Tag Archives: Barbecue

August 1, 2013

July’s Four Seasons Food Round-Up

When I launched this month’s Barbecue and Barbecue Side’s event back on the 1st July I have to admit it was with a considerable degree of trepidation. Especially with regard to the folks in the UK, thinking I might just be jinxing yet another Summer! But 35 entries later and for the most part a gloriously hot and sunny month I’m pretty relieved to say the least. Phew. Thanks so much to everyone who joined in, as you’ll see from my round-up we have a wonderful array of barbecue and side dish delights to tickle everyone’s taste buds, from meaty mains to salady sides to post-barb cakey naughties.

Bethany at the Jewelled Kitchen launch

And to judge this month’s event I’m most delighted and excited to announce we have the gorgeous and enormously talented Bethany Kehdy no less!. For those of you unaware of Bethany’s many talents (too many for someone so young if you ask me!), she’s the founder and organiser of Food Blogger Connect (and I’m sure everyone attending this year will sing her highest praises), owner and tour guide of Taste Lebanan and a food blogger at Dirty Kitchen Secrets. And as if this isn’t enough she’s now the author of The Jewelled Kitchen, launched at FBC this year along with a veritable feast of Middle Eastern delights from her book. And I so happen to be a proud owner of a signed copy of her beautiful and enchanting cookbook which I shall be delving into in the Autumn once I’m re-united with it again, sadly it had to be left in London for the time being.

Copies of the Jewelled Kitchen @ FBC5

So on to the round-up. As most of you know I’m more than a tad busy these days with my move to the UK timed (im)perfectly to co-incide with the big summer school holidays, so I’m going to keep things brief. And to be brief I’m steeling an idea I took from the lovely Vanesther of Bangers & Mash (who incidentally I was delighted to finally meet at FBC too, and would you believe she was even more lovely than I built her up to be!) to summerise each post in just a few simple words. I’m aiming at five but this could be tricky for a wordy woman like myself, but here goes….

In no particular order (as the entries got a little jumbled in my ad hoc pictorial representation!) we have:

Foodie Quine: BBQ Time – Pimm’s Salad, Blue Cheese Mushrooms, Turkey, Banana & Apricot Burgers

Fruitilicious Burgers!. Pimms Salad!. Fabulous.

Techie….Cookie……Freaky…… BBQ Chicken (Indian Style)

Super-hit Mouth-watering Indian Kebabs

Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w/Luv – Homemade Barbecue Beans with Bacon

Beans To Impress Your Boyfriend!

Fromage Homage – The Big Cheesy Barbecue: Shropshire Blue Burgers, Halloumi Rosemary Skewers and Aubergine Tricolore Parcels

The Ultimate Cheese Fest Barbie

Lavender and Lovage – Egg & Tomato Salad with Marigold & Chive Flowers

Exquisitely Lovely Floral Summery Side

Fab Food 4 All – Strawberry & Vanilla Ice Milk

Low-Fat Yumminess to Devour

Chip Butties and Noodle Soup – Samphire and Tomato Salad

Seafood Side of Salty Deliciousness

Recipe Junkie – BBQ Ribs for the best weekend ever

Sizzling Smoky Ribs for Gourmet Camping

Chip Butties and Noodle Soup – Rose Harissa Chilli Sauce

Rose Harissa to Ignite & Delight

Chip Butties and Noodle Soup – Roasted Butternut Squash, Caramelized Lemon & Berbere Houmous

Heavenly Hummus I Shall Definitely Try!

How To Eat Properly – Courgette, Chickpea & Roast Tomato Salad

Fabulous Flavourings from Storecupboard Staples

Caroline Makes – Shortbread Squares with Chocolate Fudge and Marshmallow Topping

Post-Barbie Naughtiness in Cakey-Form!

Caroline Makes – Grilled or Barbecued Halloumi with Chilli

Barbie Crowd-Pleaser Chillied-up Halloumi

Chip Butties & Noodle Soup – Chilli, Garlic & Ginger Jam

Tantalising Kicking Loveliness in a Jar

Chip Butties & Noodle Soup – The Big Summer Salad

Summery Salady Herby Zingy Goodliness

Tinned Tomatoes – Potato and Bean Salad with Zingy Herby Dressing

Storecupboard Zingily Dressed Legumy Loveliness

Chez Foti – Chicken Satay Sticks

Chicken Lollipops to Delight Young & Old

Recipes from a Pantry – Homemade Guacaomole

Yoghurtamoley Creamy Dippy Healthful Yumminess

Recipes from a Pantry – Plantain Chips

Crunchy African Bites of Snackilicious Yum

Delicieux – Beetroot & Apple Salad with Gorgonzola & Walnuts

Dreamy Nutty Gorgonzolary Sweet Beets

Delicieux – Foil Wrapped Tartiflette Parcels

Oozy Cheesy Parcels of Creamy Deliciousness

Food to Glow – Grilled Lettuce – on it’s own and in a salad with Potatoes, Cornichon & Peppered Mackerel

French Stylie Salad with Punch

Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary – Barbecued Pineapple

Canadian Carmelised Sweet Chewy Perfection!

The Garden Deli – Feta & Yoghurt Dip

Versatile Creamy Zesty Dippy Side

Fab Food 4 All – Mixed Tomato Chutney

Chillied-Up Nigel’s Tommie Glut Chutney

Lavender and Lovage – Lemon & Sweet Pepper Chicken Kebabs

Delectable Singing Sizzling Spicy Rub

How to be a Gourmand – Salmon Tikka Chapati with Mint & Coriander Raita

Punchily Zingy Cooling Refreshing Raita

Chez Foti – Halloumi & Roasted Veggie Kebabs

Herby Sweet Cheesy Veggies on Sticks

Thyme for Cooking – Carrot Salad

Not just any Carrot Salad!

Thyme for Cooking – Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Shallot Sage Marinade

Flavourful Barbecued Fillet of Yum

Caroline Makes – Watermelon & Feta Cheese Salad

Fabulous Combo of Refreshing Goodliness

Chip Butties & Noodle Soup – Raw Beetroot, Caraway, Lemon Balm & Mint Salad

Crunchy Fragrant Zingy Earthy Pinkness

A Bavarian Sojourn – Japanese Style Steak Salad

Sumptuous Wasabied Steak Salad Perfection

A Working Mum’s Cookbook – Greek Pasta Salad

Colourfully Summery Pasta & Greek Salad

The Boy Can Cook – Smokey BBQ Ribs

Ribs To Dye For. Heaven.

And so there has to be a winner. And thankfully to make that tough choice we have Bethany and not myself!. Drum Roll……and the winner is…..another drum roll……Foodie Quine’s Pimm’s Salad! And this is what Bethany had to say about it:

I love to cook with booze and goodness knows how many alcoholic products I’ve experimented with in cooking. When I read the “Pimm’s salad” headline I was very intrigued. It’s very much inspired me to give this salad a go this weekend. Great effort everyone and thanks to the lovely ladies (Lou and Anneli) for asking me to Judge. Let’s hope this weekend is another Barbie worthy weekend 🙂

The winning prize this month is the Pitt Cue Cookbook. A copy will be winging it’s way over to you Claire. A very well deserved win, a fab choice Bethany!.

Thanks again to everyone for all your wonderful and inspiring entries. August is all about Summer Puddings and it’s once again over to Anneli at Delicieux to host.

Here’s hoping for some more summer sun!

Louisa x

15 Comments | tags: Barbecue, Barbecue Sides, Bethany Kehdy, Four Seasons Food, The Jewelled Kitchen | posted in Four Seasons Food

July 21, 2013

Chicken Satay Sticks

By Eat Your Veg

Jacques tucking into his ‘chicken lollipops’ with zeal

I’ve been meaning to make satay sticks for the kids for so long now, and it’s taken me to host the Four Seasons Food barbecue event to actually get around to it. And predictably they were a huge hit. With both the littlies and myself, plus some friends I also trialled them out on with an additional chilli kick. It’s funny how food on sticks is always so appealing? And now, predictably also, I’m wondering why oh why it took me so long! Prepped in minutes, left to marinade for a few hours then barbied or grilled in a flash.

Having travelled extensively in SE Asia in my twenties I must have gobbled my way through an inordinate amount of pork and chicken satay sticks through Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, each with their national and regional twists. Always an exceptionally tasty, cheap and highly addictive street food snack on the hoof.

Pig A Chic @ FBC5

I was recently reminded and inspired of the wonders of satay by the highly authentic Pig A Chic who were dishing out Thai satay sticks and papaya salad (plus a range of hot sauces) a plenty to hungry delegates all weekend at Food Blogger Connect. If you get a chance to sample their food then you really MUST, please do check out their site at www.pigachic.com or follow them on Twitter @Pigachic.

Even Little Miss F LOVED them, devouring three!

Now on to my own considerably less authentic but nevertheless pretty tasty Satay Sticks. I made them first minus any chilli with the kids in mind and the ‘chicken lollipops’ proved very popular. I think Jacques managed five and Little Miss F three. And served with barbecued Halloumi & Roasted Veggie Kebabs and a Child-Friendly Salad that was an impressive eat. Yes, salad….I’ve FINALLY found a salad they’ll eat, but more on that in a later post. Whilst the chilli-less ones were fragrantly tasty I have to admit to personally preferring my grown-up version with a couple of finely minced hot chillies thrown into the marinade mix.

Naturally I shall be entering my post to this month’s Four Seasons Food, hosted by myself and with the seasonal theme of Barbecues and Barbecue Side Dishes. And if you have your own barbecue dish then please do join in, there’s even a prize this month of the Pitt Cue Co Cookbook.

Chicken Satay Sticks

Great for: Toddlers & Pre-schoolers, Bigger Kids, Grown Ups, Appetisers, Starters, Mains, Barbecues (or Grilling)

Special Equipment: Pre-soaked bamboo skewers or metal skewers

Notes: How about substituting the chicken for pork or tofu?

3 free range chicken breasts

2 heaped tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

2 tablespoons thick coconut milk

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 dessertspoon Thai fish sauce

1 dessertspoon fresh ginger, finely minced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 heaped teaspoon soft brown sugar

1 – 2 hot chillies, finely minced (optional)

1. Flatten the chicken breasts a little. I usually bash mine with a rolling pin on a chopping board. Pretty therapeutic actually. Cut the flattened chicken into narrow long strips, about six per breast.

2. Combine all the other ingredients in a medium sized bowl to make the marinade.

3. Stir the chicken strips into the marinade. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour or two. Or even over night.

4. Cut in half and soak your bamboo skewers (if using) in water for 30 minutes before you’re ready to cook.

5. Thread the chicken pieces onto the skewers.

6. Heat up your barbecue or grill. When very hot cook the chicken on each side for 5 minutes until a little charred and cooked through. Serve immediately.

My grown-up chillied version served up as part of a Tapas night with the gals. Inclusive of sangria.

You might also like:

Greek Stylie Pork & Veggie Kebabs

Blue Cheese Barbecue Burgers

26 Comments | tags: Barbecue, Chicken, Chilli, FBC5, Four Seasons Food, Lime, Peanut Butter, Satay, Summer, Thai | posted in Bigger Kids, Family Dinners, Finger Foods, Four Seasons Food, Mains, Nibbles, Party Food, Starters, Toddlers & Pre-schoolers

July 1, 2013

July’s Four Seasons Food Challenge Now Open!

By Eat Your Veg

Wow. And wow again!. When Anneli and I concocted our little plan to start a new blog challenge we weren’t too sure we’d get many entries. Well I can happily report back we’ve been overwhelmed by each of the 53 entries we received! A bit of a success eh? Thanks so much to all you lovely folk who entered Four Seasons Food, we’ve literally been blown away by your support. And a huge thank you to (award-winning!) Anneli herself for her wonderful hosting, her epic round-up and winner announcement can be seen here.

So after the success of our first month it is with great delight I get to open and host our second summer event: Barbecues and Barbecue Side Dishes. Just cook and blog something that fits this theme, following the guidelines below. As I haven’t managed to successfully set up a Linky Tool on my site all entries this month are via email, details below.

This month we’re offering another prize, the aptly chosen Pitt Cue Co. Cookbook: Barbecue Recipes and Slow Cooked Meat from the Acclaimed London Restaurant. I’ve heard lots of good things about the restaurant, so I’m sure the book will be full of tasty offerings too.

The Guidelines To Enter:

Any recipe that fits the current months theme can be entered, new or old.
You can enter as many times a month as you wish. And of course feel free to enter your recipes to any other blogging challenges you like.
You’re very welcome to enter from anywhere in the World, we’ll happily post out any prizes.
Please give due credit if your recipe is not your own.
Email details of your post to myself: loufoti@gmail.com. Please include the recipe title, the URL and the photo you’d like to show.
Include a link to Delicieux & Chez Foti on each entry
Please add the relevant seasons badge – Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. Please update old posts that you enter to include a badge also. (See below for the code which includes a link back to Delicieux & Chez Foti within it so it is all you should need)
Please Tweet your entries (if you’re on Twitter that is!) using the hashtag #FourSeasonsFood and include @Delicieux_fr or@ChezFoti and we will retweet all that we see.
All entries will be added to the Pinterest Board – Four Seasons Food.
The winning entry each month will be promoted via Twitter, Delicieux & Chez Foti Facebook pages and Google+ by both co-hosts.

I’m so excited to see what delicious barbecue dishes you’ll come up with. Have fun everyone, and here’s to a barbecue summer!

Please use the following code to display the badge and the links to our two websites:

<!– start link script –>

<img src=”http://www.delicieux.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/fsf-summer.gif” alt=”Four Seasons Food” width=”215″ height=”173″ /><p>Four Seasons Food hosted by <a href=”http://www.delicieux.eu”>Delicieux</a> and <a href=”http://www.chezfoti.com”>Chezfoti</a></p>

<!– end link script –>

Four Seasons Food

Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti

July BBQ entries:

Smokey BBQ Ribs

Greek Pasta Salad

Japanese Style Steak Salad

Raw Beetroot, Caraway, Lemon Balm & Mint Salad

Watermelon & Feta Cheese Salad

Grilled Pork Tenderloin in Shallot Sage Marinade

Carrot Salad

Salmon Tikka Chapati with Mint & Coriander Raita

Roasted Veggie & Halloumi Kebabs

Lemon & Sweet Pepper Chicken Kebabs

Barbecued Pineapple

Mixed Tomato Chutney

Feta & Yoghurt Dip

Griddled Lettuce, Cornichon, Potato & Peppered Mackerel Salad

Foil Wrapped Tartiflette Parcels

Beetroot & Apple Salad with Gorgonzola & Walnuts

Plaintain Chips

Homemade Guacamole

Chicken Satay Sticks

Potato & Bean Salad with Zingy Herb Dressing

Chilli, Garlic & Ginger Jam

The Big Summer Salad

Griddled or Barbecued Halloumi with Chilli

Shortbread Squares with Chocolate Fudge & Marshmallow Topping

Courgette, Chickpea & Roast Tomato Salad

Rose Harissa Chilli Sauce

Roasted Butternut Squash, caramelized Lemon & Berbere Houmous

BBQ Ribs for the best weekend ever!

Samphire & Tomato Salad

Strawberry & Vanilla Ice Milk

BBQ Chicken (Indian Style)

Egg & Tomato Salad with Marigold & Chive Flowers

BBQ Time – Pimm’s Salad, Blue Cheese Mushrooms, Turkey, Banana & Apricot Burgers

Homemade Baked Beans with Bacon

The Big Cheesy Barbecue: Shropshire Blue Burgers, Halloumi Rosemary Skewers & Aubergine Tricolore Parcels

23 Comments | tags: Barbecue, Barbecue Sides, Four Seasons Food | posted in Four Seasons Food

July 18, 2012

Barbecue Chops

By Eat Your Veg

Older Kids (that like a bit of spice!), Grown Ups

Back on with the Chez Foti barbie season here’s a dead simple fool proof recipe for spicy marinaded pork chops, and one I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess as to exactly how many times I’ve used over the last two summers!.

I love marinading as it usually means most of the effort’s made in advance and these are no exception, in fact all the work’s done in advance bar the actual barbecuing. Allow at least a couple of hours for flavours to mingle, preferably four or five. I like to use rosemary in the marinade as it’s works so well with garlic and chilli, but I don’t always include it. Kind of depends on how lazy I am at the time as the rosemary grows towards the bottom of our drive!.

For four people:

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

a heaped teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika

a teaspoon of hot chilli powder

a desertspoon of runny honey

3 tablespoons of olive oil

a teaspoon of coarsely ground or crushed black pepper

½ a teaspoon of Malden sea salt, or similar

a large sprig or two of fresh rosemary, leaves removed and roughly chopped (optional)

4 pork chops

Simply mix all the marinade ingredients together (which is everything listed above bar the chops!) in a large non-metalic bowl. Plonk in the chops and get down and dirty thoroughly rubbing the marinade into the meat with your hands.

Cover and leave to rest and mingle in the fridge for 2 to 5 hours. I like to give everything a little stir half way through the marinade time. Remove from the fridge 20 minutes or so before cooking time.

Cook the chops over hot coals or timbers (we always cook over oak as we have so much of it here and happens to give off a particularly lovely flavour) for about 5 to 7 minutes on each side. Timing depending on how thick your chops are and how hot your bbq is. Pork should be fully cooked through (no pinkie bits) and the juices running clear from the middle.

I like to serve my porkie chops with a selection of salads and veggie kebabs. More barbecue recipes and sides coming soon, but for now have you seen my Greek Stylie Pork & Veggie Kebabs or Lou’s Blue Cheese Barbecue Burgers?

Marinading Away

6 Comments | tags: Barbecue, Pork, Rosemary | posted in Grown Up Dinners, Mains

June 17, 2012

Lou’s Blue Cheese Barbecue Burgers

By Eat Your Veg

….or my fat b*****d burgers as I usually call them in less polite company. I’ve been making these barbecue burgers for years and they always go down a storm. So incredibly quick and easy to put together yet worlds apart from any commercial burgers. And more importantly you know exactly what meat’s gone into them which is always a concern of mine. They can handily be made in advance and stored for a few days in the fridge, or even frozen.

My blue cheese of preference is definitely Gorgonzola as it has a nice little kick to it without being overbearing, and is perfectly creamy and a good melter. For a slightly mellower flavour use Dolcelatte or Cambozola. Or for added kick go for Stilton or Roquefort.

The quality of the beef is crucial, use the best mince you can get hold of and preferably minced in front of you by a butcher.

Enough for four very large burgers!

a medium onion, finely sliced

2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

650g of very good quality lean beef mince

a teaspoon of salt

a teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper

80g of blue cheese, divided into 4 equal cubes

4 large burger baps

Cook the onion in the oil for about 10 minutes until very soft, stirring regularly so the onions don’t catch and burn. Allow to cool.

Once cool mix the onions, beef, salt and pepper in a large bowl. This really is a job best done with your hands, unglamorously squelching everything together through your fingers.

Divide into four and shape each quarter into a patty shape. Press a cube of cheese into each and shape the beef around it so it’s buried and sealed within.

Place in the fridge until you’re ready to barbecue.

Cook over hot coals for about 4 minutes on each side. The meat should be a teeny weeny bit pink towards the middle and the cheese just oozing. Cook a minute or so more on each side for well done.

Serve in big floury baps with all the normal sauces and sides. Enjoy! You will.

How about trying my Pork & Veggie Kebabs on your barbie too? Or some of my other summery recipes, Chicken, Asparagus & Lemon Cassoulet or Asparagus, Lemon & Pea Risotto