Borth Beach BBQ (recipes)
The weather has been changeable lately, but in the evenings the sun usually comes out and BBQ smoke is wifting up from the neighbours garden through the open office window. I’m dead jealous (they’ve got family visiting. The squealing of children running about and the laughter of adults having a cold beer echoes from the walls). However, preparations are underway for our 15th anniversary BBQ in Borth. With the British climate, beach BBQs are usually a once-a-year occasion, but this year it has to be extra special. Fingers crossed…
On the phone my sister assured me that the weather at the Welsh seaside is reliably sunny, so I started my preparations the day before yesterday. Her kitchen is small and she only has a tabletop fridge and a limited selection of spices. I therefore prepped what I could back in Stirling and froze the meats, marinades and dips so that they slowly defrost on the way. However, I don’t trust this method with seafood. Fish and prawns we’ll buy fresh on the day.
So here there are, a selection of round-the-world BBQ recipes:
Jerk chicken
No BBQ is complete without it. Based on a marinade used by the Arawak Indians in Jamaica who used it to BBQ suckling pigs over smouldering allspice wood (hhmm..) today it reminds me of lazy summer afternoons in New Cross and of course the Notting Hill carneval.
1 red Scotch Bonnet (Habanero) chilli (or a dash of red Encona sauce); 7 spring onions; juice 1 lime and some zest; 2tsp allspice; 1tsp muscavado sugar; 3 cloves garlic; 1tsp dried thyme (or 1 TB fresh); ½ tsp ground bayleaf, 1 TB oil; salt ‘n’ pepper
Use 1TB/100 g, marinate chicken overnight and BBQ or oven roast. Squeeze on more lime juice if liked.
Jerk marinade is actually more authentic out of a jar imported straight from Jamaica. I like Dunn Rivers. Thin it a little with lime juice.
Betty’s Kebab Marinade
Adapted from Judy Wick’s & Kevin von Klause’s inspirational ‘White Dog Café Cook Book’ , this is great for marinating steak, mushrooms and Halloumi cheese. Thread onto skewers with pepper, cherry tomatoes and onion.
50ml oil; 2TB soy sauce; 2TB lemon juice; ca. 1.5 TB Dijon mustard, 1 clove garlic; salt ‘n’ pepper
Keep basting while BBQing.
Lamb Satay
Based on one of many favourite recipes in Rani King’s & Chandra Khan’s ‘Tiger Lily Street Food’. For 500 g finely cubed lamb:
2 tsp lime juice; zest ½ lime; ½ tsp coriander seeds; pinch fennel seeds; 4 TB soy; 1TB jaggery; 5 black pepper corns
Grind the seeds, mix and marinate overnight. Drain and thread meat onto soaked bamboo skewers. Boil up remaining marinade and serve as a dip with shredded fresh chilli and spring onion.
Goan Fish Paste
½ tsp cumin; ½ tsp coriander; 10 peppercorns; 1 stick cinnamon; 4 cloves –dry roast and grind
2tsp paprika; 1tsp chilli powder; 1tsp jaggery; 2tsp grated ginger; 4 cloves garlic; vinegar to moisten
Make a paste and use to coat fish steaks before BBQing
Baba ganoush
(or “Aubergine caviar” – no kidding that is what it is called by posh London chefs!)
1 large aubergine – prick with fork all over and bake 200 °C for ca. 40 min until wrinkly and soft. Cool and scoop out flesh.
1TB lemon juice; 1 fat clove garlic; 2 TB tahini; 2 TB EV olive oil; ½tsp cumin; salt ‘n’ pepper
Whizz in a food processor.
Humous
1 can chickpeas; 1 fat clove garlic; 2TB tahina; juice ½ lemon, 2TB EV olive oil; 1tsp cumin; salt ‘n’ pepper
Drain chickpeas and whizz it all up. Or pick up a tub from the supermarket…
Chilli prawns
Marinate raw prawns in lime juice, shredded red chilli and oil and thread on skewers.
Sausages
Westmorland Services in the lake district is an oddity. It has the usual facilities (and prices) of a motorway service station, but it is run by the community. It has a farm shop attached where I picked up a pack of cumberland sausages and a pack of wild boar sausages for ½ price.
And there you have it. A bit of pitta bread, fresh salad veg, par-boiled new potatoes on rosemary skewers and corn on the cob brushed with cumin butter in foil packets and we are away.
As we drove up to my sister’s house, the boot filled with delicacies, the sky was a glorious blue and the sun caressed the horizon. The weather looked perfect, but as we got out of the car the wind nearly blew us over. Later that night, the gale whipped clouds across the darkening sky. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Tags: 'Round the World Recipes, Tag Index
Denni