1. Barbecued Bacon Wrapped Pawns

Ingredients:

½ cup of chopped onion

¼ cup of water

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

¾ cup of ketchup

Dash of cayenne pepper

½ tablespoon of dry mustard

24 large prawns

1 tablespoon of white vinegar

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

2 ½ tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

12 slices of bacon

Method:

Melt the butter in a sizable saucepan for about 10 minutes. Add the onion and stir until it gets soft. Stir in the brown sugar, pepper, water, ketchup, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, and white vinegar. Let the mixture cook for about 15 minutes and then remove from heat. Dip the prawns inside the sauce immediately. Cover them completely and let them stand for about 15 to 17 minutes. Next, heat the grill, grease the rack, and then take the prawns out of the sauce. Wrap each of the prawns in a piece of bacon and then thread them onto a skewer. Put them on the greased rack, on high heat, and let them cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Turn them to cook the opposite sides until they become crisp and then serve while still hot.

2. Vegemite Rissoles

Ingredients

2 eggs

Salt

Pepper

750g of minced meat

½ finely chopped capsicum

1 tablespoon of Vegemite

1 finely chopped onion

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together, shape them into rissoles, and then roll them in plain flour. Let them cook on BBQ for about 20 to 30 minutes. You can choose to eat them as they are or serve them on your favourite bread with tommy sauce

3. Coca-Cola Steaks

Ingredients:

1 can of Coke

¼ cup of brown vinegar

Salt and pepper

1 steak of Scotch Fillet

1 cup of tomato sauce

1 medium onion

3 crushed cloves of garlic

¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a shallow plate or bowl. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for about 50 to 60 minutes. Barbecue the steak as long as you like. Boil marinade in a pan or pot until thickened slightly and then serve it with the steak.

4. Barbecued Leg of Lamb with Baked Garlic and Lavender

Ingredients:

1 Leg of lamb weighing approximately 2 kilogrammes

1 large onion

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Baked garlic

1 tablespoon of cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons of crushed lavender flowers

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of demerera sugar

3 bulbs of garlic

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Method:

Place the lamb in a large dish and then sprinkle the lavender flowers and chopped onions on it. Mix together the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, cider vinegar, pepper, and salt and then pour over the lamb. Let it marinate for about 1 to 1 hour 20 minutes, turning it frequently. Remove it from the marinade, place it on a medium-hot BBQ, and allow it to cook for about 40 minutes. Take the lamb from the BBQ and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Slice it into sizable chunks and serve with garlic

5. Satany Prawn Pizza

Ingredients:

½ bottle of satany marinade

1 cup of pizza cheese

Thai chili sauce

100g of snow peas

½ cup of roasted cashews

2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves

½ cup of roasted cashews

1 sliced brown onion

500g of uncooked prawns

Can of diced capsicum

Small pizza bases

Method:

Mix desired amount of Thai chili sauce with marinade. Spread marinade on pre-cooked pizza base and top it with capsicum, coriander, prawns, onion, cheese, and cashews. Cook it in a covered BBQ for about 15 minutes or until the cheese gets to melt. Serve while hot.

Cider lolly

Summer is finally here and the hunt begins for the ultimate home made cider lolly. Cider lollies appear to have been in decline for years now, presumably as health and safety bods think it is wrong to encourage kids to buy alcoholic sounding ice creams?

We decided to get some ice cream moulds and begin trying to make our own.

We have started by simply getting my favourite cider, Magners, and freezing them in the lolly moulds. They have been in the freezer overnight and we tried them today and they seem a bit tangy and bitter.

This makes me think we may need to add some lemonade or a “mixer” to soften the harsh and tangy taste. We will try those next weekend.

This is a tough challenge but someone has to do it

Andy

Despite my various attempts at badge winning in the Boy Scouts, I still find starting a BBQ from scratch to be a sweary and frustrating process. We tend to use the bags of charcoal that come in the packaging that you light and hey presto, done.

Twisted Fire Starter? Then BBQ'ing is for you.

For the initiated BBQ’er though, you may have just gone out and grabbed some charcoal and some lighter fuel, sometimes just some charcoal, so here is a few methods.

I feel duty bound to point out that lighter fuel or firelighters can affect the taste of the food you go on to BBQ!

With Firelighters/Lighter Fluid

1. Arrange a small base layer of charcoal

2. Spray some lighter fluid or arrange the firelighters on top of your base layer of charcoal

3. Add a few pieces of charcoal on top of the sprayed area or fire lighters

4. Hold on to your eye brows and light that bad boy!

5. As the charcoal starts burn, gradually add more coals

Without Fluid or Firelighter

This is a bit more tricky unless you have a Bear Grylls to hand

1. Get some newspaper and roll up into long sword-esque shapes, then, from the middle of the sword, keep folding over until you have a compact, concertina shape. Do three or four of these. Alternatively, collect some kindling (very thin strands of flammable wood).

2. Add a base layer of charcoal, make a small well and arrange the kindling or newspaper on top of this base layer, in the well

3. Top with a few more pieces of charcoal and then light the newspaper or kindling (may need a long match)

4. If using kindling you may need to blow on it (taking care not to harm any facial hair or eyebrows) to get the flame to “catch”.

5. Once the fire is going nicely, gradually add more charcoal, grab some beer and celebrate your new-found “man-ness”.

We hope this helps!

Remember, you should never mess with fire, Nnnkay, so make sure you put safety first and if in doubt, step away and get a responsible adult or wife to do it.

The sun is finally here so it’s time to test our taste buds!

Well, it’s the first really hot day for months and a good excuse for a BBQ.

Being totally unprepared, I rushed to the local supermarket not really knowing what to get. Do I go for the usual food or do I go for something more adventurous?

Gareth Crwys-Williams is a Curriculum Leader in hospitality at Gloucestershire College

As being the most indecisive man on the planet I went for both; posh burgers and sausages on one side of the BBQ and scallops, prawns and salmon on the other. My lazy late afternoon BBQ had turned into a taste test. The family Crwys-Williams are a hungry lot and when they come back from nursery and work they want feeding fast or their world (and mine) falls apart.

On the gas BBQ I cooked the burgers and sausages on the grill side and the seafood on the griddle side.

I cut the salmon into chunks and put on the griddle with frozen raw king prawns and scallops. Then added lemon wedges, olive oil, sea salt and pepper and just let it cook.

In the ten minutes it took to cook the burgers and sausages the seafood had defrosted and cooked to perfection on the griddle.

The taste test? The lovely wife and I loved the seafood and the boys?  Well, they left most of the seafood and burgers and ate the sweetcorn I had also cooked!

Gareth

Gareth Crwys-Williams – Gloucestershire College

Gareth Crwys-Williams is a Curriculum Leader in hospitality at Gloucestershire College, which is the main provider of chef, catering and hospitality training in the county.

He has spent his whole working life working in the industry and has worked across the world running restaurants, public houses and contract catering for film sets and rally teams.

One half of Gloucestershire College’s very own ‘Chef’s on Tour’; Gareth regularly  teams up with College Head Chef Shaun Naen and travels to schools and events across the county to inspire individuals  to get cooking. Find out more hospitality and catering courses at Gloucestershire College: www.gloscol.ac.uk/Zenntrix.aspx?a_id=6234

We were fortunate enough to get sent a selection of the new range of French’s BBQ range of sauces. Launched just in time to capitalise on the nice weather here in the UK.

french's BBQ Range

They came in an amazingly cute hessian carry sack (I have not done it justice with that description) and to be fair, they had me at hello!

We tried the BBQ Sauce, the salad dressing and the New York Steak House steak sauce and I am not kidding, they were the best we have tried since we started this blog nearly 7 years ago.

The reason they are special comes down to a few points. I always go on about sauces of this kind (in a jar) coming out with a really synthetic taste, and quite oily, presumably done to make them last.

Not with the French’s range! The sauces kind of melted into the steaks that we had and the salad dressing tasted home made.

I guess I should not be that surprised as these are the people who brought us the amazing yellow hot dog mustard that is always running out when we have sausage on the BBQ.

I cannot wait to try the rest of the selection that they have launched. I better stop now as I am going on a bit, but suffice to say, if you only buy one range of BBQ dressings and sauces this year, get French’s! Amazing… puts the likes of Weber’s and the more established BBQ specialists to shame.

The range is available from Waitrose and Sainsbury’s and costs around £1.99 to £2.49. The full range includes: Classic BBQ Sauce, Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce, New York Steakhouse Sauce, Blue Cheese Dressing, Honey Mustard with Dijon Dressing, Jalapeno Tomato Relish, and Sweet Onion Relish.

Have you tried the French’s range of sauces? If so, why not comment below…

You play a layer of woodchips on the base of the box, add the grill with the food on, in our case it was salmon fillets, and then place on the base of the BBQ.

We have a kettle BBQ and I think this helps out with the flavouring and heat control. You need to arrange the hot coals around the edge of your kettle BBQ and then place the smoking box in the middle.

I used quite thin fillets and they were cooked in around 20 mins. We had them with home made potato salad and normal salad.

The pics below show the step by step guide to this brilliant Smoked Salmon BBQ recipe.

Woodchips in the smoker

Salmon in the smoker

Smoking Box Placed in the Kettle BBQ

BBQ Smoked Salmon Recipe Part Way Through Cooking

Packington Chicken BBQ Recipe

All you have to to is go to their Facebook page, “Like it” and then enter your fave BBQ Chicken recipe on their timeline (Facebook Wall for all those old-skoolers).

As you can see, I have had a go myself, entering our very own BBQ Chicken “Beer can up the bum” recipe. You will also note that I changed the name a bit to make it more family orientated.

Fingers crossed we win (already seen they have a few other top recipes on there as well).

We love Packington because of the love and effort they put into producing the best quality meat product possible. Run by Robert and Alec Mercer who are fourth generation farmers, their family knowledge has been passed won throughout the years, hence the amazingly traditional free-range approach to rearing their animals.

You really should check out their site if you get chance. They have a handy postcode finder that tells you where is the closest Butcher that stocks their meat.

We were sent the Garlic, Hickory and Garlic BBQ sauces and had chance to test the Hickory one this weekend.

Opies BBQ Sauces

You can also use these sauces as a marinade, which is what we did, on some salmon fillets. We left if to marinate for around 6 hours and it really did the job.

What jumped out immediately is that, unlike many top brands, it did not have that synthetic/oily texture or taste, it really did taste natural and it really did taste like it was home made (rather than the glam jar that it came in).

It wasn’t too sweet and sickly either (again, unlike many BBQ sauces) and is, by far, the best tasting BBQ sauce that we have tried.

I had never tried anything “hickory” before either, played with the smoking chips, but never the sauce so it was exciting to try something new.

We cannot wait to try the wider range and massive thanks to Opies for sending these out to us.

Available in Booths, Ocado and other quality stores, retailing at around £2.29

Tried this sauce? Got your own BBQ sauce recipe? Why not let us know below in the comments section

One of the most commonly wrong ideas about BBQ’ing is that it is expensive to get going. Let’s face it, we are in yet another recession so money is tight and people need to realise that getting going in BBQ’ing need not be expensive.

In fact, we think you can invest in all the BBQ equipment you need, meat and charcoal for around £25.00!

Not only does BBQ’ing feed the family, but it is also a great social and entertainment occasion.

So, here is the starter guide:

Affordable Landmann Family BBQ

This Landmann 41cm BBQ costs just £13.62 and can fit enough food on to feed 6 (unless they are American ).

Stainless Steel BBQ Tools

In addition, we think a set of tongues and a BBQ fork are also essential and this stainless steel set is just £7.99.

On top of these two you can get your charcoal for as little as £1.99 (not sure if it is very ethically sourced) and a pack of bangers to christen your grill for a couple of quid from your local butcher for a couple of quid max.

If you are looking for a start up, or beginner BBQ set, look no further than the above!

Get any Starter BBQ ideas or comments? Why not post them below?

The Australians may be known for their slightly chequered criminal history but there is no doubting that they are at the forefront of the BBQ industry.

We should not only thank them for their introduction of Fosters beer, but more so for the great phrase, “Let’s chuck another shrimp on the barbie”.

And this is the quick bbq recipe we have tried recently and that I wanted to share.

Oriental Prawn Skewers for 4 – Ingredients

1.5kg of prawns, heads removed, tails still on

Marinade

Handful of chopped coriander
100ml veg oil
2tbsp lemon-grass
1tbsp grated ginger
4 spring onions, chopped
1tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sherry or rice wine
50ml lemon juice
2 tbsp chilli oil
Load of wooden skewers, soaked in a bowl of water for a few hours
Some wedges of lemon

Step by Step BBQ Recipe Guide:
- Place all of the ingredients for the marinade and a pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor and whizz around until smooth.
- Place the mixture into a glass or metal bowl and add your headless (but tail still on) prawns and make sure they are all coated
- Leave to marinate for at least two hours (in a fridge!)
- Push the prawns onto the skewers and top the end with one of the lemon wedges.
- Place onto a hot BBQ (or use a basket) for 3 mins per side (make sure they don’t burn)
- Serve by using a knife or fork to push the prawns off the skewer onto a nice wild salad

Best served with an ice cold, preferably Australian, beer!

Like this recipe? Want to share your thoughts or your own BBQ tips, why not add a comment below.