Barbecue time

Pear & ham bruschetta

• 2 large ripe pears

• 4 slices rustic white bread

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 8 thin slices Parma ham

• 6 ozs (175g) gorgonzola cheese

• Mixed green salad

• 2 tbsp mustardy French dressing

• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Cut pears into ¼” slices (thickly)

2. Cut out cores

3. Barbecue over med hot coals – 2 or 3 minutes until lightly charred.  Set aside.

4. Place bread on coals – 1 to 2 mins.

5. Arrange 2 slices of Parma ham on bread.  Top with bear pieces, crumble over the gorgonzola cheese.  Toss salad leaves in dressing.  Divide into 4 bowls, top with bruschetta.

Mum note:  Makes a good first course

Fennel, Orange & Watercress salad

This is a fantastic summer or autumn salad – perfect to serve before, with or after a roast chicken, or alongside a simply grilled or barbecued oily fish, such as sardines or mackerel.  Sweet, sharp orange flesh and crunchy, aniseedy fennel are a great match, and the pepperiness or watercress really brings the dish out.

Serves 4  

• 2 oranges

• 2 medium fennel bulbs

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• A squeeze of lemon juice

• About 100g watercress

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Using a fine grater, lightly grate the zest from one of the oranges into a large bowl. Now slice all the peel and pith off both oranges.  To do this, cut a slice off the base of each and stand the orange on a board. Then use a sharp knife to cut down through the peel and pith, slicing it away completely, in sections. Now, working over the bowl of zest to catch any juice, slice the segments of orange out from between the membranes, dropping them into the bowl.  Remove any pips as you go. Squeeze out the remaining juice from the orange membrane into the bowl. 

Slice the base and tip off the fennel bulbs, reserving any fresh green fronds that are still attached. Remove any tough outer layers, then slice the fennel as thinly as you can. Add to the oranges, along with the extra virgin olive oil, a small squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Toss together well and leave for at least 10 minutes, to allow the fennel to soften.

Remove any tough stalks from the watercress and pat dry. Mix the fennel and orange again, add the watercress sprigs and toss lightly. Divide between serving plates and finish with a touch more black pepper and any reserved fennel fronds.

PLUS ONE: Try sprinkling the salad with about 50g lightly toasted flaked almonds or other nuts such as cashews or pine nuts. 

Aubergine & feta rolls

• 2 x 10oz aubergines

• ¼ pint olive oil (150 ml)

• 2 crushed garlic cloves

• Finely grated lemon rind

• 10ozs feta cheese (280g), cut into 8 thin slices

• Fresh basil leaves

• 8 sundried tomatoes in olive oil (drained)

• Seasoning

• 8 fine metal trussing skewers or cocktail sticks, previously soaked in cold water for 30 minutes.

Trim aubergines, cut each lengthways into 1cm  (½”) thick slices.  Arrange in a single layer on baking tray.  Sprinkle with a little salt.  Set aside for 1 hour to dray water out, makes rolling easier.

Rince with cold water, pat dry on paper.  Mix olive oil, garlic, lemon rind, seasoning. Brush over one side of aubergine slices then liberally pepper them.

Place a basil leaf or two & one slice of cheese, one sundried tomato onto each fatter end of each aubergine slice.  Fold over other end and secure with skewer. Brush outside of rolls with remaining garlic & oil. Barbecue for 5 – 7 mins each side until golden and tender. 

Tandoori Chicken

Serves 6

• 1 tsp (5ml) ground cardamom

• 1 tsp (5ml) ground cinnamon

• 2 tsp (10ml) chilli powder

• 1 tsp (5ml) ground coriander

• 2 tsp (10ml) ground cummin

• 5fl oz (150ml) natural yoghurt

• 2 tbsp (30ml) lemon juice

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

Combine the spices, yoghurt, lemon juice and a good seasoning of salt and freshly ground black pepper in a blender and once well mixed transfer to a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken.

Using a sharp knife make three diagonal slashes in each chicken breast and spoon some of the tandoori mixture into each of these, then coat the breasts all over with the  mixture remaining in the bowl.

Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.  Brush the chicken lightly with oil before placing on a hot barbecue - the coals should be white hot - and the  chicken should be turned frequently.

The cooking time should be around 20-25 minutes. Serve accompanied with wedges of lemon or lime, a tomato and onion salad, and warm naan bread.

Fresh fish for the fresh air

Diana Leadbe

Simplicity, it seems 10 me, is the whole point of barbecue cooking. Which is not the same as saying that that anything more inventive than a charred sausage is inappropriate. What I do not see the point of is using a charcoal grill to cook foil packets of things.

There are exceptions, of course. The camper in search of breakfast can be forgiven for employing the barbecue as the only means available of satisfying a whim for poached eggs.  On holiday there is time for such absurdities.  But the idea of using great ingenuity and Immaculate organisation 10 construct a four-course meal in the garden seems contrary to the spirit of al fresco cooking

Fish is the simplest of all foods to barbecue and one of the most successful. Oily fish large and small - are especially successful because they are self-besting and less likely to dry. Rows of tiny silver anchovies marshalled for cooking have great appeal.  Fresh sardines, once a novelty, are now widely available and excellent candidates for barbecuing

Fancy grilling racks, square or circular, with sardine-shaped baskets to hold the fish are fun. They are also another gadget to clean and store.  Instead, try threading the sardines head to tail on two skewers held about 7cms (2ins) apart.

Gutting and cleaning sardines is optional.  Some cooks do, others don't bother. Salt them generously before grilling, quickly and serve them with lemon wedges to squeeze over the fish.

Barbecuing is the best possible treatment for very fresh mackerel.  Clean them, make several slashes down each side, cutting the flesh about halfway down to the bone so that it will cook as evenly as possible.  Heat the grilling rack well and, just before cooking the fish, brush it with oil to discourage it from sticking.

Timing will depend on the heat of the embers and the size of the fish, which should be cooked quickly on a steady high heat.  It is cooked when it flakes easily from the bone.  Test with a pointed knife inserted into the thickest part of the fish.

Sea bass flamed with fennel

Serves six

• 1 sea bass, 1.5kg (3b) or more

• Olive oil to baste

• Salt

• Bunch of dried fennel twigs

• 4 tablespoons pastis or Armagnac to flame

• 1 lemon

Cooking a big fish whole is a special pleasure of barbecuing. Sea bass flamed with fennel twigs is a classic dish. Sea trout or small salmon can be barbecued, and it is one of the better treatments for large, farmed trout.  The same method applies to all, but the herbs can be caried.  Prunings from a bay tree are one possibility.

The fish should be scaled and cleaned. It will look particularly handsome if, in-stead of slitting the belly and gutting it in the usual way, it is cleaned through the gills instead.  The gill themselves and viscera can be pulled out through the gill flaps.

Rinse the cleaned fish and use a sharp knife to make diagonal slashes along both sides. Cut about halfway to the bone to allow the flesh to cook evenly. Brush the fish with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt.  

Set the fish on an oiled grill (a special fish-grilling basket reduces the risk of breaking the fish) and cook it for about 20 minutes, turning and basting it frequently with oil.  It is cooked when the flesh at the thickest part is opaque and flakes easily from the bone.

While the fish is grilling arrange a bed of fennel twigs in a large proof dish. Transfer the cooked fish to the dish.  Sprinkle the pastis or the Armagnac over the fish and set light to the spirit. If the twigs are laid loosely to allow a good draught, they, too, will burn, adding flavour.

Serve with lemon wedges and a rice pilau flavoured with saffron. Skewers threaded with parboiled new potatoes and fresh bay leaves and finished on the barbecue with a basting of oil or butter are another choice.

Freshness apart, the essential quality of fish for making kebabs or brochettes is that it should have firm flesh that does not easily disintegrate.  Monkfish is ideal, as are scallops, and large uncooked prawns in their shells.  The oil-based equivalent of snail butter makes a marinade that will be hard to better.

Monkfish kebabs

Serves four

• 600 g (1¼ lb) monkfish fillet

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Cut the monkfish into large cubes.  Crush the garlic and mix it with the salt, lemon juice, oil and all but one tablespoon of the parsley. Stir in the cubed fish and leave it to marinate for about 10 minutes before draining the cubes and threading them on to flat-bladed skewers. Grill them over charcoal, basting once or twice during cooking.  Sprinkle with the remaining parsley before serving.

Pineapple Salsa

• 1 can crushed pineapple

• 1 large sweet onion, diced

• 1 Habanero chilli, diced

• 3 tbsp coriander

• Juice of one lime

Mix together & serve with tortilla chips for BBQ etc.

Sauce

• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped

• 2 ozs anchovies drained

• 6 ozs pitted black olives chopped

• 1 fresh red chilli – de-seeded & chopped

Process together.

Honey and Rum Bananas with Clotted Cream

Barbecue Pud….

Serves 6

• 6 firm, ripe, bananas

• 1 tbsp (15ml) lemon juice

• 2 tbsp (30ml) runny honey

• 2oz (50g) butter

• 6 tsp (30ml) rum

• 8oz (225g) carton of clotted cream

Cut out six squares of foil, large enough to wrap a banana in, then oil, on one side, very lightly.

Peel the bananas and place each one on a square of foil and sprinkle a little lemon juice over each banana.  Drizzle over the honey and the rum.

Cut the butter into small pieces and scatter over the bananas, wrap each banana up, quite loosely in the foil and place the bananas over a medium hot barbecue, turning them over once during the cooking time which will take about 15 minutes.  Remove the bananas from the barbecue, open out the foil carefully and top each banana with a really generous dollop of clotted cream - eat the banana from the foil.