11 Plus Exams Forum

This is mistimed as the weather seems to be changing, but... Any recommendations for simple barbecue recipes?

I always do the same three things, which are delicious, but I'd like to increase my repertoire:

- good quality sausages or chipolatas

- veg kebabs on wooden skewers - courgette, pepper and mushrooms marinaded in olive oil and balsamic vinegar

- chicken breast kebabs on wooden skewers - chunks of chicken breast marinaded in olive oil, lime zest and juice, garlic and root ginger

I like all these recipes as everybody in the family eats them, and they are pretty quick and easy to cook. I don't like barbecuing chicken joints or big slabs of anything as they take too long and can end up with burnt outsides and pink insides.

Any other ideas please?

Minced lamb with a dash of favourite spices (amount to suit your tastes) firmed into 'sausages' around a kebab stick, you now have lamb kebabs.

We cut saysages into three and chop chicken breasts into similar sized pieces then thread them (alternately) onto a kebab stick and marinate in sweet and sour sauce.

The weather is set for good all through August. You will need more recipes

You will of course recognise that saysages are just the posh version of sausages and not my fat fingers hitting the wrong key - won't you?

Jacket potatoes.

Slice them almost the whole way through several times. Place a slice of onion in each slice, wrap in foil.


For pudding.
As the coals are cooling and you are eating place some chocolate in a foil tray or similar to melt. Then dip in fruit on skewers. For a nice adult touch pour in a small glass of baileys or similar.

Can also recommend Ainsley Harriots BBQ Cook book.

I do home made burgers - minced beef (apologies if you don't eat beef) with mixed herbs and Worcestershire sauce and a dash of tomato puree, or beef with cumin and fresh coriander with a dash of chilli are family favourites. I am not a fan of mixing breadcrumbs or egg into the meat as it changes the texture and taste. Chicken or fish marinaded in yoghurt and paprika and chilli, or amchoor (mango powder), chilli and salt (with a little oil to make a marinade) is also nice and takes no time to cook.

We also put bananas on whole in their skins and when they go black open and serve with ice cream and/or chocolate sauce. Another family favourite is pineapple chopped up and wrapped in foil with sugar which has been "bashed" in a pestle and mortar with fresh mint leaves - think this is a very old Jamie Oliver recipe!

Yummy ideas so far, thanks all.

Like saysage/chicken combo snowdrops. I often shop in waitrose and I'm sure they sell saysages...

Tinkers are those raw or par-cooked potatoes that you slice and put the onion in? How long do they take to cook?

Kenyancowgirl - yes, eat beef. All sound great. Where can I buy amchoor?

Anyone know any other good veggie ideas - e.g something with halloumi cheese or similar that works well and doesn't, for example, fall through the grill bars to oblivion .

I get mine from Spark Hill but the little Asian supermarket locally sells it too. I think even Tesco may have it in the ethnic food section.

If you buy aubergines and slice them along the length and brush with oil/herbs or oil/cumin and chilli, they grill beautifully on the bbq and are quite "meaty" in texture so are filling for vegetarians and also liked by meat eaters.

Thanks kcg. Will have a look out in the Asian supermarket. I like the grilled aubergines idea too, especially with cumin and chilli; we are all addicted to chilli heat in this house. Our favourite at the moment is, surprisingly, Heinz fiery chilli ketchup, which has a really good clean chilli taste and is neither too sweet nor too vinegary unlike many chilli sauces.

Stay with me here Peridot as it is a large lump of meat but it works - promise.

Leg or shoulder of lamb ( whatever's on offer) butterflied so you get a large flat and relatively thin piece of meat, marinated in natural yoghurt, garlic, salt and chopped mint. Slapped on a very hot bbq cooks very quickly. Sound expensive but feeds a lot of people.

Thinking about it I suppose you could do the same marinade with lamb steaks.

Also prawns on skewers marinated in olive oil garlic and chilli.

Personally I prefer metal skewers, especially for meats, the heat transfer helps cook them more evenly.

Fish are always good, I prefer to cook them in foil.