Need a replacement Grid for your Braai?

August 09, 2013 by Larry Susman in Big Green Egg, Braai, Food Websites, Pizza, Stir Fry, Vegetables, Replacement parts

Need a replacement Grid for your Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well I've had a week off from blogging but not braaiing and I'm back in the groove again but as I mentioned, with a twist. This week I'm going to review a replacement Braai Grid that was kindly sent to me by the good people at Craycourt. If your braai has suffered over the winter or you've just not looked after it and it's seen better days then help is at hand. I came across Craycourt some time ago and I've recommended them to others but it struck me that there must be plenty of you who could do with a new grid!

They specialise in replacement Cast Iron Grids for pretty much all sizes and types of braai. Even for gas braais (god forbid) as well as charcoal with ranges for Webber and BigGreenEgg as well as others. Their pre-seasoned grill grids take your braaiing to the next level and with a little care they will last you a lifetime. Another great reason for having a cast iron grid is that they heat up quickly and they will hold the heat much longer than stainless or aluminium grids. See them here!

They sent me one for my XL BigGreeEgg Braai and it arrived quickly and was packed very well. What I like about these grids is that they are in quarters, which makes lifting them out so much easier and you can lift just one piece if you need to add more coals or some wood chipping for smoking. You can see from the photos that it's so simple to set up that any "doos" can do it.

I gave it a quick wash before using and that's all. On firing up there were no smells or nasty tastes coming off the grid as Craycourt had done a great job in pre-seasoning it. I chucked some PeriPeri chicken wings, Sosaties and some lamb chops on it and before you can say Braai they were ready. Because the cast iron gets a lot hotter and holds the heat better your meat will cook that bit quicker and leave those fantastic searing marks that make you look like a professional chef!

Before you say "why did I need a new grid" I didn't but the time will come when you and I will. Most people just throw their old braais away and buy a new one, when really all that's wrong with them is that the grid has burnt away or gone rusty beyond repair. This is when this company will save you a load of bucks. Their prices start at £27 for a 14.5inch grid up to £69.00 for the 27inch one I received. They even have lifters for £6.53 and you can also convert some of the quarters to flat grills (flat on one side and ribbed on the other) so that you can cook eggs, onions etc. There's also a pizza stone and a wok in the range, there's no limit to what you can do now. What great ideas these are and they will make your braai that bit more versatile as an all year round cooker for a very reasonable price. This is great if you're a braai nut like myself.

Cleaning is easy, just fire up the braai to max for a couple of minutes and then brush the grate clean in seconds! Once it's cooled down just wipe over with a little olive oil and its ready to go next time you want to braai. Keep it clean, a clean braai cooks better, that's a fact and you don't get as many flare-ups with a clean grill. So if your braai needs a revamp these are the guys that can do it for you and I can highly recommend them, buy direct from their web site http://www.cast-iron-grate.com/uk/.

Until next time, happy braaiing.

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.

Mackerel
with Tomatoes, Pesto and Onions on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Pesto Mackerel with Tomatoes & Onions on the Braai

July 04, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Big Green Egg, Braai, Fish, Food Websites, Recipes, Vegetables

Mackerel with Tomatoes, Pesto and Onions on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, it's very nearly the end of my year cooking on the BigGreenEgg and we are going to run a competition for somebody to win £50 in gift vouchers to use on our web site www.biltong.co.uk . All you have to do is go to our FaceBook Fan Page and leave a suggestion of what you would like to see me cook on the last Blog of the year. If I decide to use your suggestion you will be the lucky winner, entries will close on the 10th July 2013.

In the meantime I'm going to be cooking a very under rated fish that is in season this week, Mackerel! Many people consider this to be the lowest of the low in the fish world but if cooked from fresh and served with a good sauce or smoked they are absolutely fantastic. This is a very quick simple Italian recipe that I'm going to make this week and I'm sure that you will love it.

Rich oily fish like mackerel needs a sharp, fresh tasting sauce to go with it and this aromatic pesto is just the ticket when drizzled over the top of it with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

SERVES 4: PREP: 10MINS: COOK TIME:10-20MINS

Ingredients for the Mackerel and Sauce:

4-6 x mackerel, cleaned and gutted (get your fish monger to do this for you)
30ml x Olive oil
2 x large onions roughly chopped
450g x tomatoes roughly chopped
1 x Slice of fresh lemon per person
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Pesto:

50g pine nuts
30g fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30ml freshly grated Parmesan cheese
150ml extra virgin olive oil

How to prepare the whole dish:

To make the pesto, place the pine nuts, fresh basil leaves and garlic in a food processor and blend to a rough paste.
Add the Parmesan and with the blades running, gradually add the oil.
It's as simple as that, set aside until needed.
Season the mackerel with loads of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook on the braai on a med-hot heat for 5 minutes on each side, turn them only once if you haven’t got a fish basket. Fish baskets really help when it comes to turning the fish without them falling apart!
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and sauté the chopped onions until soft and golden brown.
Stir the chopped tomatoes into the contents of the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes.
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serve the fish on top of the tomato mixture and top with a generous spoonful of pesto.
Squeeze the fresh lemon all over.

All you need to do is plate up 1-3 mackerel, depending on size and appetite. Serve with a slice of fresh lemon and some new potatoes or some freshly baked bread. There you have it, a great summer dish with fish that is cheap and in season, enjoy.

Don’t for get to enter the competition to win those gift vouchers, just go to our FaceBook Fan Page and leave a suggestion of what you would like to see me cook on the last Blog of the year.

Sweet Potato Crush on the Braai

June 07, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Big Green Egg, Food Websites, Hot & Spicy, Recipes, Smoking, Vegetables

Sweet Potato Crush on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Last week I cooked a rack of spring lamb and served it with this dish and so many of you have asked how to make this. Please forgive me, I should have given you the recipe last week but just took it for granted that the meat is what you were interested in. This was a mistake as there are many of you who are interested in everything that I’ve cooked. This is such a easy recipe and it takes sweet potatoes to a new level, so give it a try, you don’t even have to use the braai if you don’t want to.

Also don’t forget that once again we will be giving away a great prize of a pack of smoking planks to one lucky reader which we used to cook this recipe, see the end of the blog for details.

SERVES 4: PREP: 10MINS: COOK TIME: 20-25MINS

Ingredients Sweet Potato Crush:

2 x Sweet Potatoes
30g x Fresh Mint
30g x Fresh Coriander
2 x Limes
1 x Fresh red chilli

Method how to prepare Sweet Potato Crush:

Cut the sweet potatoes in half and place in a oven proof dish.
Slice the limes in half and place on top of sweet potatoes.
Finely chop the chilli, mint and coriander ready to add to the sweet potatoes once they are cooked.

Method of cooking Sweet Potato Crush:

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F).
Cover the dish with cling film and baking foil if you are placing in the braai or just cling film if you are going to use a micro wave.
Place the dish the braai for 20mins and close the lid.
Or if you want, you can place the dish in a microwave for 15mins on high.
Remove from the heat and uncover.
You will notice that the limes have kept the sweet potatoes moist.
Add the chopped chilli, mint and coriander and using a potato masher lightly crush the potatoes and herbs together.
Place back in the braai for a further 5mins, if you used the microwave you can miss this step out.

I cooked this dish when I made last week’s blog and the cedar planks just gave it a slight smoke flavour and they were divine.

Don’t forget that if you would like to try to cook this for yourselves then why not leave some feedback in the comments area below and one lucky reader will win a pack of these smoking planks for themselves. Entries will close on the 22nd June 2013, please check back to see if you were the lucky winner.

Peppers Stuffed with Boerewors on the Braai

April 26, 2013 by Larry Susman in Baking, Beef, Big Green Egg, Braai, Food Websites, Meat, Pork, Potjiekos, Recipes, Roasts, Vegetables

Peppers Stuffed with Boerewors on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Hi and welcome to this weeks Braai blog.

The sun's been out and shinning for over a week now and everybody seems a great deal happier so, it's time to try something from the sunny Mediterranean with a twist. This week I'm going to make stuffed peppers/capsicums. I've used three different coloured peppers but you don't have to you can use green, red, yellow or orange. It really doesn't matter what colour they are as its just different stages of ripening. However here is the twist I'm going to make this out of our Beef & Pork boerewors, it just makes this dish feel more South African.

We will be giving away to 2 free packs of this Boerewors to some lucky winners this week. All you have to do is leave a comment in our comment section at the end of this blog.

SERVES 6: PREP: 20MINS: COOK TIME:20MINS

Stuffing Ingredients:

700g Beef & Pork Boerewors (1 of our packs) or minced plain pork or beef if you prefer
6 x Peppers what ever colour you fancy
90ml x Olive oil
1 x onion, finely chopped
100g x pine nuts, roughly chopped
3 x garlic cloves, crushed
40g x parsley, roughly chopped
5 g x rosemary, roughly chopped
2tsp x fennel seeds, ground
55g x fresh breadcrumbs
250g x ricotta cheese
25g x grated Parmesan cheese
1 x egg
grated zest of 1 large lemon

Method of making and cooking the stuffed peppers:

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts until the onion is soft and the pine nuts are light golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes more, then set aside to cool.
Take the boerewors sausage meat out of the skins.
Put the herbs, fennel seeds, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the boerewors mince.
Add the cooled onion and pine nuts, season with salt and pepper and mix briefly until all the ingredients are combined.
Cut the tops of the peppers off carefully and then scoop out the insides of all the seeds.
Next spoon the mixture into a pepper so that they come just over the top of the peppers. Repeat with the rest of the mixture and peppers.
Replace the tops back on to the stuffed pepper and they are now ready to cook.
There are a couple of ways that you can cook this dish, I tried both and I think cooking them directly over the braai on a low heat for 15-20 mins is the best. The peppers will protect the stuffing and you will get that charcoal flavour from the braai that we all love. The other way is to place them in a potjie and cook like you would a pot roast for 20-30 mins with the sauce around the peppers or not. Its your choice!

Sauce Ingredients:

800g x tomatoes or
2 x 400 g tins tomatoes
125 ml x Good red wine

Method of making Sauce:

To make the sauce, if you are using fresh tomatoes, score a cross in the top of each one, plunge them into boiling water for 20 seconds, then drain and peel the skin away from the cross.
Finely chop the flesh. Add the tomatoes and wine to the saucepan, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.
Cover the saucepan and, cook for a further 10 minutes.

Now all you need to do is serve this with some Tastic Rice and the tomato sauce on the side, magic. This makes a change to traditionally stuffer peppers and the boerewors takes on a different flavour with the added herbs, give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

We are going to be giving away 2 Packs of Beef & Pork Boerewors this week so please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 2 lucky people that get a chance to make this recipe. Also I love to hear what you think about what I'm cooking and please feel free to leave suggestions as to what you would like to see me cook in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately this will only be open to people who live on the UK mainland as we cannot deliver any further afield. However please feel free to leave your comment, no matter where you live in the world, we always appreciate your thoughts . Entries will close on the 10th May 2013 and we will post the lucky winners in the comment section below. So be sure to check back and see if you’ve won.

Until next week Happy Braaiing, Larry