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We BBQ a lot in the summer – this being England, even in the rain! I have to share my favourite British made BBQ – The Mini-Q from Friar Tuck.
The small size is perfect for a quick meal, and the heat deflector makes it great for tabletop BBQing or as shown, at festivals and for camping. Ours has seen hard use for a couple of years and is still going strong!
Anyway, on to the food 
I got a couple of packs of inexpensive lamb leg chops and marinated them during the day in:
3 tbls olive oil
a good handful of chopped coriander (cilantro)
a few tbls crushed garlic
the juice of two lemons
fresh ground mixed peppercorns
BBQ as usual! Served with some butternut squash, fried with previously made peppers and onions and humus on the side.
Perfect for a warm and sunny Sunday! As I’ve said before, butternut squash is an occasional treat as it’s one of the highest carb-hit veggies, but it was perfect with the lamb so we allowed ourselves the treat. Twice in 3 months seems reasonable to me.
Basically, any EVOO based marinade will improve the quality of your BBQ meat and so long as you sty away from sweet, bottled sauces you should be safe. Lemon or lime juice will tenderize the meat a bit and any spices or herbs will add flavour. Balsamic vinegar is a good substitute for the acid of the citrus, if you prefer, and you can go a totally different way with Sesame oil, soy, garlic and ginger for a more Asian flavour. Another way we do lamb is just a couple of tbls. of jarred pesto and a bit more EVOO to make it a bit more liquid. Marinate it is a big ZipLock bag, so you can squish it around and turn over easily in the fridge. Longer marinade time means tastier and more tender meat.
This is one to play around with – just by varying the marinade and the meat you can get a whole summer’s worth of great slow-carb meals with little clean-up – a def. winner!
And do check out the bigger BBQs at Friar Tuck – we also have the biggest one, which is great for BBQing a lot of food, for a party of a school fete, for example. The huge size means you can easily have the fire quite hot for actual cooking on one 1/2 and then fewer coals on the other for keeping food warm (and safe to eat) without burning it to a cinder. I can see both getting A LOT of use this year if the weather holds.
How depressing. This was absolutely delicious, but I only checked the carb-count after I made it – butternut squash is actually one of the higher carb-count veggies. Blast and damnation. OK, so it won;t make it into heavy rotation, but it will appear occasionally, so long as things are progressing nicely.
1 180g pack smoked bacon lardons or pack of streaky bacon
1 butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cubed
1 red onion, large dice or 3 or 4 shallots quartered
1 tbls garlic
500 ml chicken stock
1 200g bag of cleaned and washed kale
450g can of Puy Lentils
Fry the lardons or bacon till slightly crispy – you want good colour on them and for the fat to melt. Add the garlic and fry for a minute or two. Add the squash and the onion, a fry till they start to colour a bit on the edges. Pour in the stock and simmer, covered for 10-15 minutes. The squash should be just this side of tender and don’t overcook it or it will all turn to mush! Stir in the kale, gently, and cover. Let it all simmer for 5 or so minutes till the kale is tender. Drain and rinse the lentils. Stir in the lentils. Pepper, but between the salty bacon and the stock it’s unlikely you will need any additional salt!
Serve in big warmed bowls – it really is outstanding!
Personally, I don’t think anything is a good substitute for Puy Lentils but you can always try any other bean and see.
If the bacon is too fatty or too salty for your taste, I think it would be good with some cooked and diced ham to substitute for most of the bacon – maybe a couple of rashers chopped and cooked as above, for the oil, woulld give enough of that bacon-y flavour.
