{"id":306,"date":"2010-08-23T16:00:33","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philonfood.com\/?p=306"},"modified":"2010-08-23T16:00:33","modified_gmt":"2010-08-23T15:00:33","slug":"not-a-traditional-bbq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/2010\/08\/23\/not-a-traditional-bbq\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a traditional BBQ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I know it is a bit late in the Summer, but I wanted to share some thoughts on BBQs.<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend I did a BBQ for my wonderful technical team at e3, and as they know I\u2019m in to my food, I felt there was a little bit of expectation as to what I was going to do.\u00a0 To which I was thinking, it\u2019s just a BBQ &#8211; not a dinner party &#8211; how fancy can it be!\u00a0 So I had to be a little creative with my planning.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some ideas over and above the old burgers and bangers in rolls:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tuna: It isn\u2019t the cheapest, but if you can get a whole loin of tuna it is a bit more cost-effective.\u00a0 I\u2019d suggest controlling portions by cutting steaks in half rather than cutting them thinner (I\u2019d rather go short and fat than long and thin with my tuna).\u00a0 Add some panache and punch with some salsa verde as a relish.\u00a0 The trick as ever is to still have it slightly pink in the middle whilst giving it the slightly charred flavour, but if you get it right it is sensational on the barbie.\u00a0 And if you have leftovers, use it cold for salad nicoise the next day (it make the best cold tuna I\u2019ve ever had).<\/li>\n<li>Marinated lamb kababs: Get some lamb (rump works well, as does leg as I found out last weekend), dice it in to large chunks and marinate for a few hours &#8211; I like garlic, cumin, mint, oil and seasoning, and thread on to skewers, separating the meat with sliced peppers.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve got good quality and tender meat then it doesn\u2019t matter if it is still slightly pink in the middle.<\/li>\n<li>Haloumi: This is a great cheese for the Barbie as it contracts when cooked rather then melting.\u00a0 It is nice on skewers with veg (e.g. small onions, peppers, mushrooms) but it can split when you skewer it in which case it can fall off during cooking.\u00a0 Otherwise just sliced and cooked directly on the barie works well.\u00a0 Lovely served with something chilli-based like harissa as a relish.<\/li>\n<li>Home made burgers: Doing them yourself lets you add your own flavours.\u00a0 Use good mince (beef or lamb).\u00a0 Some people add egg to bind and breadcrumbs to make them lighter, but I prefer pure meat &#8211; it stays together if you chill it.\u00a0 You can add what you want as herbs and spices.\u00a0 And of course, if you buy good meat, you can cook them a little rarer than you might otherwise be confident with shop-bought burgers.<\/li>\n<li>On the side: If you don\u2019t go for the traditional rolls, you\u2019ll need something else as your carbs.\u00a0 Potato salad is great, especially as you can add your own flavours to it, e.g. mint or chives.\u00a0 A nice rustic bread for tearing is great at a barbie.\u00a0 As for veg, a simple salad with a nice dressing is always summery, or you could do some roasted Mediterranean vegetables (e.g. onion, peppers and courgette &#8211; season, roast, and add in cherry tomatoes and even a little balsamic vinegar towards the end to get a bit of caramelised sweetness), either in the oven or make foil parcel an put on the barbie.<\/li>\n<li>Dessert: My next door neighbours have served me divine baked banana.\u00a0 Just score the skin a few times vertically, place on the barbie, close the lid (if you have one) or keep turning &#8211; it is done once blackened.\u00a0 Serve with good vanilla icecream.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know it is a bit late in the Summer, but I wanted to share some thoughts on BBQs. Last weekend I did a BBQ for my wonderful technical team at e3, and as they know I\u2019m in to my food, I felt there was a little bit of expectation as to what I was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philonfood.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}