, soaked in water

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and carefully form long tubes of the mixture around the skewers, between 2 – 3cm in thickness. Pack tight so that the mince does not fall off easily.
  2. Heat a grill high and cook about 2 minutes a side until chargrilled and cooked through.
  3. Serve with freshly made hommus.

Penang Beef Satay

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 as part of a meal

The great thing about this recipe is that because you have to let it marinate over night, it has weeknight written all over it.

Prepare it after dinner on Sunday, pop it covered in the fridge, Monday morning, put your skewers in water and Monday night… fire up the grill to hot, thread your meat loosely, cook up some rice, chop up a few cucumbers and there you have the best Monday night dinner in the street.

How good is that!

Ingredients

4 spring onions
½ c unsalted peanuts
2 tbsp (Malaysian) curry powder
½ c thick milk from milk powder
½ c coconut cream
2 tbsp fish sauce
½ tsp turmeric
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 Rump steak, cut into thin strips
Sweet chilli sauce to serve

Method

  1. Process in a food processor all the ingredients except the steak and sweet chilli sauce and marinate the steak overnight.
  2. Thread the steak onto soaked bamboo skewers, grill and serve with the sweet chilli sauce.

Whole Fish with Roast Capsicum and Chilli Butter

.Reading time 2 minutes.

 Serves: 4

I typed this recipe up a few years back though haven’t made it since.

Next weekend, I will right that wrong.

Using whole ocean trout as your fish – truly the most beautiful fish in the world – and cooked in foil on the BBQ, when fish meets chilli butter and with perhaps some greens and potatoes on the side, something special happens.

Sure, it isn’t quite restaurant fare though it’s certainly bistro fare and it is a great recipe to dip your toe into the ‘cooking whole fish on the BBQ’ trick.

Of course, you could cook the fish in the oven by laying them down on baking paper, cutting two or three slashes into the thick flesh and baking, though I think the BBQ adds to it.

Ingredients

4 whole ocean trout
2 tbs olive oil, plus extra to brush
1 roasted red capsicum (or a jar of chargrilled capsicum, drained)
100gm unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Method

  1. Heat the BBQ to medium-hot. Brush the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. By all means, stuff lemon and coriander and garlic and butter and whatever else your grandpa included into the cavity of the fish. Wrap in foil and cook for 10 – 12 minutes, turning once.
  2. Meanwhile, very finely chop the capsicum then place in a small saucepan with the olive oil, butter, lemon zest and juice, coriander, chilli and garlic. Season. Stir over a low heat until butter is melted and well combined. Keep warm.
  3. Serve the fish with the capsicum and chilli butter drizzled on-top.