Three innovative BBQ quality recipes
Bored of the bangers, hamburgers, bread buns and beer that you seem to always purchase for your barbecues? We now have enclosed a few barbecue recipes which will have your friends and relatives salivating at the mouth and talking about your talent far and wide. It's time for you to roll out the red-colored carpet on your barbeque menu.
Marinaded Spatchcock Poussin
Ingredients
Four poussin (spatchcocked)
For the marinade:
1 bottle of ale (bitter)
2 tbsp essential olive oil
One tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons of clear honey
One tbsp paprika
Four cloves garlic, crushed
Two tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the sauce:
3 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
One tsp soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp cornflour
Poussin is a expression used to describe a chicken below 28 days old and weighing under 750g. Available these days in several supermarkets, it's not as costly as you think, and the flavor delivered in this recipe is well worth the work. Nevertheless, you can always use a small chicken instead if you feel more comfortable. In order to cook it on a bbq, the backbone needs to be removed and also the chicken squashed - a procedure referred to as spatchcock. Get a butcher to do it if you're able to but otherwise follow the quick tips under and you will be on your way.
1) Spatchcock:
Put the bird breast down. Using a pair of strong scissors, cut along one side of the backbone completely from the neck to the bottom, cutting through the ribs while you proceed. Repeat with the other side of the backbone.
Take away the backbone and flip the bird over. Press firmly with the heel of your hand to crack the ribs and flatten the chicken out evenly.
To prevent the meat contracting during cooking, use 2 kebab sticks in order to skewer through each breast on one side into the thigh on the other side in a criss-cross diagonal style
2) Marinade:
Whisk the marinade elements together in a big bowl and add the spatchcocked poussin. Cover with clingfilm and marinade in the refrigerator for 4 hours or ideally overnight. An hour or so prior to cooking, remove the poussins and any remaining marinade into a skillet and bring to the boil. Stir in the ketchup, sugar and cornflour and reduce the liquid to thicken it to sauce consistency.
3) Cook:
When the barbecue is actually hot, place the poussins on the grill and cook for about 20 minutes depending on size, turning and basting with the sauce each and every 3-4 minutes. The chicken is ready when the juices run clear after pricking with a chef's knife.
Monkfish, Rosemary and Cherry Tomato Skewers
Ingredients (for eight skewers)
250g Monkfish cut into 16 cubes
Few slices of Parma ham shred into pieces
Five tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
Nine rosemary sprigs
200g cherry tomatoes
1) Gently heat the oil, garlic and one rosemary sprig in a pan until bubbling. Remove the rosemary and blitz the garlic oil with a hand blender.
2) Using the remaining rosemary sprigs as skewers, thread 2 monkfish cubes, parma ham pieces and cherry tomatoes per sprig, alternating as you go. Lay them in a bowl and cover using the garlic oil for half an hour.
3) To barbecue, get rid of any excess oil and cook for about one minute on each side, until cooked through.
Spiced Barbecue Mushroom Burgers (Veggie)
Ingredients (for 8 burgers)
8 big field mushrooms
Olive oil
2 little red onions, finely cut
Two large garlic cloves, crushed
One teaspoon ground cumin
Good pinch ground coriander
180g baby spinach
Two red chillies, deseeded as well as finely chopped
Grated zest of just one lemon
120g feta, crumbled
8 flatbreads and Greek yogurt, in order to serve
1) Heat a tbs of oil inside a frying skillet and lightly fry the onions and garlic for five minutes till soft. Throw in the
spices and cook for a further two minutes more, then transfer to a dish.
2) Place the spinach inside a colander and pour over boiling water from the kettle to wilt it. Refresh under cold water, squeeze dry, then roughly chop.
3) Mix the spinach, chillies, lemon zest and feta into the onion mixture and season to taste.
4) Clean the mushrooms generously with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bbq them for five mins with the stalk facing down.
Remove from grill and place stalk side up, and divide the filling up between them. Place back stalk-up on a medium-hot part of the barbecue for a additional 10 minutes until cooked through. The filling ought to be warm.
5) Toast the flatbreads on the barbecue for a minute, remove, and put a mushroom inside. Spoon on the dollop of yoghurt and serve.
