License to grill....

I'm on holiday. A week's blissful holiday. And it's the first proper one I think I've ever had in Cornwall. I'm usually rushing off to Scilly or heading up country to see family. We're following the mentality that "west is best" and we're probably heading down to Treen for a camping/surfing trip. (This is about the most westerly photo I have!)

Its likely that we'll be eating from the barbecue one hundred per cent of the time. I saw these fellas at the St Ives Food and Drink Festival.....

They looked yummy but I was overloaded with smoked mackerel and soft fruits. So I decided to make my own.

Herb Burgers.... (makes six small burgers)

1lb/450g minced beef
1 handful fresh thyme leaves
1 handful fresh oregano leaves
1 handful fresh chopped chives
salt and pepper

Put an the ingredients in a bowl and mix through with your hands....


Separate into six and mould into six burger shapes.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Spray with a little oil and place on a hot barbecue. Barbecue for about 7 minutes on each side or until cooked through (our barbecue was quite small, it might be quicker on a hotter gas barbecue.)

Grill Thrill...

My hair still smells of smoke. I keep getting wafts of it as I sit typing at my desk. It's a constant reminder of last night. There's nothing better than sitting on the beach, digging your toes into the warm sand waiting for your barbecue to warm up. Of course I'm romanticising it. There was a lot of smoke in my face and I managed to drop my grilled halloumi in the sand right at the crucial tasting moment.

But that's the beauty of summer. You constantly are rewriting it. Despite the fact I know that the last two summers have been raining and cold I know I'll still remember it like yesterday. Hot and sunny with my toes buried in the sand eating pork chops with my fingers and not at all sandy halloumi...

Pork Chops with Oregano and Garlic.....(serves 2)

2 large pork chops

1 small garlic bulb

1 handful oregano

1 tbsp sea salt

olive oil

Place the pork chops in a ceramic tray. Slice down the side of the fat vertically so it makes little cubes of fat about 2cm across. Rub with the salt, pushing the salt down into the fat. Crush the garlic roughly with the back of a wooden spoon. Rub over the meat. Rip up the herbs and add them. Pour some olive oil over the top and add the pepper.

Leave to marinate for as long as you like. Head to the beach and light your barbecue. Once the flames have died right down place your chops on top with all the marinade.

Bake for 15 minutes on each side.

Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and eat with your fingers.

Smoked garlic barbecue kebabs.....

I went for lunch at Sennen today......



The food at the beach cafe was very good. Chorizo with butter beans and fish goujons.

We looked out to sea......

Scilly is there somewhere... Then we drove to Porthcurno.....

And Lamorna....

We were going to have a barbecue but it's not as warm as yesterday. So we had an indoor barbecue instead. Unfortunately our oven isn't as smokey as a beach barbecue. Luckily I remembered that a listener gave me some smoked garlic a while back.

Smoked garlic barbecue sauce chicken kebabs (makes 5)

4 chicken breasts

1 onion

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp smoked paprika

3 smoked garlic cloves

1 sprig rosemary

1 pinch dried chilli flakes

1 bay leaf

1 dsp honey

1dsp balsamic vinegar

1 dsp olive oil

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

Put the dry spices, rosemary, bay and garlic in a pestle and mortar and grind into a paste.

Add the vinegar and oil. Then the honey and ketchup.

Spread over the chicken.

Slice into chunks and thread onto kebab sticks with small chunks of onion inbetween.

Bake in a 180'c oven for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with pitta, mayo and salad.

Called to the bars....

Last night we had the first barbecue of the year. After a hard days digging it was just what I needed. Drinking chilled wine while huddled around a fire....



Last year we barbecued so much that I got a bit sausage and burgered out and this year I'm going to try and vary what I put on the bars.

Barbecued Chinese Fish.....(serves 4)

4 fish steaks of your choice

2 tsp chinese five spice paste

1 tbsp chinese rice wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp oil

Pop all the ingredients in a bowl and leave to marinate. (I left it for about an hour). Get your barbecued out and cook the fish for a couple of minutes on each side (depending on the type and thickness of the fish).

For pudding I made a jam sponge. This took 35 minutes in total to make and went down a storm once the sun had gone down and the fire had run out of wood.

Jam Sponge.....(Serves 10)

1 large jar strawberry jam

3 eggs

7oz plain flour

7oz caster sugar

7oz soya spread (only because of my dairy allergy...butter is better!)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp baking powder

Put all the ingredients except the jam in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy. Spread the jam in the bottom of a baking tray. Spread the sponge mix over the top and cook for 30 mins in a 180'c oven.

Blue cheese burgers.....

After work I popped into the butchers at Callenick to look for something for tea. He had big mounds of bright red, minced steak and large slabs of sirloin steak on special offer. So we decided to have a barbecue and watch the sunset at Loe Beach.

Fishermen were coming in as we lit the barbecue and they tried to sell us some mackerel. But I was already prepared!

I love this photo...a tiny bright moon with the sunset beside it.


Ingredients:

8oz minced steak
1 small onion
1 egg yolk
Cornish sea salt and pepper
2oz Cornish Blue cheese

Finely chop the onion and add to the beef. Add the egg yolk and seasoning and mix with your hands.

Shape a quarter of the mix into a burger (I used a measuring cup) and top with a chunk of cheese. Add another quarter of the mix on top.

Repeat until you have two burgers. Try and get them the same size....mine were rubbish.

Put on a barbecue for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally.

Eat with salad, tomatoes and balsamic onions.....and a sunset!