BBQ recipes

Wow, what a great day - all of a sudden, summer has arrived, and the bbq beckons! Well, that is unless, like me, it needs a major cleanout as it hasnt been used all winter and it has been so wet this spring that only the truly deranged would have attempted to cook outdoors! Here are a few tips and tricks to make your BBQ successful - exerpts from my Tips and Tricks Guide that accompanies our BBQ Workshop...

How to create the perfect marinade for BBQing food

Different tastes that must be balanced to achieve a really good marinade:

sweet, - this can be achieved using honey or fruit juice – sugar is not a great option unless you don’t have an alternative – it is too non-subtle!

sour, - from acid – so lemon, lime, vinegar etc

bitter, closely associated with sour for many people, coffee, plain chocolate, beer etc

salty – obviously from salt or its derivatives…

umami has been added in recent decades – this is about a savoury flavour such as soya, ketchup etc – very important for this to be blended into BBQ flavours!...

For most dishes, you also need to add in some ‘piquancy’ in the form of pepper (either chilli pepper or black peppercorns), paprika (either smoked or unsmoked) and/or herbs and spices to add that unique set of flavours. You need to be careful not to over-complicate matters when it comes to this lot of tastes – a little can go a long way!

Think about your bbq as a total taste experience, but adding in some simple flavours to give your taste buds a break! The breaks can be provided by potatoes, breads, even simple salads such as couscous or green salads will give a contrast to the stronger more pungent flavours

Recipes and guidelines for BBQ food… just a few options to add zing to plain old chicken breasts - I would recommend that you try and get the best chicken you can afford - cheap efforts often have water added, so you end up with an unpleasant texture to the finished dish.

Mediterranean Citrus Marinade – this will work for chicken or fish…

For 4 breasts of chicken…

o 3 tablespoons of olive oil (one that doesn’t have too strong a taste – doesn’t have to be extra virgin)
o rind and juice of one large lemon or two small ones
o 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
o 1 teaspoon of runny honey
o 3 large sprigs of thyme – you could also use oregano or a smaller quantity of rosemary
o Sea salt and black pepper to season)

Combine thoroughly. Cut each chicken breast into three-four strips and then coat the whole lot with the marinade for about 15 minutes.

Thai-style chicken marinade

o Juice and rind of one lime
o 1 inch knob of ginger, finely chopped
o 1 stick of lemongrass, outer leaves removed and inner core finely chopped
o 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
o 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
o 1 teaspoon of runny honey
o fresh coriander – about a tablespoon finely chopped
o 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds (optional)

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and then mix with strips of chicken; leave to marinade for 15 minutes minimum.

Sticky tomato and fennel marinade

o Five tablespoons of good tomato sauce
o 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire or other tangy sauce
o some drops of Tabasco or fresh chillies (this depends on how hot you like your food!)
o Fennel seeds – about a teaspoon, crushed with a mortar/pestle
o Tablespoon of olive oil
o 2 garlic cloves
o salt and pepper
o Some fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and then mix with strips of chicken; leave to marinade for 15 minutes minimum

Enjoy - get in touch if you would like more ideas for that BBQ, and which wines to match with the different tastes!

Exciting moves and market days ahead...

After much thought and deliberation for the last few months, we are on the move to new premises and are planning to include a weekly indoor food market in our new location on Saturdays. The building is in Glasnevin in Dublin, and has about 6000 sq ft of available warehousing, as well as ample office and storage space, a stainless steel kitchen and space for our wine tastings and much more. It'll be full steam ahead in the coming weeks to prepare the space, meet all the Environmental Health requirements and be up and running by mid-summer. This is all part of our decision to join forces with Champagnes Unlimited, and grow our business jointly, with emphasis on good value wines in this time of economic recession, cookery demonstrations on how to use the produce from the market, and to have our own stall at the market. We will be able to have wine tastings and courses on the premises, although we will still be available for incompany tasting evenings.

Current plans are for a mainly fresh food produce market, lots of veggies, meat, fish etc with an emphasis on quality and good value as well. Of course we'll also have some produce for people to be able to treat themselves, but always with a healthy emphasis! So, I'm off to Borough Market in London this weekend to look at it with fresh eyes - not as a consumer of the food there, but to see how they have it set up from an operational perspective. Not much point in not aiming for the best we can be, and they are a good example in this part of the world... Barcelona would be even better, but maybe too ambitious... for now... So, if you would like to explore having a stall at our market, and your food produce is good quality and affordable, then get in touch with us at info@thetastingroom.ie or if you would just like to hear more about our plans...

Bread-making

I spent most of today doing a bread-making workshop with a small group of people (all female!). We had a great day - the sun was shining in through the conservatory roof, and it was warm enough for our bread dough to prove outside in the sun. We started the day with some coffee, fruit and my experimentation with a new health bread which I had baked the other day. The taste combination of spelt flour, honey, bananas, blueberries and nuts went down a treat, so I'll have to write up the recipe and publish it (contact me if you would like a sneak preview!).

After the bread and coffee, we got down to the real business of the day. We made up our dough for focaccia and set it aside to prove. We then moved onto the healthy wholemeal spelt bread with its linseeds and pumpkin seeds, and made scones and a loaf each. Then revisited the focaccia dough to give it its second stage - putting it back out in the sun for its second proving, while the scones were sampled, straight out of the oven, with some butter and homemade strawberry jam. The group got on really well - career advice was exchanged as well as many foodie conversations!

We finally made up the focaccia bread - keeping it classical with toppings of garlic, rosemary, olive oil and salt. All the breads were a great success - I'm not sure if that was down to the creative talents of the group, or my teaching ability, or maybe a combination of both! One of the group has promised to send me on the photo she took of the fruits of our labour - and when she does, I'll publish it to my blog... Hopefully everyone will try out the recipes at home and get to the stage where they'll be making bread without having to even think!

Plans for the Autumn...

The plans for The Tasting Room for the next few months are coming together nicely. We will continue to run wine-tasting evenings for the corporate sector, and our 1-day wine courses. We are also planning to continue our cookery workshops, following on the success of our BBQ workshops which we ran over the summer (despite the awful rain!). One theme for the Autumn will be Asian cuisine, and the other will be quick-fix delicious mid-week suppers. As we limit our numbers to a maximum of ten, it means that everyone gets the chance to really get close to the action, and they get to taste everything that they see demonstrated. As they also get to hear about and taste wines that complement the food, it is a total experience. At our workshops, people get to ask any question they like, and if we dont have the answer there and then, we research it and tell people afterwards.

Some new services which we will be adding include wine-tasting evenings which will be ticket-based (we're finding it difficult to source suitable venues for this, which dont cost a fortune!) and a six-week wine course.