The food suggestions here are of the steak-and-burger nature and should cook easily and quite quickly. They are good candidates for packing up and taking out to a relaxing location with a view. A large bucket barbecue, or two, depending on the size of the party, should be all you need provided the coals are well managed – they should be medium-hot at the start. Or, if you’re going to a campsite with barbecue pits, these foods are easily carried.
The Cypriot barbecue habits learnt by my husband’s family have influenced this menu, so don’t rush the burgers onto the grill as soon as the steaks are done. Take a relaxed approach to the meal on a sunny afternoon or warm summer evening. Spin out the event with drinks and nibbles, allow time for the children to skim stones or splash in the water, climb trees or examine the local insect life. Take a chimney starter to replenish the fire for a second round, cooking the burgers a little while after the steaks have been eaten.
Finish off with grilled peaches, or take some fresh fruit and a cheeseboard for dessert. Children might enjoy Baked Bananas as well.
Apart from the barbecue itself, refer about other equipment to take for cooking and cleaning and for ensuring you leave the embers properly extinguished before you leave. You’ll need a nice board to portion the steak on, plates, knives and forks and napkins.
The various dips suggested elsewhere in this book go well in this plan, as do Avocado Salsa and Potato Salad.
Serves 6–8
1 large tomato
4 anchovy fillets in oil
1 garlic clove, cut into slivers
4 pointed red peppers
3 tablespoons well-flavoured olive oil
salt
This evolved through my attempts to copy a Piedmontese dish of preserved peppers, and it makes a good accompaniment to barbecued meat, halfway between a dip and a salad. It’s best eaten while the peppers are still warm, so prepare the other ingredients in advance and grill the peppers as soon as the barbecue is hot enough.
Put the tomato in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over to cover, leave for 30 seconds, then drain and peel off the skin. Cut the tomato in half and discard the core, seeds and surrounding pulp. Slice the flesh finely and put in a serving bowl. Cut the anchovy fillets into fine strips and add them to the bowl. Add the garlic and stir to combine.
Grill or barbecue the peppers until the skins begin to peel and blacken. Allow them to cool a little, then peel off the skins and discard them along with the cores and seeds. Cut the flesh into thin slivers and add them to the tomato mixture. Add the olive oil, then taste and season with salt if needed.
Makes 6–8 slices
1 teaspoon dried yeast
140g strong plain bread flour, plus extra for dusting
40g butter, cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing
1 medium egg
¼ teaspoon salt
For the filling
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes
½ teaspoon salt
a generous pinch dried thyme
10–12 anchovy fillets in oil
10–12 black olives
The Provençal cousin of pizza, pissaladière is a mixture of very soft fried onions on a pastry base. It’s good as an appetiser with drinks and is nicest on the day it is made.
Put 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl and stir in the yeast. Put the flour in a large bowl and add the butter, then rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Stir in the egg, salt and yeast mixture, and mix well to form a soft dough – add a little more water if necessary. (Alternatively, put the ingredients into a food processor and combine for 2 minutes.)
Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, to make the filling, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and stir in the onions. Lower the heat and leave to cook very gently. Cover with a lid for the first 20–30 minutes, then continue to cook gently, uncovered, to evaporate the juices. This can take 1 hour or more. The onions should be very soft but still pale.
Put the tomatoes in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over to cover, leave for 30 seconds, then drain and peel off the skins. Cut the tomatoes in half and discard the core, seeds and surrounding pulp. Slice the flesh and add to the onions along with the salt and thyme. Cook more rapidly to boil off the tomato juice. The mixture should be moist but without much liquid in the pan. Turn off the heat.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC and lightly grease a baking sheet. Knock back the dough then form it into a ball and pat it out with you hands to make a rectangle about 15 × 30cm. The yeast pastry will be quite thin. Transfer the pastry to the baking sheet.
Spread the onion mixture over the pastry, leaving a 1cm border all the way round. Gently level it off. Criss-cross the anchovies to make a pattern over the top and punctuate with the olives.
Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180ºC and bake for a further 10–15 minutes until the pastry is golden and cooked underneath. Serve warm or cold. This is also good as a substantial snack on the beach or as part of a larger picnic.
Serves 8
1kg minced pork
4 garlic cloves
long strips of lemon zest from 1 lemon, cut with a vegetable peeler
12 juniper berries
2 eating apples, peeled and cored
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
a good pinch of cayenne pepper
8 rindless unsmoked streaky bacon rashers, finely chopped
2 generous teaspoons salt
oil, for brushing
good bread rolls and coleslaw, to serve
These patties make for a tasty alternative to the more usual beefburgers: pork mixed with an Italian-inspired seasoning made with juniper berries, fennel seeds and fragrant lemon zest.
Put the pork in a bowl. Chop the garlic, lemon zest and juniper berries together and add to the bowl. Finely grate the eating apples. Crush the fennel seeds and peppercorns coarsely using a mortar and pestle (try to avoid reducing them to a powder). Mix everything together except the oil, then divide into eight and shape into rounds just over 1cm thick. Chill until needed.
Brush with oil and grill on the barbecue over a medium heat, turning once, until cooked through, making sure the meat in the middle is no longer pink. These flavoursome burgers work well with bread and coleslaw.
Marianade is sufficient for 1.5–2kg meat/serves 6–8
4 fresh bay leaves, spines removed and the green shredded, or 2 dried ones, crumbled
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves only, or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves or 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1 lemon
300ml light olive oil
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
2 teaspoons salt
1.5–2kg rump steak, or other meat or poultry (see above right)
This marinade, based loosely around the herb mixtures of the northern Mediterranean shores, can be used for almost any food destined for the barbecue. Put it in a tray or box and add your chosen meat, fish or vegetables cut into suitably sized pieces. Leave for at least 2 hours, and preferably longer – up to 2 days. Turn the pieces in the marinade from time to time. It is especially good to season beef and pork, but it can be used for more or less any meat, fish or vegetable.
For a party of 8, buy at least 1.5–2kg of meat. I use rump steak and cut it into serving portions after cooking. As an alternative to beef, use pork steaks or loin chops (1 per person), lamb steaks or chops (1–2 per person, depending on size), or chicken breasts; the latter are best cut into two or three thick slices, for relatively fast cooking. All the above meats respond well to the marinade recipe.
If carrying the mixture to a location away from home, use plastic boxes or zip-type bags as containers to carry the marinated meat. Keep cool until you want to cook the food.
If using fresh herbs, chop the leaves coarsely, otherwise crumble the dry ones a little with your fingertips and put them into a small bowl. Cut the zest from the lemon into long strips using a vegetable peeler, then chop the lemon zest coarsely and add to the bowl. Squeeze out the lemon juice into the bowl.
Put the oil, crushed peppercorns and salt into the bowl and mix together well. Put the steak into a suitable-sized dish and pour over the marinade. Make sure the steak is completely covered with the marinade, then leave it for at least 2 hours.
When ready to barbecue, lift the steak out, allow it to drain and brush off any obvious pieces of herbs. Brush the steak with the liquid from the marinade in the early stages of grilling only (about using marinades safely).
I prefer to cook rump steaks in relatively large pieces (cut a little on the thick side) to the desired stage of doneness, and then rest them for 10 minutes at the side of the grill, away from direct heat. I then transfer them to a board and cut them in slices to serve.
(Lamb can be cooked in a similar manner. Pork and chicken must both be well cooked – if in doubt, use a probe thermometer to check the internal temperature has reached 75ºC.)
Makes 8 large buns or 16 slider (small burger) buns
oil, for greasing
2 × quantities Bridge Roll dough, after the first rising
flour, for dusting
sesame seeds, for coating
1 medium egg, beaten, or milk or cream, for glazing
One can buy burger buns, of course; their bland softness is improved by toasting them lightly over the coals before adding the meat. Or one can make them, in which case the Bridge Roll dough makes a good basis.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC and grease 2 baking trays, 33 × 33cm square. Divide the risen dough into 8 pieces. On a floured work surface, shape into round buns about 6cm in diameter. Put the sesame seeds on a plate.
Brush the tops with egg and dip the top of each bun into the seeds. Put on the prepared baking trays and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool wrapped in a clean tea towel to keep them soft.
These are best eaten on the day they are made, but they will keep reasonably well in a tin for 24 hours. Split and toast on the barbecue grill if they are not perfectly fresh.
Serves 6–8
1 handsome cabbage with some nice outside leaves firmly attached (Savoy is a good variety, or any well-hearted summer cabbage)
2 small-medium carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 small eating apple
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 mild green chilli, deseeded and finely diced
1 tablespoon sunflower oil or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
30g full-fat natural yogurt
120g mayonnaise
chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
This dish requires a fresh, good-looking cabbage, free of any soil, of the type best obtained from someone who grows them. If the idea is too much, then just use half a small cabbage heart to make the coleslaw and put it in a pretty serving bowl instead. Choose your cabbage carefully. Examine it for dirt and residents – both are undesirable.
The proportions in the recipe depend on individual tastes and the size of cabbage available; they are intended for a medium one, but adjust according to taste.
Trim off tattered or unsightly outer leaves and wash the whole head of cabbage under running water. Submerge it in a large bowl of clean cold water and leave it to soak for 1 hour. Shake out the excess water, then allow it to drain very thoroughly, leaving it stem-side up overnight if possible.
Trim the cabbage stalk level so that it sits nicely on a flat surface. Part the outer leaves to expose the heart and slice off the top third, then carefully hollow out the heart, cutting the leaves away from the centre and leaving an outer rim 1.5–2cm wide. This is quite time-consuming and the stem is hard. A grapefruit knife is useful, but beware of using any knife forcefully. Mind your fingers, but keep carefully slicing and removing the leaves. The hardest part is the stem, which is best dealt with by making numerous cross cuts in all directions. Eventually, you will have a neat bowl-shaped hollow. Once you are happy with this, put it in the fridge to chill.
Take about a third of the heap of cut cabbage and shred it finely. Put it in a large bowl. Add the carrot to the cabbage. Quarter the apple and cut out the core. Grate the apple coarsely and put it in a small bowl. Add the lemon juice and mix the apple in well, then tip it into the bowl with the cabbage. Add the chilli. Put the oil and mustard seeds in a small frying pan over a medium-low heat and heat gently until the seeds turn slightly grey. Once they start to pop and jump out of the pan, cover and turn off the heat.
Put the mustard, salt and yogurt in a small bowl and mix well, then stir in the seeds, oil and mayonnaise. Stir well, then pour over the vegetable mixture and mix in until all is well coated. Put into the cabbage ‘bowl’ and sprinkle with a little parsley. Put the cabbage on a plate and chill well.
Serves 8
8 peaches, cut in half and stones removed
8 branches of rosemary, stripped of leaves for most of their length (optional)
melted butter, for brushing
80g marzipan (optional)
cream or ice cream (optional), to serve
This is a good method for dealing with all those peaches sold as ripe, but which never are.
Preheat the grill. Thread two peach halves onto each rosemary branch or on a skewer so that the cut sides face the same way and brush all over with melted butter. Grill, cut-side down until the peaches begin to soften and cook.
Meanwhile, if using marzipan, divide it into 8 equal portions, then form into little discs. Put them on a small baking tray on the edge of the coals to warm through.
Add a piece of marzipan to the hollow of each peach half, then turn the peaches and put them skin-side down on the grill rack. As soon as the undersides of the fruit are cooked, remove them from the heat and serve with a little cream or ice cream if you like.
