Welcome to summer
Ah, the semi-mythical British summertime: that much-anticipated period of clear skies and t-shirt warmth that lasts for a solid three months – in our hope and dreams, at least. Yet while British summer weather can be capricious, the beauty and charm of British summer produce is much easier to rely upon.
Through June, July and August, Borough Market is blessed with a run of very welcome gluts: cherries and berries, peas and courgettes, mackerel and mullet, soft cheeses and ice creams. It’s the place to come for picnic food: breads, cured meats, olives, dips. It’ll provide the fish, meat and seasonal vegetables you need for your barbecue, and the leaves, oils and vinegars you need for your salads. With luck, the sun will come and bring it all to life. But the food will be no less delicious if you’re wearing a jumper.
Explore more summer content
Fruit & veg SUMMER
Look out for:
Chard
Cherries
Courgettes
Fennel
Gooseberries
Lettuce
Nectarines
New potatoes
Peaches
Peas
Plums
Radishes
Raspberries
Rocket
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Explore our greengrocers
The family stone
The joyful memories and
recipe
ideas sparked by the arrival each summer of stone fruits
Rosie Birkett
A bag of ripe peaches heralds the summer. It summons flashbacks to moments suspended in time like peaches preserved in syrup: soporific garden lunches with bowls of peaches and cream; a lone, slightly squashed orb wrapped in kitchen roll at the bottom of my schoolbag – a sweet, longed-for, reviving joy after an ascetic hour of double maths.
I can be on the Walthamstow marshes, surrounded by nettles and fox poo, and feel like I’m in the south of France if I’m biting into a perfectly plump peach – its honeyed juices dribbling down my chin. There’s something outrageously, almost illicitly good about a fleshy mouthful of a peach that’s been left to get warm in the sunshine. If I’m hauling our meals to the park on a hot day, these make for a blissful dessert, just as they are.
Along with sublimely fragranced white peaches from France and Italy, flat peaches are a favourite. Slightly less fuzzy than their rounder siblings, their headily perfumed, pale flesh has an extra sweet flavour with a whiff of almond. Originally grown in China – where the peach originated – from a mutation of the common peach, they have become popular across Europe in the last few decades, but make sure you look out for the organic, Spanish-grown versions rather than the sad, plastic-wrapped imports from further afield. One of my favourite ways to use them is baking them into a light, almondy
upside-down cake with cherries and basil. The soft fruit keeps the cake moist, sort of self-saucing it, while the basil lends a fragrant edge and the flaked almonds an irresistible crunch. With the addition of a luscious spoonful of clotted cream or creme fraiche, it’s everything I want in a cake.
Almonds and peaches are a happy combination much loved by the Italians, particularly in the classic dish of ‘pesche ripiene’, or stuffed peaches. The version from my battered, browned copy of Elizabeth David’s Italian Food has been a staple for years. It calls for six yellow peaches, three ounces of crushed macaroons (in the 1950s, this meant amaretti biscuits), one egg yolk, two tablespoons of sugar and an ounce of butter. Cut the fruits in half, scoop out the stones and mix a little of the pulp with the other ingredients, then stuff it back into the peaches, baking them in a buttered dish for around half an hour. I’ve made several versions over the years, replacing the amaretti with flaked almonds or the egg yolk with more butter, and perhaps adding a splash of sweet white wine, prosecco or rosé to proceedings.
If you’ve not tried before, have a go at pickling peaches. When left to bathe in a sweet solution of white wine vinegar, sugar, fennel seeds and peppercorns, they take on an incredible complexity and depth of
THERE’S SOMETHING OUTRAGEOUSLY, ALMOST ILLICITLY GOOD ABOUT A FLESHY MOUTHFUL OF A PEACH THAT’S BEEN LEFT TO GET WARM IN THE SUN.
flavour, and a balanced acidity that makes a wonderful accompaniment for fatty, grilled, meaty things like pork chops or great hunks of hard, nutty cheese such as comte or manchego. The skins will wrinkle with time but can easily be peeled off.
In a similar vein, peaches are marvellous in substantial salads. I love them paired with the peppery, slightly citrussy flavour of celery leaves, tossed with a sharp goat’s curd, sourdough croutons and prosciutto and strewn with anise herbs like chervil or tarragon. I’ve made a version of this with Cornish pork belly that had been slow braised in whey and then crisped up under a hot grill.
There’s something magical about crispy pork crackling eaten with yielding peachy flesh.
Apricots, with their smooth, deep golden skins blushing hot pink, are another wonder of the warmer months.. If the flesh is mealy and the flavour one-note, they can underwhelm –but even these can be rescued with a gentle roasting in the oven or caramelising in the pan, or by poaching in a wine-based syrup. I like to poach whole apricots in sweetened rosé with lemon zest and fresh lavender – the floral, herbaceous notes of the purple flowers add a pleasing complexity, and the poaching concentrates the flavour. I use these in all manner of desserts: baked into tarts, or eaten with whipped cream cut with a little natural yoghurt and topped with crushed shortbread and chopped nuts.
Very good apricots have a unique sharpness that makes them ideal for patisserie. Paired with sweet, vivid green pistachio frangipane, they really sing. I’ve made various ensembles, from blondies to more classical tarts with flaky, buttery pastry. My absolute favourite, though, is to bake them into a biscuity, hazelnut pastry tart shell with a sharp, muscovado-laced buttermilk filling that retains an irresistible wobble once baked, dressing the fruit with tangy, silky custard upon slicing.
Growing up in Kent, plums were the fruit that defined the late summers of my childhood. I still remember my unexpected delight at biting into the dusky reddishpurple skin of my dad’s homegrown plums to find something juicy, sweet and sharp – better than anything I could have bought from the school tuck shop (and that’s saying something, for I was its best customer, loading up on Wham bars and pink shrimps daily – it’s a miracle I’ve still got teeth). In recent years, I’ve become partial to greengages, enjoying their fresh, tangy flesh in dairy-rich desserts and salads with peppery leaves, or in my favourite breakfast compote, made with whole almonds or cobnuts, ideal on hot buttered crumpets or mounds of good yoghurt.
GRIDDLED COURGETTES & SPICY CHICKPEAS
Urvesh Parvais of Gujarati Rasoi
Serves: 4-6 | Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 15 mins
INGREDIENTS
For the chickpeas
— 1 x 700g jar of cooked chickpeas, drained
— 4 x 2cm lengths of cinnamon
— 2 bird’s eye chillies, sliced lengthways
— 8 curry leaves
— 1 tsp cumin seeds
— ½ medium onion, finely diced
— 3cm fresh turmeric, very finely sliced
For the courgettes
— 4 large courgettes of different colours, sliced lengthways into 4-5mm slices
— 1 tbsp cumin seeds
— 6 cloves
— 2 tbsp olive oil
— 3 tbsp sultanas
— A handful of fresh coriander leaves
— A handful of mustard shoots
To serve
— Rice or Indian flatbreads
METHOD
Place 2 tbsp cooking oil into a large pan, over a medium heat. Add the cinnamon, then once you see little bubbles starting to appear around the bark, add the sliced chilli and curry leaves (these may splutter as they go in the pan, so move away quickly or have a lid ready as a shield). Once the chilli skin has turned white, remove the chillies and the curry leaves and reserve for later.
Add the cumin seeds, allow them to sizzle for 10-15 seconds, then add the onions and half the turmeric. Give it a stir, then add the chickpeas. Cook for about 8-10 mins on a
medium heat, moving the mixture gently. Add ½ tsp salt and the rest of the turmeric, taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Remove from the pan and set aside.
To make the courgettes, dry roast the cumin seeds, then grind in a pestle with the cloves. Add this ground spice to the olive oil, then use a pastry brush to anoint the courgette slices on both sides.
Place the courgette slices in a griddle pan or on a barbecue and cook until you get those lovely char lines.
Place some of the courgette slices onto a serving plate, sprinkle with a few sea salt flakes and some of the spicy chickpeas, then scatter over some sultanas, fresh coriander and mustard shoots. Continue to layer the plate with courgette and chickpeas. Top with the fried curry leaves and chillies.
Serve with rice or a pile of your favourite Indian flatbreads.
Chickpeas
Brindisa
CHERRY & RICOTTA GALETTE
Thea Everett
Serves: 6 | Prep: 20 mins + 2 hours chilling
Cherries and soft cheese make great friends (try adding some to your next cheese board!). Here, I’ve kept things sweet with a nutty ryepastry galette topped with ricotta custard and sliced cherries, roasted to bring out their simple sweetness. I advise baking your galette until it’s truly dark golden for the flakiest result. This is hard to beat with a dollop of cream.
INGREDIENTS
For the pastry
— 100g plain flour
— 60g rye flour
— 30g golden caster sugar
— A pinch of salt
— 110g cold unsalted butter, diced
— 3-4 tbsp ice-cold water
For the filling
— 400g pitted cherries
— 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
— 1 tbsp cornflour
— Juice of 1 lemon
— 220g ricotta
— 2 eggs
— Zest of 1 lemon
— 1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp grated tonka bean
— 2 tbsp cream, creme fraiche or sour cream
— 1 tbsp demerara sugar
— Toasted flaked almonds or icing sugar to decorate
METHOD
In a large bowl, combine the flours, golden caster sugar and salt. Add the butter, rubbing it into the flour mix using your fingers and thumbs until it resembles coarse bread
crumbs. Gradually add the ice-cold water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together. The dough should be smooth but not tacky. Shape it into a flattened disc and wrap in clingfilm, then chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Slice the cherries into threes (this gives you slices you can overlap later), toss them in the golden caster sugar, cornflour and lemon juice and add a tiny pinch of salt for balance.
Mix the ricotta with the eggs, lemon zest and vanilla or tonka bean.
Heat your oven on to 175C. Remove the galette dough from the fridge and roll it out into a circle about 35cm wide. Using an offset spatula or spoon, spread the ricotta mix evenly over the dough, leaving a 3cm border around the edges.
Decorate with the sliced cherries, overlapping the slices to generously cover the whole galette, with just a few peaks of ricotta poking through. Every 10cm or so around the galette, turn up the edges of the dough and flatten them down onto the cherries to tuck everything in well. Brush the edges with the cream, creme fraiche or sour cream and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.
Bake on a greaseproof paper-lined oven tray on the bottom shelf of the oven for 30-40 mins, until the crust is a deep golden brown and the cherries are soft, then leave to cool.
Once cooled, decorate with the flaked almonds or a dusting of icing sugar. The galette is best served straight away with creme fraiche or clotted cream.
Ricotta Gastronomica
Cheese SUMMER
Look out for:
Bath Soft Cheese
Brefu Bach
Buchette de Manon
Burrata
Feta
Graceburn
Halloumi
Lavort
Lord London
Mayfield
Mozzarella
Salers
St Jude
Explore our cheesemongers
White magic
The story behind a tangy, sweet and salty Greek cheese from Borough Cheese Company
Clare Finney
Should you be so lucky as to find yourself sailing around the Greek island of Lesbos, keep your eyes peeled for a boat full of sheep, manned by a shepherd. It shouldn’t be hard to miss. They’ll be heading to a small island of volcanic rock across the bay to supplement their diet with its mineral-rich herbs. The sheep are a hardy breed, native to the island, and they graze outside throughout the seasons. “Not that winter is ever that bad there, but it can get cold in the mountains,” says Dominic Coyte of Borough Cheese Company. “In the summer months they have to find shelter during the heat of the day, and graze evenings and mornings.”
The feta of Lesbos is invariably better and certainly more reliable than commercially produced iterations. The island’s geology – “the area producing feta sits on a caldera, which is essentially a volcano that has collapsed on itself” – and seashore setting make for the perfect foliage for producing quality milk. “Much is made of the minerality of the Agra area, where our feta is produced, and the benefits to the herbage. There are no olive trees” – the roots of which make for quite bitter milk, if the sheep eat them –“and a real diversity of shrubs, herbs and wild flowers.”
This delicate, summery Greek number has tangy, sweet and salty strains just crying out for fresh cucumber, black olives
and tomatoes. “Our feta is produced by the Tastanis family, who have been making cheese in this area for three generations,” says Dominic. They work with 15 shepherds and 1,500 sheep to produce feta from December to July. On one visit, he was fed feta on every possible occasion. “We had about 20 courses and each had feta: with fish, wrapped in pastry, warm, cold… it just showed how versatile it is as an ingredient.” Though the majority of feta cheeses are a mix of sheep’s and goat’s milk, the Tastanis family make theirs with 100 per cent sheep’s, “so it has a very smooth texture, which is unusual in feta. What I like about the cheese is, that salty sharpness is not so obvious, so slightly fruity flavours can come out in the background.”
The sheep are milked twice a day. “Sixty per cent of the herd are milked by hand: I remember this guy sitting on an upturned bucket being jostled by sheep as he quickly milked each one.” The milk is taken to the dairy that morning and again in the evening, filtered, pasteurised and made into cheese. The Tastanis use their own yoghurt to culture the milk. “The most significant thing about feta is the use of salt: dry salting the curd and ageing it in brine,” Dominic explains. Feta varies hugely between regions and producers, but the method doesn’t vary much until this point. What happens next
IT HAS A VERY SMOOTH TEXTURE, UNUSUAL IN FETA. THAT SALTY SHARPNESS IS NOT SO OBVIOUS, SO SLIGHTLY FRUITY FLAVOURS CAN COME OUT IN THE BACKGROUND.
– how long it matures and whether that maturation takes place in metal or a wooden barrel – is at the discretion of the maker and seller.
“Ours is six months, but it could go a little longer, over which time it will get slightly denser and saltier. I think if you capture it around the six to 10 months mark, it’s perfect,” he continues. “You have that creamy deliciousness. You have that blend of flavours.” You have a cheese savoury enough for a spanakopita, sweet enough for watermelon, rich enough for a salad and creamy enough for our personal favourite: a slice of sourdough toast and a drizzle of Oliveology’s Greek honey.
ORLANDO
GILI
BAKED AUBERGINES & MOZZARELLA
Ed Smith
Serves: Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a starter | Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 1 hour 20 mins
Aubergines are available all year round but do have a peak season, when they look and taste in their prime, and are plentiful (and therefore cheaper). In the Mediterranean, that season is summer. This dish uses some of the components of a classic aubergine parmigiana, but with a lighter, more summery touch: the aubergines are baked whole, not sliced and fried, so require less oil; the tomatoes are sweet, tart and near-bursting, yet not stewed; and the creamy mozzarella is cold, not cooked, and torn fresh at the last minute, providing a contrast to the warm veg.
INGREDIENTS
— 2 medium-large aubergines
— 2 tbsp dried oregano
— Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
— 500g cherry tomatoes (a mix of colours)
— 4 cloves of garlic, flattened and peeled
— 30g pine nuts
— 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
— 20 basil leaves
— 250g buffalo mozzarella
— Crusty bread, to serve
— Green salad, to serve
METHOD
Heat the oven to 220C. Place the aubergines in a small roasting tin, drizzled with just a little oil, and bake in the oven for 30 mins, until the flesh has started to sink and the skin split a little, but they aren’t fully cooked. Remove from the oven and use a sharp knife to split the aubergines in half lengthways.
Place the halves cut side up in the tin, score the flesh in a criss-cross pattern and season
generously with flaky sea salt, black pepper, half the dried oregano, and a few glugs of extra virgin olive oil. Return to the oven for a further 10 mins, then arrange the cherry tomatoes and garlic around them. Mix into the tomatoes the remaining oregano, the pine nuts and a little more salt and black pepper. Return the tin to the oven for a further 20-30 mins, until the tomatoes are bursting, collapsing and caramelising at the edges, and the aubergine flesh is soft and translucent.
Carefully stir the balsamic vinegar and half of the basil leaves into the tomatoes, then pile them onto the aubergines with a few spoons of cooking juice. Bake for 5 mins more, then remove from the oven, spoon the cooking juices over the top again and leave for 5 mins so all the flavours mingle.
Transfer the aubergines to plates or a serving platter, tear mozzarella on and around them, and spoon any extra tomatoes and juices over the top. Garnish with the remaining basil, plus more olive oil and serve with crusty bread and a green salad.
Recipe from The Borough Market Cookbook by Ed
Smith (Hodder & Stoughton)
Picnics SUMMER
Look out for:
Bagels
Baguettes
Ciabatta
Cured meats
Hummus
Olives
Pork pies
Quiches
Roasted nuts
Sausage rolls
Smoked fish
Sundried tomatoes
Tapenade
Tzatziki
Explore our fishmongers
Read Gurdeep Loyal’s picnic guide
Open season
A beginner’s guide to spontaneous Borough Market picnics: what to buy and where to take it
Mark Riddaway
Picnics come in two forms. There’s the idealised kind, complete with lovingly made salads and home-baked tarts, transported in wicker baskets and served on tartan rugs with proper cutlery and perfectly chilled wine. And then there’s the more realistic prospect: the slightly giddy, spur-of-the-moment exploitation of a sun-kissed lunchtime. This is all about the latter – a sweep of Borough Market for delicious food that can be munched with minimal forethought, followed by a dash to a nearby green space to graze in the dappled shade of a tree.
Pies
There are few items better suited to an impromptu picnic than a pie. At Mrs King’s Pork Pies, you’ll find handmade Melton Mowbray pork pies made with proper hotwater-crust pastry, plus similarly stellar scotch eggs. There are superior sausage rolls at Northfield Farm and Ginger Pig, made from beautifully flavoursome outdoor-bred pork. Porteña offers a wide range of empanadas – essentially an Argentinean pasty – while Artisan Foods is famed for its quiches, which include meat-free options such as spinach and feta or broccoli, stilton and walnut.
Cured meats
Another obvious must. There are French saucissons, rillettes and smoked or air-dried hams at The French Comte, Une Normande a
Londres and Le Marché du Quartier. You’ll find hand-carved Spanish jamón at Brindisa. Most comprehensive of all is the Borough’s treasure trove of regional Italian cured meats, including salami sticks from the cool Tyrol mountains in the far north (Alpine Deli), soppressata from the heat of Calabria in the deep south (De Calabria), and the world-famous hams from the pig-packed landscape of Emilia-Romagna (Bianca Mora).
Fish
Slightly less obvious for a picnic, but far from unviable. Some of the smoked fish at Oak & Smoke, produced in Scotland using centuriesold methods, is ready to eat straight from the packet, while the tinned mussels from The Tinned Fish Market are among the most finger-friendly of the stall’s array of high-quality canned seafood – no tin opener required!
Cheeses
Borough Market cheese is beautiful, abundant, but potentially problematic. Most soft cheeses are only good if you’ve had the foresight to bring a knife (or if you’re buying Blackwoods Cheese Company’s Graceburn or Jumi Cheese’s Formaggini cheese pots, both of which are bite-sized and conveniently jarred). Otherwise, go for one of the Market’s mindboggling array of hard cheeses and ask the cheesemonger to cut them up for you: one of the beauties of being served by a real person.
including the Greek Volos, Italian nocellara and Spanish Aragón, as well as sundried tomatoes, marinated peppers and pickled garlic, and some meaty tapenade made from Greek Halkidiki olives. Also sourced from Greece – specifically Sparta – Oliveology’s olives are exceptional, and the same stand sells tzatziki and a Greek fava dip, both made in small batches in Bermondsey. Food & Forest’s roasted, salted guara almonds, sourced from farmers in Andalucia, are another must, as is the gorgeously umami mushroom pâté from Pâté Moi.
Sweets
THIS IS ALL ABOUT SWEEPING BOROUGH MARKET FOR DELICIOUS FOOD THAT CAN BE MUNCHED WITH MINIMAL FORETHOUGHT, FOLLOWED BY A DASH TO A NEARBY GREEN SPACE.
Breads
In the likely absence of a bread knife, you’ll need the kind of bread you can tear at with your hands: perhaps the sourdough baguettes from The Flour Station, slow-fermented ciabatta baps from Olivier’s Bakery, or challah rolls from Moishe’s Bagelry & Bakery – soft, fluffy and easy to break apart. Other good options for dipping or topping are the crackers from The Cinnamon Tree Bakery, all of them handmade in Camberwell, which include seeded flatbreads and rye and caraway flatbreads.
Antipasti & dips
Borough Olives has marinated olives from Europe and north Africa, with varieties
To finish, treat yourself to some summer fruit from Stark’s Fruiterers, Turnips, 13 Acre Orchard, Paul Crane or Hickson & Daughter. Other good-to-share sweets that require no slicing include the delicate macarons from Comptoir Gourmand and the vast array of traditionally made Turkish delight available at The Turkish Deli.
Drinks
Two requirements here: cold and refreshing. A couple of standout options are Raya’s cold-pressed sugarcane juice, flavoured with lime and ginger, and bottles of Effervé Citron from The French Comte – a classic sparkling lemonade produced in Alsace. And if your spontaneous picnic is on a day when some gentle alcohol consumption is viable, try The London Cider House’s cider slush.
Where to take your picnic
Red Cross Garden, a beautiful hidden garden off Redcross Way, offers a pond, a rose arbour and some rich history – it was opened in 1888 as part of a social housing project run by Octavia Hill. Like Red Cross Garden, the much larger Mint Street Park on Marshalsea Road is beautifully maintained by local volunteers. Over towards Bermondsey, Leathermarket Gardens on Weston Street is attractively landscaped. For impressive views, Tate Modern Gardens offers St Paul’s Cathedral and the worldfamous art gallery, while Potters Field Park enjoys the looming presence of Tower Bridge.
SOURDOUGH MUFFALETTA Gurdeep Loyal
Serves:
6-8 | Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 8 mins
A muffaletta is a show-stopping whole-loaf sandwich that originated in New Orleans, Louisiana. Filled with Italian deli delights, it’s perfect for a summer picnic. A good crusty sourdough loaf is essential, layered with cured meats and an array of creamy and smoked cheeses, with pops of piquant olives, sundried tomatoes and capers.
INGREDIENTS
— 1 large sourdough loaf
— 150g smoked scamorza, sliced into 5mm discs
— 1 whole buffalo mozzarella (250g), sliced into 5mm discs
— 50g salami finocchiona, in wafer-thin slices
— 50g aged Parma ham, in wafer-thin slices
— 20g fresh basil
— 4 tbsp green pesto
— 50g sundried tomatoes in olive oil
— 75g pitted green olives
— 75g pitted black olives
— 75g capers
— 75g cornichons
— 150g roasted red peppers
— 1 tbsp olive oil
METHOD
Heat the oven to 200C. Carefully slice off the top quarter of the sourdough loaf, cutting horizontally to form a lid. Use your hands to tear out the interior of the loaf, leaving it hollow inside (keep this for breadcrumbs or panzanella salads).
Brush the inside of the loaf (including the lid) with olive oil. Bake for 6-8 mins until golden, then leave to cool.
On a board, chop the olives, capers and cornichons into a coarse tapenade-like consistency – use a mezzaluna if you have one to make it easier. Scrape into a bowl, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and mix well.
Spread the bottom of the loaf liberally with about 3 tbsp pesto, then add a layer of Italian salami. Add the mozzarella slices, followed by a layer of whole sundried tomatoes, then a layer of basil leaves.
Add the Parma ham, then the olive-capergherkin tapenade, followed by the smoked scamorza slices and the roasted red peppers. Finally, spread the remaining pesto onto the inside of the lid, then press it down onto the sandwich, encasing everything.
Cover with a large plate and place a heavy weight on top. Leave in a cool place or the fridge for at least 8 hours (ideally overnight) for the flavours to meld. Slice into generous wedges using a large serrated knife.
Where to buy
Finocchiona
The Parma Ham & Mozzarella Stand
Barbecue SUMMER
Look out for:
Anchovies
Aubergines
Chicken wings
Langoustines
Mackerel
Ox heart
Peppers
Pig’s cheeks
Plantain
Pork ribs
Pork tomahawk
Red mullet
Ribeye steaks
Sardines
Explore our Easter recipes
Find more barbecue recipes
The Kolae guide to grilling
The co-founder of Borough’s Kolae restaurant provides his top tips for barbecuing at home
Andy Oliver
Choose the right cuts
One of the best ways to get the most out of ingredients on the grill is through slow and steady cooking, using specific cuts. Fish or meat on the bone work particularly well. Cuts with a bit of fat, such as pork neck or chicken with the skin still on, will bring great flavour and good texture when cooked slowly and steadily, as the fat melts and the meat slowly browns.
Manage the heat
Careful heat management is also needed to achieve this effect. Damping the coals with a smoke mix – and using hooks, baskets or simple racks instead of heavy, heat-conducting bars – will help keep your grilling under control. It’s also important to maintain an appropriate distance between your ingredients and the heat source, as this ensures the meat is evenly cooked through. This traditional Thai approach to grilling requires patience, but it helps to achieve perfectly grilled dishes.
Make use of your oven
Combining your kitchen oven with your barbecue grill is a very useful technique if you have lots of guests to entertain or if your barbecue isn’t big enough for everything. Baking ingredients in the oven before finishing them on the grill allows you to cook
your food gently and steadily without the stress of juggling time and space. Starting some sausages or boneless chicken thighs for 15 minutes in a 120C oven before finishing them on the grill can really cut the cooking time down without losing flavour. Even roasting bigger pieces of meat like a butterflied leg of lamb in an oven at 150C until it’s partway cooked can be great, as can baking spiced squash or cauliflower in a 200C oven before a final char on the barbecue.
Add curry sauces to grilled ingredients –and vice versa
Try marinating ingredients in curry-like sauces before placing them on the grill. At Kolae, which is named after a traditional southern Thai dish, we utilise curry pastes made from dried red chillies, shallots, ginger and lemongrass, plus spices like coriander and cumin or cassia, cooked with coconut cream and seasonings. For an even deeper and more complex flavour, grill specific elements and then add them into curries. Grilled beef can be sliced and folded into a spicy jungle curry, adding a rich, smoky taste.
Create banana leaf wraps
A great way to elevate the flavour of grilled meats, herbs or fish on the barbecue is to wrap them in banana leaves. When cooked, the
banana leaves add a unique herbaceous scent to their contents, and they also prevent the contents from drying out. You can even grill certain styles of curry in banana leaves – try a rich red curry of monkfish and Thai basil, or northeastern Thai curry of grilled chicken, pea aubergines and herbs. They can also be used to create a dessert of sticky rice and sweet coconut cream.
Embrace the char
Utilising the grill for blackening certain ingredients before peeling them can really boost the flavour. Charring long aubergines, shell-on prawns, shallots or chilies adds a smoky, complex depth to their
taste – an easy way to transform simple ingredients.
Serve a Thai salad on the side
Accompanying your barbecued dishes with a refreshing, spicy Thai salad is ideal for warm, summer days. The fresh ingredients of the salad really cut through the rich smokiness of the grilled meats and vegetables, elevating the meal and bringing a real vibrancy. Try a pounded salad of green papaya, shrimp, peanuts and tomatoes; a sour green mango salad with deep-fried fish and cashew nuts; an Ajaad relish-style salad of cucumber, ginger and chilli; or a pomelo salad with roasted coconut, chilli jam and poached prawns.
ANCHO HANGER STEAK WITH CHARRED CORN & JALAPEÑO SALSA
Leyli Homayoonfar
Serves: 2 | Prep: 30 mins | Cook: 30 mins
INGREDIENTS
For the ancho hanger steak
— 250g hanger steak, butterflied
— 1 tsp ancho chilli powder
— ½ tsp ground cumin
— ½ tsp smoked paprika
— ½ tsp Mexican oregano
— A good pinch of sea salt
— 2 tbsp light oil
For the mojo de ajo
— 3 arbol chilies
— 20 cloves of garlic, peeled
— 1 tsp cumin seeds
— 100ml extra virgin olive oil
— 1 orange, zest and juice
For the charred corn and jalapeño salsa
— 1 whole golden corn cob
— 4 green jalapeños
— 1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
— 1 lime, zest and juice
— 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
— A handful of coriander, roughly chopped
— A good pinch of sea salt
METHOD
To butterfly the steak, make a horizontal cut most of the way along the side of the steak, stopping before you get to the end so that it opens up to reveal two matching sides. The steak is now thinner and more tender and will cook quickly without burning the marinade.
In a small bowl, combine the chilli powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and sea salt with the olive oil. Rub the paste on both sides of the steak and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour.
To make the mojo de ajo, heat a cast iron or heavy based pan on a low-medium heat. Toast the arbol chillies, garlic cloves and cumin seeds for a few seconds, releasing their flavour, before pouring in the olive oil. Bring to a gentle simmer and, using a spoon, continue to confit the garlic until lightly brown and soft to the touch. Remove from the heat, add the orange juice, zest and sea salt and transfer to a small serving bowl.
Bring your barbecue up to a fierce but steady heat with white coals. Place the whole corn cob and jalapeños directly onto the grill, turning occasionally until evenly charred all over. Remove to a chopping board and allow to cool slightly while you grill your steak.
Ensure the barbecue is still fiercely hot. Using tongs, place the steak directly onto the hot grill and flip every 30 seconds so the flames lick the meat. After a few minutes, when the steak achieves a good dark-golden crust, remove from the barbecue, place on a carving board, and spoon over half of the mojo de ajo. Leave to rest for a few minutes while you finish preparing the salsa.
Hold the charred corn upright on the board and run a knife downwards to shave the kernels from the cob. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Finely chop the charred jalapeños and add to the bowl, along with the minced garlic, lime juice and zest, chopped coriander, sea salt and olive oil. Mix well and set aside.
Thinly slice the steak, mixing it up in its resting juices as you do. Spoon over the salsa and serve alongside the remaining mojo de ajo. Serve with warm corn tortillas and a fiery hot sauce.
FILLET OF RED MULLET WITH SHAVED SUMMER SALAD
Lesley Holdship
Serves: 2 | Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 7 mins
INGREDIENTS
— 1 tsp fennel seeds
— 5-6 sorrel leaves
— 100g creme fraiche
— 2 golden beetroots
— 1 fennel bulb
— 1 pink grapefruit
— 500g red mullet, filleted
— A knob of butter
METHOD
Start by making the dressing. Warm a small pan and add the fennel seeds. Heat until they start to jump around, then crush them a little in a pestle and mortar to release the oils.
Make a chiffonade of the sorrel: stack the leaves neatly on top of each other and roll them up lengthways, very tightly. Slice across the roll as thinly as you can, making delicate strips. Use an extremely sharp knife so as not to bruise the leaves.
Mix together the creme fraiche, sorrel and half the toasted seeds, along with 50ml water, then season well. Set aside.
Peel the beetroots and slice very thinly. Use a mandolin if you’re feeling brave or a very sharp knife if not. Place in a large bowl.
Trim the fronds from the fennel and set aside. Slice the bulb in half lengthways, cutting out the core if it seems a little tough. Cut across the fennel very thinly to make pretty little semi-circles. Add to the beetroot.
Segment the grapefruit by firstly paring away
the thick skin and pith. Hold the fruit over the bowl containing the beetroot and fennel, and cut in between the pithy membranes, allowing the beautiful segments to escape into the bowl below. Squeeze out the leftbehind pith. Toss in the fennel fronds and remaining toasted fennel seeds and set aside while you cook the mullet.
Rub a little oil on each fillet, season generously, then sprinkle with the remaining fennel seeds. Get the barbecue good and hot. Place the mullet on the grill skin-side down and cook for around 4 mins, resisting the temptation to fiddle with it while it cooks. Turn, then grill for a further 3 mins.
Serve the fish on piles of salad, with a dollop of the flavoured creme fraiche.
Where to buy
Red mullet Furness Fish Markets
