Quail & Guinea Fowl braaied over Kameeldoring Wood

July 26, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Big Green Egg, Braai, Chicken, Food Websites, Recipes, Roasts, Salads, Smoking, Vegetables

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:

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

Ingredients for the Couscous:

150g Couscous
3 x Medium sized tomatoes skinned, seeded and chopped
3tbs chopped fresh coriander
2tsp ground coriander
3tbs extra virgin olive oil
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.

Ingredients for the Dressing:

100ml Olive oil
40ml Balsamic (80ml if you can get Raspberry) vinegar
100g green grapes, halved
1tbs chopped fresh tarragon
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!

April 19, 2013 by Larry Susman in Big Green Egg, Braai, Chicken, Food Websites, Hot & Spicy, Meat, Pork, Recipes, Salads

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:

1 tsp garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Sea salt

Ribs:

1.5kg Baby Back ribs (3 racks)
1 x Jimmy's Braai Sauce
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.

125g Sugar
1 cup of white vinegar
½ Cup Salt
¼ Cup white pepper

Coleslaw Ingredients:

1 Head shredded cabbage
1/8 Cup vegetable oil
Pinch celery seeds
30g Sesame seeds, toasted
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.

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.

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.

Blackened Chicken Caesar Salad on the Braai

March 29, 2013 by Larry Susman in Big Green Egg, Chicken, Hot & Spicy, Recipes, Salads

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:

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.

Salad:

1 x large cos or romaine lettuce , leaves separated
60g Parmesan cheese shavings
6 x Anchovy ﬁllets
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:

2 x Free Range Chicken Breasts
1 garlic clove finely chopped
2tbsp Natural yogurt
1tbsp Lemon juice
1tsp Paprika
1tsp Ground cumin
1tsp Mustard powder
½tsp Dried Thyme
½tsp Cayenne pepper
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.

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

Wild Salmon with Mango & Granadilla Salsa on the Braai

March 08, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Big Green Egg, Braai, Fish, Recipes, Smoking, Salads

Wild Salmon with Mango & Granadilla Salsa on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Howzit, well the sun is trying to shine in the UK but I think I missed summer as Tuesday was almost 17c and sunshine all day and I was stuck in the office LOL. For this weeks braai I have gone to the other extreme after last weeks meat fest! I'm braaiing some Wild Salmon and to go with this I will be making a Mango & Granadilla Salsa. This is really a very quick and easy dish to do, especially after taking nearly 8hrs to cook last weeks ribs.

You can braai this two different ways, directly on the gills or on a wooden smoke board. I'm going to use the boards as this will lightly smoke the salmon as it cooks. If you cannot get fresh Mango & Granadilla you can use tinned but it will not be as great.

SERVES 4 : PREP: 15 MINS : MARINATE 10 MINS : COOK TIME : 8 MINS

Fish Ingredients:

4 x Salmon Steaks or fillets, about 175g each.
1 x Finely grated rind and juice of a Lime.
Salt & Pepper to taste, I recommend you use quite a bit of salt at least 2 pinches per piece.

Salsa Ingredients:

1 x Large Mango, stoned and finely diced.
1 x Red Onion, finely chopped.
2 x Granadilla (passion fruit)
2 x Fresh Basil sprigs.
2 tbsp Lime juice.
Salt to taste.

Method how to prepare Salmon:

Rinse the salmon under cold running water and then pat dry with kitchen paper and place in a shallow dish.
Finely grate the rind of a lime and sprinkle over the salmon, then squeeze the juice over the salmon.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Set aside to marinade while you make the salsa.

Method how to prepare Salsa:

De-pip the mango and finely chop, place it in a mixing bowl.
Finely chop the red onion and add to bowl.
Cut the Granadilla in half and scoop out the pips and juice into the bowl.
Tear the basil leaves up and add to the mixture.
Finally, pour the lime juice over the whole lot, season with salt and pepper and mix through.
Cover and serve once the salmon is cooked.

Method how to braai the salmon:

Place the Oak smoke boards in some water to soak for 15mins, this will stop them from actually catching on fire, as you only want them to smoulder.
Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 200ºF/94ºC.
Place the board face down on the Braai for 5 mins to heat up, take out ready to place the salmon on.
Place the salmon on the boards along with the limes that you have squeezed, this will give it a great aroma.
Return to the braai close the lid and cook for 8 mins, for a piece of fish that is 2-3cm thick, if its thicker than this allow another 5 mins.

Cooked Wild
Salmon with Mango & Granadilla
Salsa on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

It's as simple as that, boil a few new potatoes and serve with the salsa, you will end up with a fantastic dish that is full of taste and freshness. Boy was it great, I hope that you are all enjoying my ventures. If so or not as the case maybe, please feel free to let me know below. Share and like to your hearts content.