Introduction

There’s something special about eating out of doors. The whole ambience of a summer meal is quite different from warming winter fare and if we can cook and eat outside, so much the better, since food cooked on a barbecue has a distinctive flavour all of its own. With the vast selection of fresh, good-quality and even exotic ingredients now available in the supermarkets – plus, of course, the imaginative recipes in this book – it’s easy to create delicious and unusual summer dishes to enjoy with family and friends.

What we cannot control, of course, is the weather, so barbecues often have to be impromptu affairs. But with the storecupboard listings in this practical book, and the selection of quick and easy, mouth-watering dishes, you can be ready to react at the first sign of a sunny day.

Even when you’re not actually barbecuing, you don’t need to leave this useful little book on your kitchen shelf, because you can use the great selection of summer salads for all kinds of meals, or just cook the barbecue recipes in your oven or on the grill (broiler). Open a bottle of wine, spread your brightest tablecloth, and you’ll almost be able to believe you are eating alfresco!