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Archive for the ‘Barbecue’ Category

Herby Couscous with Citrus & Pomegranate Dressing

Posted in Barbecue, Food, Side dish, tagged , , , , , on 28 March 2011| 2 Comments »

We got some cheap lamb chops at the weekend and so looked for something fresh to accompany them. This looked good and went really well with the chops, which we barbecued. Dress the couscous when it is still warm to get the flavour in.

Herby couscous with citrus & pomegranate dressing – to serve 4

  • 200g couscous
  • 150 pomegranate seeds (you can buy a packet  of seeds in the supermarket or just buy one pomegranate)
  • handful of chopped mint and coriander
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 2 tbsp each of white wine vinegar and olive oil

Put the couscous in a shallow dish and pour over 200ml boiling water. Cover with cling film and leave for 5 minutes. Rough it up with a fork to separate the grains and stir through the pomegranate seeds and herbs.

Mix the orange juice, vinegar and olive oil and stir into the couscous. Season well with salt.

Tip: If you buy a whole pomegranate cut it in half and bang it with a wooden spoon to get the seeds out. It’s very easy so we don’t really get why the seeds come in packets.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food – http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9841/herby-couscous-with-citrus-and-pomegranate-dressin)

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Steak with Cheesy Mushrooms & Chips

Posted in Barbecue, Beef, Food, Side dish, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on 11 March 2011| 1 Comment »

A really big thanks to our neighbour Nigel for giving us these lovely steaks; we hope the BBQ smells were good for you too!

So the other bits we did were cheesy mushrooms from Jamie’s 30 minute meals and some home-made oven chips which are way better than the ones you buy in a bag.

Jamie’s Cheesy Mushrooms – for 4

  • 4 large flat Portobello mushrooms (about 250g in total)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 a red chilli
  • 2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/2 a lemon
  • 70g mature Cheddar cheese

Trim the mushroom stalks and put them in a small earthenware dish so they fit pretty snug.

Crush 1/2 a garlic clove over each mushroom.

Finely chop the chilli and parsley and divide between the mushrooms.

Grate over the zest of half a lemon and drizzle well with olive oil and season.

Cut the cheese into 4 chunks and put 1 on each mushroom.

Grill on the top shelf for 9-10 minutes or until golden.

N.B. We couldn’t find Portobello mushrooms today so we used field mushrooms instead. They were nowhere near cooked in this time so we stuck them on the BBQ for 5 minutes to finish them off. If you can only find field mushrooms it might be best to cook the bottoms of them on the BBQ or griddle pan or even a frying pan first before finishing with the other ingredients under the grill.

Oven chips

Heat your oven to as hot as it goes.

Cut your potatoes into 1 cm thick slices and then cut the slices into chips about 1cm thick.

Cook the chips in boiling water for 3 minutes and drain really well.

Spread the chips out on a baking tray and drizzle with vegetable or groundnut oil and season.  Make sure all the chips are coated with oil but you don’t need to use very much.

Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Wine Suggestion: We had an Argentinian Malbec – perfect with steak!

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Movida’s Adobo de Pollo

Posted in Barbecue, Chicken, Food, Sherry, tagged , , , , , , , on 25 February 2011| Leave a Comment »

Movida is the best Spanish restaurant in Melbourne. We were there last June and just got a table by the skin of our teeth as it is massively popular. It’s up a little cobbled street and if you didn’t know better you would walk right by which would be a big mistake as the tapas are fandabbydosey. They also have a crackin wine list and great staff – our idea of heaven. So book your table before you go!!

Jono’s sister Rachel sent us Movida Rustica for Christmas, the second cookbook to come out of this restaurant and we’ve been dying to get stuck into the recipes.

These barbecue kebabs have a delicious herby flavour with a massive oomph from the smoked paprika and they give off a fabulous sweet smoke when they’re cooking. So if you’re not going to Melbourne or indeed Spain any time soon we suggest you try these.

P.S. M&S are at last doing skinless, boneless chicken thighs but they are in the casserole section rather than the chicken section.

P.P.S. You’re supposed to marinade the chicken overnight but we forgot and just marinated for 1 hour and it was still great.

Adobo de Pollo (or Chicken skewers with paprika and oregano to us Irish folk) – makes 12 tapas

  • 1kg skinless chicken thigh meat, cut into 2.5 cm chunks
  • 2 tbsp smoked sweet paprika
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp saffron threads
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 125ml extra virgin olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients in a big bowl, cover with cling film and marinate overnight in the fridge (or for as long as you’ve got).

Thread the chicken onto 12 metal skewers.

Heat the barbecue to high and cook the skewers for 5 minutes, or until cooked through, turning often.

Let them cool slightly and serve – we had ours with some herby lemon couscous.

Wine suggestion: Do like the Spanish and drink Sherry – we had a glass of Lustau VORS (Very Old Rare Sherry) dry Oloroso which is exceptionally special but any dry Oloroso or Amontillado will serve you well. Chin chin!

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