Quail & Guinea Fowl braaied over Kameeldoring Wood

Quail & Guinea Fowl braaied over Kameeldoring Wood with Grape, Mascarpone & Tarragon stuffing on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, a big thank you to everybody that left suggestions on what to braai on our Facebook Page, by Twitter and email. We literally had hundreds of great things recommended to braai but we have trawled though them and I have chosen something that one of my favourite chefs from SA and this is one of his signature dishes. It’s from Rueben’s in Franschoek and was suggested by Carol from Manchester, thanks for reminding me about this fantastic dish, with a couple of adjustments by me. We will be in contact with you to arrange for you to receive your £50 of gift vouchers.

I decided to cook these birds over Kameeldoring Wood just to make me feel homesick and I had to substitute the raspberry for balsamic vinegar. Which worked very well but if you can get the raspberry it will be just that little bit more subtle. This recipe takes a little bit of effort but you will be rewarded with a great feast, give it a go.

SERVES 4: PREP: 40MINS: COOK TIME: 35MINS

Ingredients for the Marinated:

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1. 4 x Quails (Ruben uses de-boned)
2. 1 x Guinea Fowl
3. 2 x Cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
4. 2 x Large red bell peppers
5. 200g Green grapes, halved
6. 3tbs Mascarpone
7. 2tbs fresh tarragon
8. 3tbs oyster sauce
9. Salt and black pepper to taste
10. Mixed fresh herbs, to garnish

Method how to prepare quail and guinea fowl:

• Preheat the Braai to 200°C (400°F) with a few bit of Kameeldoring wood if you have any, it just give it a fantastic flavour.
• Combine the grapes, mascarpone, tarragon and chopped garlic.
• Stuff each bird.
• Secure the stuffing by using toothpicks to close the cavities.
• Season and brush with oyster sauce.
• Place the Guinea Fowl on the braai first for 15-20 minutes on oven tray.
• Cover the breast of the Guinea Fowl up after 20 minutes with a bit of silver foil to stop it from burning while the quail cooks. 
• After the 20 minutes is up place the Quails next to the Guinea Fowl on oven tray and roast for a further 15-20 minutes.
• Remove from the braai and keep warm.
• Either before or during the cooking of the birds’ place the red peppers on a hot braai, turning occasionally, allow the skin to blister. I did mine directly on the wood and it was fantastic!
• After about 8 minutes, remove the peppers and wrap them in foil or a plastic bag for 10-15 minutes.
• Remove from the wrapping, seed and remove the skin from the peppers and slice into strips.
• To serve, spoon the couscous on a plate.
• Top the quail and guinea fowl with roasted bell pepper strips. Spoon the dressing over and around the birds. Garnish with fresh herbs.

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Ingredients for the Couscous:

1. 150g Couscous
2. 3 x Medium sized tomatoes skinned, seeded and chopped
3. 3tbs chopped fresh coriander
4. 2tsp ground coriander
5. 3tbs extra virgin olive oil
6. Salt and black pepper

Method how to prepare Couscous:

• Place the raw couscous in a medium-sized pot or bowl and add the boiling water a little at a time, stirring constantly with a fork. Do not add too much water, as you want the couscous to stay light and fluffy.
• When cooked, add the tomato, fresh coriander, ground coriander and olive oil.
• Season to taste and set aside.

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Ingredients for the Dressing:

1. 100ml Olive oil
2. 40ml Balsamic (80ml if you can get Raspberry) vinegar
3. 100g green grapes, halved
4. 1tbs chopped fresh tarragon
5. Add Caster sugar to taste

Method how to prepare Dressing:

• For the dressing, whisk the olive oil and balsamic vinegar together, unfortunately I could not get any raspberry vinegar in time, so I substituted balsamic and it was great.
• Next add the grapes, caster sugar and tarragon and stir.
• It’s that simple, all you need to do now is plate it all up, Enjoy!

This is not the end but a start of a new era of this blog, I will still be braaiing every week, ;-) so don’t leave us. I will just not be blogging about everything I cook in such detail, more photo tweets etc. There will be a mixture of posts from guest bloggers, reviews from place and restaurants that I visit and I will still be offering the odd prize for you to win. So please feel free to let me what sort of things you would like to see me cook and eat and comeback on a regular basis or sign up and we will email you when I post something new. Thanks for all you comments and follows and keep spreading the word about this blog. Enjoy the sun and keep Braaiing.

Coleslaw, Ribs and Wings on the Braai!

Coleslaw, Ribs and Wings on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, summer is nearly here and we have seen the sun on several occasions this week, so I'm going to make a salad to go with what I think is a great meal on the braai. I've made some coleslaw, OK! Its not a meat dish but this salad has a vinegar mix that has to be cooked on the braai, so please don’t think that I'm cheating!! To accompany this slaw, I cooked some ribs and wings and when they are put together they make the perfect meal. Just needed some boerewors as well to finish this off perfectly but forgot to bring it along to cook, du!!

Below is a recipe for the rib rub that I used and then basted them with Jimmy’s sauce to finish them off. On the chicken wings I used Nando's Hot sauce and you can purchase this from our web site or make your own rub following this recipe on a past blog. You can follow the links to see how I cooked these two dishes in the past just by clicking on the links above.

SERVES 6: PREP: 15MINS: MARINATE 1HR: COOK TIME:4-5HR

Rub
 Ingredients:

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1. 1 tsp garlic powder
2. 1 teaspoon onion powder
3. 1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
4. ½ tsp cayenne pepper
5. ½ tsp dried thyme
6. ½ tsp ground coriander
7. 1 tsp Sea salt

Ribs:

1. 1.5kg Baby Back ribs (3 racks)
2. 1 x Jimmy's Braai Sauce
3. Method: Check out this edition of my blog to see how to braai them.

SERVES 6: PREP: 15MINS: COOK TIME:10MINS:

Coleslaw vinegar mix:

This will make quite a lot of mix, so you can either cut the amounts down or save some to use at a later date.

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1. 125g Sugar
2. 1 cup of white vinegar
3. ½ Cup Salt
4. ¼ Cup white pepper

Coleslaw Ingredients:

1. 1 Head shredded cabbage
2. 1/8 Cup vegetable oil
3. Pinch celery seeds
4. 30g Sesame seeds, toasted
5. 1/8 Cup vinegar mix

Method of making the vinegar mix:

• Place the vinegar in a heavy saucepan on the braai, bring it to the boil.
• Once the vinegar is boiling add the sugar and the salt slowly. Make sure that you stir this constantly until everything has dissolved.
• Take it off the heat to cool then in a separate mixing bowl place the white pepper then slowly pour the vinegar mixture into it whilst whisking, cover and leave to cool.
• Next toast off the sesame seeds until they are a golden brown.

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Method of making the Coleslaw:

• Place the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl.
• Sprinkle the oil over the top and mix thoroughly.
• Sprinkle half the celery seeds and the sesame seeds over the top and mix again.
• Now pour the vinegar mix over the whole lot and give it a quick mix, sprinkle the remainder of the seeds over the top and serve straight away.
• Coleslaw is best served while the cabbage is crisp and crunchy, so don’t leave this to sit around for a long time as this sauce will break the cabbage down very quickly.

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Its as simple as that but it takes a little effort to make but its worth the time and tastes so different to your regular coleslaw covered in salad cream or mayo.

This will make the perfect accompaniment to the meat that you wish to cook and eat with this.

As normal, I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking so feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook in future. Enjoy Larry.

Paella on the Braai

Paella on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, I'm 2/3rds of the way through my promise to cook every week on the Braai, through rain, snow, -10c and the occasional sunny day! Very occasional, I think it's shone for about 10 days in 8 months but never mind, we BRAAI not matter what's happening outside.

This week I'm having a go at the quintessential Spanish dish “Paella” this is my version of it, it might not be what you think its should be and I'm not claiming to be an expert but this is a great Paella to start with and a good base for experimenting. So have a read and then give it a go and let me know what you think. Basically this is the Spanish version of a Potjie.

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 20MINS: COOK TIME: 20-30MINS

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Rub
 Ingredients for your Paella:

1. 700g x Chicken Meat (Leg, Thigh or Breast meat diced into bite-size pieces - keep the skin & bone on for extra flavour)
2. 6 x Large Tiger Prawns
3. 12 x Large Mussels
4. 1 x fresh Squid cut into rings
5. 700g x Spanish paella rice
6. 200g x diced cooking choritzo
7. 1 x Red pepper (sliced & roasted if possible)
8. 1tsp of Sweet Paprika
9. 3-4 x medium, ripe tomatoes or a large tin of chopped tomatoes
10. 2lt x Hot chicken or vegetable Stock
11. 1 x Medium onion, finely chopped
12. Pinch of Saffron (I like quite a bit)
13. Extra virgin olive oil
14. Salt to taste
15. 1 x lemon (cut into wedges for decoration)

Don't forget to use  a 40cm to 50cm Paella Pan, it makes all the difference.

Method how to prepare and cook Paella:

• Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 200ºF/94ºC.
• Add a few tablespoons of the olive oil in the Paella Pan and part cook the chicken pieces a little (longer if they contain bones) until its browned off.
• Make up the stock and add a good pinch of the saffron stamens. Let them infuse for about 20 mins.
• Next make the "Sofrito", one of the most important parts of the Paella, this is the tomato and onion mix which is the base of the paella.
• First sweat the onion in the Paella Pan until soft then add the chopped/tinned tomatoes and fry over a high heat, keep stirring.
• It will start to thicken up in to a thick dark paste. When it is a dark red paste you have the perfect sofrito!
• Next add the chorizo, paprika and about half of the peppers. Mix around thoroughly and continue fry for few more minutes.

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• Now add the hot stock to the paella pan. Taste for salt and seasoning. It needs to be quite well salted, bring to the boil and leave for several minutes for all the flavours to mix in with the stock.
• Now add the rice, mix around briefly and even out in the pan ensure all the rice grains are under the surface of the liquid. DO NOT STIR the rice after this point.
• After about 10 minutes the rice should start to appear though the liquid.
• This is the point that you can add all the seafood that you have prepared earlier.
• Now turn down the heat and continue to simmer for about another 10 minutes until the rice starts to dry out. (If some rice starts to appear whilst other areas still have liquid you can carefully distribute the rice around with a spoon)

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• Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, try the rice from under the top surface. It should be cooked "al dente" still with a slight nutty taste.
• Now cover the Paella pan with foil and turn up the heat for a minute or so. (You will hear the rice go "pop" as it is caramelising on the bottom of the pan). This is called the "Socarrat" the most highly prized part of Paella. Covering the pan at this stage also helps finish off the cooking of the top layer of rice.
• Turn off the heat. Decorate with lemon wedges and leave for a good 10 minutes to rest.

Serve directly from the pan at the table and remembering to scrape to the bottom to get the "socarrat", that's the greatest bit.

Add a crisp fresh salad and you will have the perfect meal for a sunny day, when it decides to come out again lol!

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I wasn’t sure how this would work or even if it could be cooked on the braai but I must say it came out fantastically and everybody just loved it. Give it a try and let me know how yours comes out. I would love to hear if you have what you think is the best recipe, just leave it in the comment section below for everybody to see.

Chao Larry

Blackened Chicken Caesar Salad on the Braai

Blackened Chicken Caesar Salad on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Howzit Guys and Gals,

I hope that you are ready, got your Braai's out and going for it this Easter with this light summer dish. It's just what we all need in the UK to get us in that Spring feeling as British Summer time starts on Sunday, man that's one thing I love about this country, it stays light until 10.30pm for the next three months :-)

This dish is quick easy to cook and will look great on the table, you can make it even quicker by buying the salad dressing if you wish along with the croutons. I have made the dressing in the recipe below before and its great but just takes a little bit more time. The one I'm using is the Pizza Express one which is available at most supermarkets or online. But if you’ve got the time give the recipe below a go, its just as good if not better.

SERVES 4 : PREP:15 MINS : COOK TIME : 6-8 MINS

Ingredients for the Caesar Salad:

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Dressing:

• 3 Anchovy fillets roughly chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2½ tbsp Light mayonnaise
• 1½ tsp Lemon juice
• 20g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 2½ tbsp cold water

Method for making the dressing:

• To make the dressing, put the anchovy fillets in a pestle and mortar, add the chopped garlic clove and pound into a paste.
• Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice, Parmesan and water and stir well to make a pourable dressing.
• Set aside until you are ready to serve.

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Salad:

1. 1 x large cos or romaine lettuce , leaves separated
2. 60g Parmesan cheese shavings
3. 6 x Anchovy fillets
4. 50g Croutons home made or shop bought if you haven’t got the time.

Method for Salad:

• Wash the lettuce and drain well, leave on a piece of paper towel to dry.
• Plate up once dried and lay the anchovy fillet evenly around the dish along with the parmesan shavings.
• Sprinkle the croutons on this and set aside until the chicken is ready.
• Pour the dressing lightly over the salad just before you add the chicken.

Ingredients for the Blackened Chicken:

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1. 2 x Free Range Chicken Breasts
2. 1 garlic clove finely chopped
3. 2tbsp Natural yogurt
4. 1tbsp Lemon juice
5. 1tsp Paprika
6. 1tsp Ground cumin
7. 1tsp Mustard powder
8. ½tsp Dried Thyme
9. ½tsp Cayenne pepper
10. ½tsp Dried oregano

Method:

• Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F)
• Using a sharp knife slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally and flatten with your hands.
• Place them in a shallow bowl, non metallic and then mix the yogurt and lemon juice in a small bowl with the garlic and brush over the chicken.
• Next mix the spices all together and the sprinkle them evenly over the chicken. Using the same brush blend it into the yoghurt.
• Brush this lightly with a little olive oil and place on the braai over medium to hot coals. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until it starts to blacken.
• Once cooked leave to rest for 5 minutes and the place onto the salad that you prepared earlier.

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There you have it, another great quick and easy recipe to try! Please feel free to leave any comments that you would like to share with everybody. Until next week have a fantastic Easter Break. Best wishes Larry

Cajun Chicken with Mielies on the Braai!

Cajun Chicken with Mielies on the Braai/BigGreenEgg!

This week I've decided to go to the southern states of America for inspiration and I'm cooking Cajun Chicken with Mielies, sweet corn to all you none South Africans. This dish is quick to put together and quick to cook and the flavours are great. I have never cut up corn in this way and I must say its makes it really easy to eat, the only thing is it's so easy you tend to over do it if you’re not careful.

Well, I now know that I'm Anglicised, as all I talk about is the weather and man we've gone from ± 17c to -2c and snow in a week, what's happening. I'm still out here braaiing for you, I hope that you all appreciate it because I'm losing the will to Braai!! What I need is some braai love, please let me know if you like what I'm cooking below.

SERVES 2-3 : PREP:15 MINS : COOK TIME : 30 MINS

Ingredients:

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1. 2 x Chicken drumsticks
2. 2 x Chicken Thighs
3. 2 x Chicken Wings
4. 2 x Fresh Meilies (Sweetcorn)
5. 85g butter, melted

Ingredients for the Spice mix:

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1. 2tsp Onion powder
2. 2tsp Paprika
3. 1½ tsp Salt
4. 1tsp Garlic powder
5. 1tsp Dried Thyme
6. 1tsp Cayenne pepper
7. 1tsp Ground black pepper
8. ½tsp Ground white pepper
9. ½tsp Ground cumin

Method:

• Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 200ºF/94ºC.
• Using a sharp knife, make 2-3 diagonal slashes in the drumsticks, wings and thighs. Place them in a large dish.
• Cut the mielie cobs into thick slices and add them to the dish.
• Mix all the ingredients for the spice mix together in a small bowl.
• Brush the chicken and the cobs with the melted butter and sprinkle the spice mix over them.
• Place the chicken in the braai over the medium coals and cook for 15mins, turning them occasionally.
• Add the mielie cobs to the braai and cook for a further 10-15mins or until they begin to blacken. Make sure that you turn them continually so that they don’t burn.
• Transfer to a plate and serve immediately to the lucky people you have invited around to share you're braai.

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I hope that you give this a go, it's quick and I can assure you you will add this to the regular things to Braai. Until next week enjoy and please feel free to comment below.