Cookbook Challenge: Week 18, BBQ

Recipe: Lamb with coriander and chilli
Cookbook: AWW Kitchen

Oh, the weather in Melbourne has been so lovely this week. Perfect for this week's Cookbook Challenge theme - BBQ.

Despite my best intentions when the Cookbook Challenge began, I still find myself on Sunday frantically trying to decide on a recipe, cook, photograph and blog before the week is over. I always intend to be more organised.... but.... I think I need the pressure!

It took me ages to decide on a recipe - you would think that BBQ would be an easy week, but for some reason I just couldn't find anything I particularly liked. It didn't help that I had run out of garlic and was trying to find a recipe without it. In the end, we just went out to buy some and I was able to finally decide on a recipe.

In the cookbook, the recipe is for chicken, but since I already had lamb chops I just went with them. I thought it was pretty good with lamb. Spicy, sourish, and fragrant - gosh it smelt good cooking on the BBQ. I served the chops with a simple baby spinach and chickpea salad, and I couldn't resist garnishing with some extra cut chilli. Delicious, and another challenge done for the week. Perhaps I'll be more organised next week?

See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here

Update: See the round up for this week at My Food Trail.



Lamb with coriander and chilli

Adapted from AWW Kitchen

Serves 4

8 lamb chops

Coriander and chilli paste
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
4 fresh small red thai chillies, chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cloves
2 cardamon pods, bruised
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
10cm stick fresh lemongrass (20g) chopped coarsely
2 medium brown onions (300g) chopped coarsely
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons peanut oil

Make the coriander and chilli paste by blending or processing all ingredients until the mixture forms a smooth paste.

Combine the paste and the lamb in a large bowl, cover, and let sit for at least an hour.

Cook the lamb on a hot BBQ for a few minutes, turn and cook for several more minutes until cooked.

Soy sauce chicken wings

So it was my birthday in the weekend. I organised a low key BBQ to mark the occasion – and of course it was the wettest day this year. It rained ALL FREAKING DAY. Nevertheless, I sent Alastair out in the rain to tend the BBQ.

Whenever we host a BBQ, I prefer not to cook raw chicken. No side of food poisoning for me thanks! So if I do chicken - normally wings - I poach them beforehand in a soy sauce mixture.

This is my favourite way of doing wings because they are sooooooooooooo good. The poaching ensures that the meat is tender and slides off the bones, and the soy sauce and star anise gives it a wonderful flavour. The wings don't have to go on the BBQ either - whenever I make a batch I always eat a couple that have just been poached. I can't resist them!

The poaching liquid can be reused and will develop more flavour as it ages. To store the sauce just boil it for about 5 minutes afterwards, cool completely, and store it in the freezer. The recipe calls for rock sugar (you can buy it from an Asian supermarket) but if you don't have any you could use brown sugar. I would recommend tracking down rock sugar though, it seems to have a different sweetness (or maybe that's just in my head...).




Soy sauce chicken wings

Adapted from the Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen

About 2 kilos of wings (or you could use a whole chicken if desired)
3 cups thin soy sauce
2/3 cup black soy sauce
2/3 cup Chinese rice cooking wine
500g yellow rock sugar
1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 heaped teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
8 star anise
3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed

Rinse the wings under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

In a large pot, combine all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

When the rock sugar has completely dissolved, taste it. It should be fairly salty, but also have a touch of sweetness. Add more sugar if necessary.

Add the wings (do this in two batches if you can't fit them all in the sauce) and return the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it boils, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.

Cover and cook for about 20 minutes (longer for a whole chicken - approximately 40-45 minutes. A whole chicken will also need to be turned halfway through).

If not doing another batch, turn off the heat and let the wings sit in the sauce for another 20 minutes. They can now either be eaten or cooled and saved for a BBQ.

Australia Day food porn: a tale of two BBQs

We were fortunate enough to have two BBQs during Australia Day weekend. Here's some BBQ food porn.

The first one was at our place on the warm Saturday evening. I kicked things off with a watermelon and ginger vodka slushie.



Naturally, there were packages of mystery meat. Or sausages.



We grilled some zucchini and onions that had been tossed with olive oil, garlic and thyme.



As well as some vegetable patties.



And what BBQ is complete without potato salad?



The next day we headed to a friend's place for another BBQ. All the "men" remained inside while the gals tended the BBQ.



Check out the butter in those mushrooms! Oh yeah!



Sausages!



Some chicken.



And here's my plate with a little bit of everything!

Barbecued marinated marlin steaks with tabouleh

So I'm not as bad a gardener as I thought. My herbs are thriving! I've been collecting water from the shower (the cold water prior to getting into it, not soapy water) and I've actually got more water than plants. Due to this, and since my existing ones are doing so well, I went and purchased a few more in the weekend (oregano, spinach and lettuce).

Thyme was one of the herbs that I planted back in December, and it has grown large enough that I can occasionally pull sprigs off it to use in my cooking. I bought some fish steaks from the market the other week, and cooked them on the barbecue. They were firm and moist, and the fact that the thyme came from my garden just made it taste even better!

(I didn't follow the tabouleh recipe below, but I've typed it up anyway.)



Barbecued marinated marlin steaks with tabouleh

From Neil Perry's Good Food (the recipe in the book is barbecued marinated chicken with tabouleh).

Serves 4

2 blue marlin steaks,
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
Freshly ground pepper

Marinade
100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 small red chillies, roughly chopped
3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
sea salt

Tabouleh
140g (5 oz/heaped 3/4 cup) coarse bulghur
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and chopped
1 Lebanese (short) cucumber, seeds removed and chopped
6 spring onions, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, stalks only, about 75tg (2 1/2 oz), chopped
1 large handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1 small handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Process all the marinade ingredients together until well combined. Add the fish to the marinade, mix well and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, to make the tabouleh, soak the bulghur in a bwol with enough water to cover for at least 1 hour. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Heat a barbecue to hot, then place the fish on. Cook for 5 minutes and turn, cook for a couple more minutes until cooked to your liking. Cut the steaks in half so you have 4 pieces.

Spoon the tabouleh onto each of four plates, and place a piece of fish on each plate. Drizzle with oil, squeeze over some lemon and give a generous grind of fresh pepper.