BBQ Recipes & Wines To Match

BBQ Recipes & Wines To Match

The sun is out and, if you’re anything like me, so too is your barbecue. We all know that you can cook (almost) anything over charcoal and it will taste amazing, but rather than sticking with the usual burgers and bangers we thought we’d give you some easy and delicious recipes to try. We’ve even paired them with a selection of unmissable and barbecue-friendly wines that are perfect for any al fresco gathering.


Alaskan Salmon Log


Whilst the grill jockeys are wafting their charcoal to white-hot perfection, pour yourself a perfectly chilled glass of one of our whites and dig into this incredibly moreish Alaskan salmon log. The recipe is actually from Alaska, don't feel you have to search out Alaskan salmon to make it! It serves 8 to 10 people as an accompaniment to drinks, or 4 to 6 people as a starter.

400g Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
300g cooked salmon, flaked and checked for bones
2 tablespoons of grated white onion, with most of the juice squeezed out
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
2 teaspoons of liquid smoke
1 tablespoon of good quality horseradish sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g pecan nuts, chopped quite finely
4 tablespoons of finely chopped flat leafed parsley
Plenty of Ritz crackers

Note: if you can’t find liquid smoke, you can omit it and use hot-smoked salmon instead of plain fresh salmon – it’s just a little more expensive.

In a bowl, mix the softened cream cheese with the flaked salmon, add the grated onion, the lemon juice, the liquid smoke and the horseradish sauce and combine thoroughly.
Season well with salt and pepper.
Refrigerate for about 1 hour until the mixture firms up.
Pull off the roll a sheet of clingfilm approximately 50cm long and lay it horizontally on your worktop.
Combine the chopped nuts with the chopped parsley and spread this evenly over an area of about 25cm square in the centre of the sheet of clingfilm.
In the bowl, shape the salmon mixture into a log about 25cm long and 8cm in diameter.
Carefully roll the log out of the bowl and onto the pecan and parsley mixture.
Using the clingfilm as a rolling mat, roll the log over the pecan and parsley mixture until it is covered all over and is also rolled up in the clingfilm.
Return the log to the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Unroll it from the clingfilm onto a serving platter and surround it with Ritz crackers. If you’re serving it as a starter you can use toast, crusty bread, bagels etc. as you prefer, but attacking it with a Ritz cracker wins my vote every time!

Enjoy this with:
Sipp Mack Pinot Blanc
Domaine Du Bicheron Mâcon-Péronne


Chicken Taouk

Chicken Taouk on the barbecue

Chicken kebabs are always a winner, but this Lebanese recipe for yoghurt-marinated Chicken Taouk takes them to whole new level. Serve with flatbreads and a simple lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

6 large chicken breast fillets, each cut into 5 pieces (see below for more details!)
300ml plain Greek yoghurt
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons of Lebanese 7 spice blend (see recipe below)
½ teaspoon of ground bay leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large onions cut into 1 inch/2.5 cm chunks

Finely sliced red onion
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Sumac

To make a batch of the Lebanese 7 spice blend, simply mix together the following:

1 tablespoon finely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Scale up the quantities to suit your needs; store any excess in an airtight container or jar.

When making chicken kebabs, don’t cut the chicken into very small pieces or thin strips as the meat is liable to dry out on the grill. Instead, cut each breast into 5 larger, similarly sized pieces that will cook at an even rate and not become dry and tough. Don’t panic, this is far easier than it sounds! Here is handy illustration to show you how:
How to cut up a chicken breast for kebabs
How to cut up a chicken breast for kebabs

Place the chicken pieces in a bowl, add the yoghurt, the spices and the garlic and mix together so that the chicken is well coated.
Leave to marinate for at least an hour, over night is preferable.
To build the kebabs, thread alternating pieces of onion then chicken onto flat metal skewers. Use six pieces of onion and five of chicken per kebab.
Refrigerate until ready to cook.
Cook the kebabs over a medium heat, turning them regularly - you don’t want them black on the outside and raw in the middle. They’ll probably take about 12-15 minutes.
Mix the finely sliced red onion with the chopped parsley and the sumac and use a pinch of this salad as a garnish.

Make your filled flatbreads even more luxurious with your choice of a spoonful of hummous, some tzadziki and a little chili sauce.

Enjoy these kebabs with:
Astoria Caranto Pinot Noir



Barbecued Bananas

Barbecued Bananas


For dessert, it’s back to the charcoal for these amazing barbecued bananas with vanilla ice cream. Fear not, this is anything but a test of your culinary skills. You can prepare these parcels of joy ahead of time – just place them on the grill once you’ve finished cooking the kebabs.

6 pieces of foil, each about 40cm long
6 large bananas
1 lemon, halved
6 tablespoons of honey
6 large pinches of ground cinnamon
1 vanilla pod, split along its length with each half then cut into three pieces
6 tablespoons of dark rum
Vanilla ice cream

Fold the tinfoil sheets in half across their width, then fold over a 2cm strip two or three times on each side to make an envelope that is open along its top edge.
Peel the bananas, then rub each one all over with the cut side of half a lemon juice to stop them from going brown.
Put one banana into each parcel.
Pour 1 tablespoon of honey and rum into each parcel, adding a pinch of cinnamon and one piece of the vanilla pod.
Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into each parcel and fold over the top edges two or three times to seal them up as tightly as possible. Take care not to make any holes in the foil as the sauce will leak out.
Place the parcels on the barbecue for about 10 minutes before turning them over and grilling them for a further 10 minutes.
Using oven gloves to hold each parcel, carefully cut off one end with scissors and gently empty the banana and its sauce into a dish. Remove the piece of vanilla pod and garnish with a scoop or two of ice cream.

Enjoy these with:
Vignobles Siozard, Château Lapinesse Sauternes
Château La Varière Côteaux Du Layon Le Savetier

Recipes by Steven Morris, who is currently writing his first cookbook

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