Simply Cooking Outdoors

A fairly dramatic lifestyle change has taken place, we have moved, after 15 years, and into what began as a 400 year old rural cottage in Oxfordshire. Call us brave, but then we knew what we were getting ourselves into. The house will be worked on eternally but for now, it's livable, we have a garden and I even have my own woodpile and a new chainsaw that I bought for myself for my birthday.

The transition was not far off hell, but the the saving grace was that is was summer and mostly we cooked and ate outside out of necessity. Firefoodie heaven as compensation.

In the past four months I've cut down three trees, cooked countless meals on an open fire, entertained plenty and spent hours and hours on the tools. It won't end, but it sure is fun.

Originally named Stone Place, we renamed the house Ammonite Cottage, after some delightful fossils that were built into the first walls all those years ago. Found locally, treasured, and now there for all to enjoy. There is even a well in the kitchen.

So a few photos of food, house and garden, just to keep this poor little blog alive.

The remnants of a conifer, seasoning for the winter fires

Breakfast with Sue and Geoff Wier

S

Our first garden party for neighbours and friends

Our Welsh pony neighbours, loving the apples we collect from the ground

Cheese toasties in the braai tool

Snoopy keeping warm under the fire

Lolly nesting in the drop sheets

and the ammonite fossil, two halves split from one stone

Roasted Sea Bass in the Weber

WITH FENNEL, NEW POTATOES & TOMATOES

Somehow August managed to get the better of me. Two and a half weeks in France and four days in Northern Ireland, and for the first time since I started this blog over four years ago, I failed to meet my own target of at least one blog per month. Shame on me. OK, a fire ban in France was no help, and desperately trying to keep up with self employed work commitments also got in the way. I'm just trying to convince myself of course, as there is NO excuse. So here I am, visiting friends in Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, about to tell a story about an evening we had in Herefordshire, just before our summer holiday. And somehow, it's September already.

Remember my South African foodie mate Ben? Most recently he gave me a cast iron potjie for my birthday (the one that fell off the Vespa), and he also saved up a special cockerel for one of our visits (A Tale of Two Cockerels). I also designed a purpose made outdoor braai for him in Oxfordshire before he sold his house and moved to paradise (aka Bringsty Common). We have much foodie stuff in common and so much look forward to seeing the Van Vuurens at any opportunity.

We were counting down the days and squeezing in as much work before departing for our traditional two weeks in France. A chance phone call to the VV's and we found that we were all free to meet up the weekend before we travelled, and at very short notice. So off we went to stay with them one Friday evening.

Ben had decided on sea bass as a main course, baked over a bed of herbs and vegetables. His starter was an incredible assembly of smoked duck, blue cheese, strawberry and broad beans with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Beautifully presented and amazing to eat.

The great thing about Ben's sea bass main course is that it is a one pot dish, fish and side dish of herby vegetables all cooked and served from one dish. The fennel complements the fish beautifully and the potatoes are perfect for soaking up all those lovely juices.

INGREDIENTS:

- 500g new potatoes, parboiled
- 20 Cherry tomatoes
- 1 large bulb of fennel, sliced
- Chopped chives
- Chopped oregano
- A few knobs of butter
- 4-5 whole seabass, cleaned
- Olive oil
- Sea salt

METHOD:

Lay all of the ingredients (except the fish) in a baking dish and bake uncovered in the Weber (or oven) for about 30 minutes. Make a few slashes in the skin of the sea bass, rub in some olive oil, place the fish on top with some extra fennel leaves and finish with a dose of coarse sea salt. Bake for a further 20-30 minutes until the fish has cooked through.

Ben's amazing smoked duck breast starter

Still Life with Potjie

They say a picture tells a thousand words, and to me, this one certainly does. First there's the story of my lovely new potjie (that's pronounced 'poy-kee' by the way).

My South African foodie mate Ben bought it for me for my recent birthday. I can't tell you how thrilled I was. He's recently moved to Herefordshire, so he ordered it from an obscure village post office-cum-purveyor of all things South African, not far from us here in Oxfordshire. He'd given me some advance warning and all we had to do was wait for his cheque to clear and I'd get the OK to go and pick it up. I go right past the shop each time I go into Oxford so I arranged to get it on my way back on the afternoon I was given the all clear.

To make it a bit more fun I thought I'd travel on my son's Vespa. He's touring Asia on his gap year and he encouraged me to get my motorcycle training sorted out so I could make use of it while he's away. So that I did and I've been scooting around on this thing for some time now, and I absolutely love it.

I called in to the South African shop to collect my gift, announced the reason for my visit, and the three South African guys working in the shop greeted me with a very nicely sung 'Happy Birthday to You......'. They seemed as thrilled as I was and all came out to help me secure my new gift to the rear rack on the scooter. They put it in a box and I had two decent straps to hold it on. It took a good fifteen minutes of trying different ways until we were all happy it was secure. I asked one of the guys to take this photo using my phone so I could send it Ben and Tersia to say thanks.

The journey back was about 6 or 7 miles through a couple of villages and mainly on country roads. About two miles from home, I was belting along a busy A road at about 50 mph when I heard this almighty crashing noise behind me. I glanced in the mirror and there it was. I could see the box and lid in the middle of the road about 100 yards behind me. There was no hard shoulder, so I pulled up as close to the edge of the road as possible and walked to survey the damage. I felt gutted. I got to the box (empty) and lid (still in one piece) but there was no sign of my potjie. I trawled the dense bushes on the side of the road as I made my way back to the bike and couldn't see it anywhere. When I got to the bike, there it was! Miraculously dangling from the rack on the strap that had been looped through the eye where the handle attaches. It was hanging barely an inch off the road. I can not describe the sense of relief I felt.

I reminded myself that there were lorries flying by in both directions and I should not really be lingering around. It was when I was re-securing the pot in the box that I realised the mistake us three blokes had made. The three legged pot was in a cardboard box, and what had happened was the legs had punctured the bottom of the box, and the pot then dropped just far enough to slacken the tension on the straps.

Even with traffic flying by in both directions, I worked out that the best way was to put the pot in the box upside down. Not that I will ever need to use that knowledge again. Had the chunky cast iron pot hit the road at 50 mph I'd have been collecting in two or three pieces. It's still a miracle that the lid survived. It has a small scratch which will be there forever to remind me of the experience.

I got home, rang Ben to tell him the story and took his instructions on seasoning my new miracle potjie. Casting iron is a greasy dirty process and leaves nasty residues that need removing before the pot can be used. The process involved boiling water in the pot, washing it, boiling more water, washing it again, then cooking something fatty in it for the first time. He suggested bacon, and so my pot was christened and is now nicely seasoned.

Now back to my still life (and this is 750 words so far by the way), because it's not just about the potjie.

This blog is really a bit of a desperate round up for the month of June, and it is my first ever blog without any recipes. My self imposed discipline of writing at least one article per month has been stressing me so much that I just had to drop everything and get it done.

Through the window in the photo is my trusty old Weber. We had a dinner party recently that would have been a perfect opportunity for a good story. I so wanted to make pork belly on my garden rotisserie, but was defeated by our lovely English weather. My fall back was to do the pork belly in the Weber, twice cooked. Can you believe I over fueled the fire on the second cooking, and the fat in the baking dish actually ignited. The pork was black around the edges and underneath and 10 people were on their way. It looked beyond rescue. Somehow I managed to stay calm (unlike my wife) and reviewed the disaster. The crackling still looked ok which was a start. So I carefully removed the charred edges and divided the pork into 10 servings (albeit a bit smaller than intended). I swear, you'd never have known and inside, the pork was perfect.

In the photo, the Weber is missing something... yes it's the handle that should be on the lid. I still haven't fixed it, not since mentioning it in a post last November.

There are two more stories my picture has to tell. My lovely chilli plants on the window cill, planted from seed back in March and now starting to fruit. There is another pot just opposite and they look so lovely. At the same time I planted some herbs which are in my little plastic greenhouse on the deck. Secondly, it's the lack of sun. This month has been dire as far as the weather is concerned, so there have been few opportunities for outdoor cooking. Wind and rain. Relentless.

Work/life pressure has kept me off the blog radar a bit too much this month, and I would like to apologise to my favourite food bloggers whose blogs I've been unable to keep up with. The loss is mine and I will be doing something about it!

So my picture has now said 1,168 words. The myth has become true.

Coriander blossom and tomato leaves

Tomato flowers

and basil in abundance

Slow Roasted Leg of Goat

Cooked in a Weber

What's going on here? One minute I'm stressing about having nothing to write about for my January blog, and the next minute I'm on to my second. They're sort of connected too. It was when we were staying with our friends in Herefordshire (see Ben's Curry Chicken Potjie), that I was taken to visit a fabulous local butcher, Legges of Bromyard. They had 2.5kg trays of mixed cuts of young goat for sale. How could I resist. Goat seems impossible to get hold of where I live yet here, 80 miles from home there it was, in abundance.

Our traditional Sunday family meal in the cooler months is a proper English roast dinner. We alternate between lamb, beef, pork and chicken with each family member having their particular favourite. Chicken with stuffing, beef with Yorkshire pud, pork with crackling, and lamb with mint sauce. So now it was to be goat. Our teenage daughter Kitty trembled at the thought (chicken is her favourite) and to be honest I was not looking forward to her asking what we would be having.

Weber chimney starter

My attraction to goat goes back to my time in Perth. I have two good friends there who occasionally satisfied my cravings for 'capretto' as a special treat. One had an outdoor wood fired oven and he would slow roast fist sized pieces in a large tray with garlic and herbs. I remember the smell wafting up the street as I arrived.

So here I was with a 1.2kg piece of goat leg and a bag of lumpwood charcoal. This was a big moment.

Goat is an incredibly lean and healthy meat. It benefits from slow roasting and some form of additional fat. I rubbed it with olive oil, and made a few slits between the muscles and inserted a couple of anchovy fillets and slivers of garlic. I laid it on a bed of rosemary sprigs in a pyrex roasting dish, tossed in a few trimmed heads of garlic and whacked it in the Weber.

I kept a bit of water in the bottom of the dish throughout the cooking time to provide a bit of steam and prevent the garlic and herbs from burning. It needed an extra splash from time to time. I also added a few knobs of butter on top of the meat about half way through.

It had a good hot start and was then left for about 2 1/2 hours with a gradually reducing temperature. Half an hour before the end I wrapped it in foil and removed the juices to add to the gravy which I was making on the hob. The gravy base was made simply with butter, flour and chicken stock.

The meat was tender and made a interesting change to our "English" Sunday roast. A jar of mint sauce on the table had a sufficiently Anglicising effect and really did go well with the meat. Well, Kitty did try it, smiled politely, and then left most of it neatly arranged around the edge of her plate so she could lap up the spuds and the gravy.

The other cuts from the 2 1/2 kg tray went into the freezer and will surface again soon in the form a proper 'curry goat', cooked over an open fire in my potjie, sorry, I don't have one so I'll give it a go in my Kotlich instead. Watch this space!

Ben's Peri-Peri Chicken in the Weber

AND AN ARRAY OF OTHER DELIGHTS

We had the pleasure of Ben's cooking the week before when we were invited to help him celebrate his birthday on an extraordinarily wet Sunday afternoon. His menu was amazing so we decided to respectfully re-create a few of the dishes for an evening with friends visiting from Australia. It was all a bit last minute and in the middle of a hectic working week.

I'd had many phone conversations with Ben for his advice on methods and ingredients, and my wife and I settled on the following menu for our friends Jean and Ken:

STARTER

- Prosciutto rolls with peach, mozzarella, basil and mint

MAIN COURSE

- Ben's peri-peri chicken in the Weber
- Warm salad of french beans, artichoke hearts, asparagus and wild rice
- Ratatouille

DESSERT

- Rosewater panna cotta with pink champagne and strawberry jelly and crystalised rose petals

Our meal was a great success but the dessert stood out by a mile. It was astounding. Unique, creative and carefully considered in every way. My version of Ben's peri-peri however was affected by not having the right ingredients at hand. I only had hot chilli powder (instead of mild) and used too much paprika to compensate. It still tasted great but would not have met Ben's standards I'm sure. The recipe below is how Ben makes it and was taught to him by his Dad in South Aftica.


PROSCIUTTO ROLLS
Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients:

- 12 slices of prosciutto or parma ham
- 2-3 peaches, peeled and cut into 12 strips
- 1 ball of mozzarella, cut into strips
- 12 whole basil leaves
- 12 whole large mint leaves (or more smaller ones)

Method:

Carefully roll the fillings inside the prosciutto. Serve at room temperature, garnished with a few extra herbs and freshly ground black pepper.


BEN'S PERI-PERI CHICKEN
Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 1 whole chicken, spatchcocked
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp of smoked paprika
- 4 tbsp mild chilli powder
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 handful of fresh parsly, finely chopped
- 1 handful of fresh oregano, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh taragon finely chopped.
- juice of 1/2 lemon for the marinade
- Fresh lemon wedges to serve with

Method:

Marinate the chicken the night before and leave it in the fridge. To make the marinade, add the paprika and chilli powder to the olive oil, tasting all the time for 'chilli hotness'. Add the garlic, herbs and lemon juice to the marinade, prick the chicken all over with a skewer, and put the chicken and marinade in a sealed plastic bag (or bowl with clingfilm) in the fridge. The longer the better.

To cook the chicken, prepare two medium charcoal fires in the Weber, sit the chicken in a baking dish in the centre and cook the chicken slowly with the lid on and all vents open for about 40 minutes. This needs to be a gentle cook or the chicken will dry out to much. From time to time, spoon the marinade over the chicken as it is cooking.

To finish the chicken, remove it from the dish and grill it directly over the (by now fairly gentle) coals. Turn it freqently to prevent it from burning. Ten minutes or so in total should be plenty. Cut the chicken into portions, making sure everyone gets a share of the breast and finish it off with the lemon wedges.

I can't wait to do it again, but hopefully with more time to get the spices just right.


WARM SALAD OF FRENCH BEANS, ARTICHOKE HEARTS, ASPARAGUS AND WILD RICE
Serves 4

This is served just slightly warm and all of the ingredients can be pre-prepared before the final assembly.

Ingredients:

- 1 pk of fresh asparagus spears
- 1 pk of fine green beans
- 1 small jar of artichoke hearts in oil
- 1/2 cup of wild black rice
- Juice of one lime
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lime cut into wedges

Method:

First cook the wild rice following the instructions on the pack (takes up to an hour) then rinse with cold water in a sieve to prevent it overcooking. Meanwhile, Blanch the beans and asparagus in slightly salted boiling water for a minute or two and then run them under cold water also. Put the cooled vegetables in a bowl with the lime juice, olive oil and garlic to marinate.

To serve, quickly chargrill the beans and asparagus on the barbeque (or toss quickly in a hot wok) until they are hot, but still firm. Toss the hot vegetables with the rice, marinade and artichokes and garnish with extra lime wedges.


RATATOUILLE

Using the juices from the peri-peri baking dish, I simply added a finely chopped onion, courgette and red pepper to the same dish to soak up the spicy flavours. Then a tin of chopped tomatoes was added and the whole thing cooked was quickly over a fairly high heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. By this time my fire was too low, so I transferred it to a pan and finished it over the gas hob.


ROSEWATER PANNA COTTA WITH PINK CHAMPAGNE AND STRAWBERRY JELLY AND CRYSTALIZED ROSE PETALS.
Makes 4 in ramekins

Not only does it sound amazing, it tastes amazing and is beautiful to look at. This is a result of Ben's current rosewater fettish and it is a truly imaginative and successful creation. You won't have tasted anything like it before and once you do you will be wanting it again. And again...

Ingredients:

For the pink champagne jelly:

- 150ml of pink champagne (or medium rose)
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Gelatin leaves or powder
- 4-6 fresh strawberries trimmed and cut into wedges

For the panna cotta:

- 300ml double cream
- 300ml milk
- 1 tbsp rosewater
- 80g caster sugar
- 1 large fresh vanilla pod

For the crystalized rose petals:

- 8 rose petals
- 1 egg white, gently beaten
- Caster sugar

- Fresh mint leaves and extra strawberries to garnish

METHOD

You need to allow plenty of time for this, the finished dessert needs at least 6 hours in fridge to set before serving, and the rose petals need time to harden in a dry warm place.

First make the jelly, by warming up the wine and caster sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the gelatin (check the packet for the amount needed to set 150ml) and make sure it is completely dissolved. The jelly needs to cool down (but not set) before it is added to the ramekins.

Place the strawberry wedges into the bottom of the ramekins and pour over the jelly mixture. It should take up no more than the first 1.5 - 2cm of the dish, then put the ramekins in the fridge to set. The jelly needs to be completely set before the top layer of panna cotta is added.

To make the panna cotta, gently heat the cream, milk, seeds from the vanilla pod and the sugar in a saucepan, add the rosewater (and taste it!), then the gelatin (again, check the packet) until fully dissolved. Allow to cool (but not set) before pouring it over the set jelly. Put them back in the fridge to set.

The crystalized rose petals are made by first trimming out the thick stalk, brushing them with egg white and covering them with loads of caster sugar on both sides. The petals then need to be laid out and put somewhere dry and warm until they become crispy. It was a sunny day so I laid mine out on a plate on the table in the conservatory

To serve, turn the dessert out onto a plate or bowl (a bit of hot water on the outside of the dish will help to release it) and garnish with the rose petals, extra strawberries and some fresh mint leaves. It will impress.

Christmas Turkey on the Weber - Chapter 4

SUB-ZERO OUTDOOR COOKING - CHRISTMAS 2010

After a week of snow and freezing temperatures, Christmas day promised to be dry, sunny and very cold. And that it was. The temperature fell to minus ten degrees C overnight and peaked at an invigorating minus four sometime during the daylight hours.

We planned to have our Christmas dinner at around 6pm, so the cooking was done in the afternoon. I was slightly anxious as I wasn't sure how to compensate for the extreme cold (no insulation in a Weber!). To avoid any fire starting delays I deployed the Weber Chimney Starter and loaded it to the top with good quality, dry lumpwood charcoal that I had been storing in the house. I had a total of about 4kg and was starting to worry whether it would be enough as it was seriously cold outside.

We went to a Christmas service in the morning, and then by the time we had done a round of present opening and had a bit of lunch, I lit the chimney starter at about 1:15pm. We had a 8.5kg (17 pound) turkey plus a layer of stuffing between the breast and skin. I'd looked up the cooking time for the bird weight at 3hrs 10mins plus a bit extra for the cold weather (I guessed a mere 10 minutes). As the stuffing is to protect the breast, it doesn't affect the cooking time of the thigh so I made no further adjustments.

The cooking and checking timetable worked out something like this:

13:15 hrs - Lit chimney starter

13:40 hrs - Turkey in Weber

14:00 hrs - Checked turkey/fire and took photo (top). Sizzling nice and gently, skin starting to brown, anxiety decreasing

15:05 hrs - Fire a bit low, so added a bit of charcoal to both fires

15:50 hrs - Checked, all ok

16:30 hrs - Added a bit more fuel (total fuel used approx 3-3.5kg)

17:00 hrs - Removed turkey and covered with foil (total cooking time 3 hrs 20 mins)

I let the turkey rest for about 45 minutes before removing an entire breast with its stuffing layer. This was enough to feed six hearty appetites and was on the table at 6pm as planned. Our vegetarian daughter had all the trimmings served with a vegetable stock and garlic gravy I made separately.

I served the turkey with the traditional accompaniments of stuffing, giblet gravy, pigs in blankets, roasted potatoes and parsnips, steamed carrots, brussel sprouts and home made bread sauce.

This left us with an entire breast (for turkey pie which we had yesterday), and the legs, thighs and wings for turkey lasagne. The carcass is currently simmering away in the kitchen and will provide us with some good stock for the lasagne and what's left will go in the freezer for soups, sauces and gravies.

For the original post have a look at Perfect Christmas Turkey on the Weber where you will find loads more detail, photos and links to other recipes.

Perfect Christmas Turkey on the Weber

This simple recipe is the result of many Christmas’s experimenting with turkey and other poultry in a kettle barbeque in both the English winter and Australian summer.

On this particular Christmas, we served an 8.5 kg (20 lb) turkey for a late afternoon Christmas dinner. The plan was to have plenty of leftovers for turkey lasagne, turkey pasties, cold meat and stock. It worked a treat. I managed to feed 9 with one breast, stuffing and one thigh (loads of trimmings and vegetables helped). The next few days were spent preparing and storing the remainder of our every-two-year turkey delights.

One advantage of the kettle barbeque is that it frees up the oven and you can cook a much larger bird than you would be able to in the kitchen.

This is from my archive and what really happened a Christmas (or two) ago.

CHRISTMAS EVE:

Collect your pre-ordered turkey from your local butcher. Enjoy the queues and conversations that go with it.

Pre-prepare in advance everything possible… like the bread sauce and stuffing for example, so all that is left to do is to cook the turkey and prepare and cook the potatoes, parsnips, brussel sprouts and carrots.

This year I planned a pre-dinner snack of home made sausage rolls and devils on horseback which were also prepared on Christmas Eve.

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Juggling catering obligations with gift opening demands of the kids and family is always a challenge. I write out a schedule a few days before so it is easier to judge the timing and arrange tasks on the day. The main job for the morning is to prepare and cook the turkey. Once the turkey is on the charcoal cooking fire, the preparation of the giblet gravy, vegetables and other compliments then simply falls into place.

I tried a new method for the giblet stock and gravy this time. The neck, heart, liver and kidneys were sauted in a dob of butter with a few whole carrots, bay leaves and peppercorns until lightly browned before adding water and a couple of unpeeled onions.

The stock simmered on the stove for almost as long as the turkey was in the Weber. Masses of gravy was produced, enough for the meal and plenty left over for the turkey pasty filling.

A 20 lb turkey will take about 3¼ hours to cook in a kettle barbeque and then a further 30-60 minutes to carve and serve. Having it ready early is fine as it will stay hot carved or un-carved under foil for an hour or more. The fire will take 30-40 minutes from scratch to mature, so you need to work out at what time it needs to be lit to ensure that your meal will be on the table when you need it to be. Remove the turkey from the fridge early in the day so it returns to room temperature before cooking. This is important especially in the winter as the barbeque will be under enough stress to keep hot as it is.

Get your pre-prepared stuffing ready (I use a well seasoned mixture of sausage meat, fresh breadcrumbs and a bit of grated lemon rind - see Chapter 3) and then put your hand in the neck cavity and carefully work apart the skin from the breast meat with your fingers. Then, a bit at a time, push small handfuls of stuffing under the skin and squash it down to create a thick (up to an inch or so) layer over the whole of the breast. The main cavity is best left open to allow the heat from the fire to cook the turkey from the inside without interfering with your cooking times.

Rub the whole skin with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt before placing the turkey on a large baking dish on the rack of the barbeque. The baking dish will ensure that you safely reserve cooking juices and fat for basting during cooking. Open the lid of the barbeque every 45 minutes or so to check the fire and allow it to re-oxygenate while you baste. You will probably need to add just a chunk or two of charcoal to each side of the barbeque during these times to keep the temperature fairly steady. Don’t worry if the breast starts looking a bit overdone, this is just the stuffing layer doing its job of protecting the white meat during cooking. If the turkey is just gently sizzling, you will know that the temperature of the fire is just right.

Once cooked, serving the turkey should be easy. Cover it with foil and let it stand for half an hour or so, and then with a pair of tongs and a short sharp knife, carefully remove an entire breast in one piece and set it aside. Then remove a thigh with a bit of wiggling and a bit of help from your knife. Remove the thigh bone before slicing the meat across the grain of the muscles. Slice the breast in the same way, across the grain in ¼ - ½ in slices, leaving a thick layer of aromatic stuffing on the outside of each slice. The stuffing may be a little burnt on the outside, but this has only helped to protect the more delicate breast meat from over cooking and drying out.

Protect the uncarved turkey with foil to keep it moist for later. Place the carved meat onto a warmed tray and cover with foil to give you time to serve the vegetables and trimmings onto hot plates before serving the turkey slices and finishing with piping hot giblet gravy.

Merry Christmas!

P.S. For some photos of our 2009 Christmas turkey have a look at Perfect Christmas Turkey in the Weber - Chapter 2. I'm already planning the 2010 version, it's just a few weeks away...