Spring is here and we’re hoping the weather warms up enough for longer days spent outside and evening meals straight from the barbie. To entice the sun out of its hiding place, we have found three succulent yet easy barbecue recipes to share and, hopefully, try at home.
Jamaican Steaks
Here’s an easy way to spice up a steak. All you need are a few fresh ingredients and some dried spices for flavour and you’re away.
The type of chillies that you use will determine the level of heat. Remember, bigger is not necessarily better here, boys – in this case, small is lethal.
4 sirloin steaks, each about 2cm thick.
Marinade:
4 mild medium red chillies or up to 6 bird’seye chillies if you are so inclined, de-seeded and chopped
2 red shallots, peeled and chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander,
leaves picked and roots washed
½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, freshly chopped
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend to a smooth paste. Spread the paste over the steaks, then cover the meat and refrigerate for 2-12 hours.
Bring the meat to room temperature by removing from the fridge half an hour before cooking. Preheat your flat grillplate.
Scrape any excess marinade from the steaks, retaining it for basting during cooking. Place the steaks on the hot grillplate and cook until done to your liking. Brush the reserved marinade over the steaks once or twice whilst cooking.
Remove the steaks and set them aside to rest, loosely covered in foil, for several minutes before serving.
Serves 4
Wild Rice Salad
Wild rice isn’t rice at all. In fact it comes from a type of grass that grows taller than a West Indian fast bowler.
It takes quite a while to cook but has miles more flavour and texture than ordinary rice, and makes a very different sort of rice salad.
½ cup currants
2 tablespoons white wine
1 cup wild rice
1 corn cob
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup slivered almonds
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 spring onions (white and pale green parts only), finely sliced
1 small green capsicum, white insides and seeds removed, diced
1 small red capsicum, white insides and seeds removed, diced
1 cup coriander leaves
Soak the currants in the white wine for 30 minutes, then drain, discarding the wine, and set aside.
Bring the rice and 3 cups of water to the boil in a saucepan, then turn the heat down and simmer, covered, until the rice is cooked (this should take about 40 minutes). Drain and set aside to cool.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the corn and cover, cooking for 10-15 minutes, or until tender.
Lightly toast the pine nuts and almonds in a dry non-stick frying pan for a couple of minutes until browned.
Keep a close eye on them, as they’ll burn in a heartbeat. Once the corn is cool enough to handle, stand the cob on its side on a chopping board and carefully slice the kernels off with a large knife.
Combine the oil with the vinegar, salt and pepper in the base of a large salad bowl.
Mix the rice, currants, nuts and all the other ingredients through the dressing, and serve.
Serves 6-8 as a side dish
Caramelised mangoes with coconut sauce
Thai-style desserts can seem a bit intimidating, but simply dissolving palm sugar in coconut cream creates an amazingly rich sauce to serve with mangoes or other tropical fruit. Palm sugar is available in some large supermarkets with special Asian sections, or in any Asian food store.
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup grated palm sugar
4 mangoes, cheeks cut close to the stone
4 tablespoons castor sugar
Place the coconut milk in a small saucepan and add the palm sugar, cooking over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and place in the fridge to cool.
Sprinkle the castor sugar evenly over the cut sides of the mango cheeks. Preheat your chargrill to very hot.
Place each mango cheek cut-side down on the hot chargrill, and cook for 1-2 minutes until the sugar has caramelised – the fruit only needs to warm through.
Remove the mangoes from the grill and place two on each plate, cut-side up, and leave to rest for a minute to allow the sugar to harden to a thin toffee. Spoon over some cooled coconut sauce and serve.
Serves 4
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