If there is one outdoor location guaranteed to sharpen the appetite, it is the seaside. Beaches are also good locations for cooking on barbecues, providing it is permitted and you are not going to annoy other people with smoke or smells. This is another good opportunity to get out a bucket barbecue, although you probably won’t be able to use one anywhere near a beach hut – the potential for fire is too great. Use a camp stove if you need to cook anything or boil a kettle in a hut. A friend always swears that sausages, fried on a camp stove and eaten hot-dog style with bread rolls are the best food for the beach. I’d take focaccia, to eat in the morning or at lunchtime, while it’s still fresh.
Fish seems the logical choice to go on the barbecue, although it can be surprisingly difficult to buy good fish in seaside towns (‘Take it with you’, as Elizabeth David remarked briskly in one of her books). One might at least hope for freshly landed mackerel at some of the Cornish and south coast ports, or maybe even some that you’ve fished for yourself.
You’ll need hot coals for fast grilling when cooking fish on the barbecue. Accompaniments are best kept simple. Try any of the dips and sauces given in this book, or Lime, Chilli and Coriander Butter. I have fond memories of sardines eaten in beach cafés at Nazaré, north of Lisbon: they were simply grilled with a scatter of coarse salt to season them, and served with a salad of lettuce, slices cut crossways from enormous tomatoes, and chips. Should you happen across some freshly caught sardines, this is worth trying (buy the chips from a takeaway). Simple desserts are also good – Fruit Salad in a Melon or Grilled Peaches.
Serves 2–3
30ml white wine
30ml olive oil
½ teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 sea bass, about 400–450g, cleaned with the head and tail on
Skordalia and good bread, to serve
This is one of the best fish for cooking on a barbecue. I prefer to cook it without any wrapping because the skin crisps. Provided it is cooked carefully and not allowed to burn, this is delicious.
Put the wine, oil, fennel seeds, salt and lemon zest in a shallow dish big enough to hold the fish and mix well. Cut three shallow diagonal slashes down each side of the fish and turn it in the marinade, making sure some gets into the cuts and the cavity. Leave to marinate for 3–4 hours, turning occasionally. The coals need to be hot to medium hot.
Remove the fish from the marinade and put it in a wire fish basket. Grill for 20 minutes, turning several times and brushing occasionally with the marinade until cooked through. To grill the back of the fish, hold the basket on edge on the grill rack for a few minutes. Serve with Skordalia, bread and a bottle of white wine. Beware of any bones.
Serves 4
8 large raw prawns, heads and shells removed, tails on
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
a pinch of dried chilli flakes
½ teaspoon salt
Green Goddess Dip, to serve
These prawns are lovely as an appetiser or an element in a larger fish-based barbecue. The number of prawns per person really depends on how many you’re prepared to buy. Two per person is about right if they are part of a mixed platter of appetisers. Single prawns, offered with the Green Goddess dip alongside, make a good hot canapé.
Take a small knife and make a shallow incision down the centre back of each prawn, then remove the dark vein, if present.
Put the remaining ingredients in a shallow bowl and mix well, then add the prawns. Leave to marinate for 2 hours. Soak 4 bamboo skewers for 30 minutes. The barbecue coals need to be hot to very hot.
Remove the prawns from the marinade, shaking off any bits, and thread two prawns onto each skewer. Grill for 2–3 minutes until pink, then turn and grill the other side until pink. Serve with the dip.
Serves 4
4 mackerel, cleaned with head and tail on salt, lemon (optional) and good bread, to serve
Definitely one for the seaside, the key to good barbecued mackerel is the freshest possible fish. Catch it yourself if you can. If not, try to buy it at the dockside or from a fishmonger who has done so that day. The eyes of the fish are a good clue to freshness: they should be bright and shiny, not sunken. The later in summer it is, the fatter the fish will be. If you want to use a marinade, the teriyaki one (below) is good with mackerel. Enjoy the fish with a glass of wine.
You will need a wire fish basket.
The coals need to be hot. Put the mackerel in a wire fish basket and cook over the barbecue for 8–12 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through on the sides and backs.
Season with salt and a squeeze of lemon, if you like, and serve with bread. Beware of bones.
Serves 6–8
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons rice wine
a generous tablespoon clear honey
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 × 2cm cube of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
6–8 mackerel, or fish or meat of your choice
oil, for brushing
A Japanese-style marinade, teriyaki is quite strongly flavoured and is good for oily fish, including mackerel and tuna, as well as for beef, pork or chicken. The recipe is enough to marinate 800g–1kg fish or meat.
Put all the ingredients in a shallow dish and mix well together. If using mackerel, make 3–4 diagonal cuts through the flesh of the fish on each side. Put the fish or meat in the dish and coat it in the marinade. Marinate for 30 minutes, turning twice. The barbecue coals need to be hot to medium hot, depending on the food.
Remove from the marinade and shake off any excess. Brush the fish with oil, put it in a wire fish basket and grill for 5–6 minutes on each side until cooked. If using the marinade with meat, this can be cooked directly on the grill rack.
Makes about 6 portion
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
200g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
150g Italian 00 flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for greasing
For the topping
for fried onion (optional): 1 large onion, sliced, and 1 tablespoon olive oil
for herbs (optional): 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, or 1 tablespoon torn sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried sage 5–6 tablespoons olive oil ½ tablespoon coarse salt
Here is food for the beach, Italian style. Focaccia should be oily, salty and a little crunchy at the edges. It also needs to be fresh, so bake it on the day – although the dough can be made and frozen in advance, then defrosted overnight, rolled and baked to save time in the morning.
Put the yeast in a small bowl and add 150ml tepid water and the sugar. Leave to one side for a few minutes until it becomes frothy.
Put the flours in a bowl with the ½ teaspoon salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and add the oil. Mix well with a wooden spoon, then with your hand to make a dough. You may need to add more water; the dough needs to be a little on the soft side. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave for 10 minutes.
Uncover, then mix again for a moment, then recover. Repeat this process again, by which time you should have a nice, coherent springy ball of dough. Cover and leave for 1–2 hours until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, to make the topping, fry the onion, if using, in the oil for 10 minutes or until softened and golden. Leave to one side.
Preheat the oven to 240°C and grease a 30cm baking tray lightly with oil. Knock back the dough. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough into a square to fit the baking tray. Put it on the tray, making sure it reaches the edges. Brush liberally with oil for the topping and scatter the coarse salt over. Add the onion, if using, rosemary or sage (or use all three, but in separate areas, not together). Then dimple the dough all over with the tips of your fingers. Leave to rise for about 30 minutes.
Bake for 12–15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and brush with a little more oil.
Eat on the day of making, while warm if possible. It can be wrapped in foil and reheated gently over a warm barbecue.
