[RADIO] Three very lovely barbecue dishes

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Lorna Milton invited me to be in her “expert hot-seat” and cook 3 barbecue recipes. I thought the use of the term “expert” was a little amusing as I am renowned for being completely unable to light a BBQ! I am fine once (and if) it has got going, but the wait can sometimes be a tortuous one. Anyhow, all worked pretty well this time round and I made Lorna the following very tasty BBQ dishes.

Five Spice and Honey Chicken

This is a lovely, sticky and sweet marinade which lends itself to pretty well any kind of meat, fish or vegetable.

8 skinless chicken legs/thighs

5 tbsp soy sauce
5 tsp liquid honey
2 tsp five spice powder
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cm cube of fresh ginger, chopped
Some freshly ground pepper
15g fresh coriander, chopped

Mix together all the marinade ingredients and marinade the chicken pieces for a couple of hours in the fridge, turning from time to time to make sure all the pieces get well-covered.
Bring the chicken back to room temperature before putting it on grill. Cook the pieces for about 15 minutes on a medium-hot part of the grill, turning them every few minutes to ensure the chicken doesn’t burn. Serve when the pieces are cooked through to the bone.

Mildly spiced lemony tilapia

This marinade paste uses mild spices, yoghurt and lemon to add flavour to a plain fillet of tilapia. Tilapia is one of the few fish fillets which can be placed directly on the grill and not fall apart. I have seen the fillets on special offer in a few supermarkets so now is a good time to cook it. This marinade will equally well on salmon or any other firm white fish, as well as most meats.

6 skinless tilapia fillets

For the marinade:
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Good pinch of salt
2.5 cm cube fresh ginger, grated
3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
4 tbsp plain yoghurt
A drizzle of vegetable oil

For the yoghurt sauce:
200ml thick yoghurt
A drop of milk
A pinch of cumin
2-3 tsp mint sauce

Mix together all the marinade ingredients and marinade the fish for a couple of hours in the fridge. Make sure the fillets are well coated with the thick marinade. Grill the fillets on the barbecue for 4-5 minutes either side until they are cooked through and have taken on a light golden colour.

Serve with lemon wedges and a minty yoghurt sauce, made by mixing the yoghurt, milk, cumin and mint sauce in a bowl together.

Grilled pesto and parmesan aubergine and cherry tomato salad

1 large aubergine, cut width-ways into 2cm slices
12 cherry tomatoes
A jar of pesto
Parmesan shavings, basil leaves and balsamic vinegar to serve

Baste both sides of the aubergine slices with the pesto sauce.
Put all the tomatoes onto a skewer and baste them with pesto sauce too.
Grill the aubergines slices and the tomatoes for for approximately 5 minutes on either side, until the aubergine slices are soft in the middle and the tomatoes have started to “burst” a little.
Make a circle on a plate with the aubergine slices, stack the tomatoes in the middle of the slices, scatter with parmesan shavings and drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar before serving.