Healthy BBQ Tips for The Bank Holiday

Barbie’s BBQ Tips (ha ha)

With the August Bank Holiday coming up, I thought it would be a super time to write some tips about healthy bbq-ing.

If you’ve never done much cooking or a seasoned professional, enjoying a barbecue with friends and family is a super fun activity on your summer holiday.

I found a super local company called County Foods who have a great range of BBQ meats of the highest quality and some veggie burgers that were super impressive and delicious.

The BBQ Pack called The Feast from County Foods contains 1kg of premium pork sausages, 6 x 4oz Beef Burger and 4 x 7oz Chicken Breasts. We also had some Lamb Kebabs and Vegetarian Burgers.

I made some tasty sauces that sat alongside the barbecue favourites fo an extra tangy twist.

Barbara’s BBQ Mayo

• 2 tbs masala curry powder or more to taste

• 1 inch fresh ginger chopped finely

• 200g mayonnaise

• 3 tsp mango chutney

• 5 mint leaves chopped finely

Mix all ingredients together

Cracked pepper to taste

Indian inspired “Brush on seasoning” for the Beef & Veggie Burgers

• ½ lemon , juiced and zest

• 3-4 tbsp KoKo dairy free yogurt

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• handful chopped fresh coriander

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp ground turmeric

• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• garlic, 2 cloves minced

Whizz all ingredients in a blender until a creamy consistency and brush over the meats.

Maple Mustard Marinated Chicken (Canadian Family BBQ Favourite)

Marinade

• 3 tbsp Olive Oil

• Garlic 3 cloves crushed

• 100 mls Maple Syrup

• 3 tsp French mustard

• 2 tsp Cider vinegar

• Fresh chives, thyme and parsley (3 tablespoons each)

• Chicken breasts X 5

Mix all ingredients together and marinate chicken breasts for overnight.

You can either cut chicken into small pieces and place on skewers or BBQ chicken fillets whole until juices run clear.

Try a variety of salads to compliment the meal..

Try this:

Zesty Potato salad

• New Potatoes (500g) well scrubbed, boiled with skins on, cooled and cut in half

• Pepper 4 (1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange) sliced

• Red onion 1 (finely chopped)

• Red Radishes 5 (sliced)

• Celery 2 stalks (sliced)

• Olives 16 (8 black and 8 green)

• Sundried tomatoes 3 (finely chopped)

• Baby gherkins 5 (finely chopped)

• Fresh parsley and chives 1 (small bunch of each chopped and sprinkled on top)

Dressing

• Olive Oil 6 tablespoons

• Lemon 1 (juiced and finely grated rind)

• Balsamic vinegar 2 table spoons

• English mustard ½ - 1 tsp depending on taste

• Himalayan crystal salt and Cracked pepper to taste

Mix dressing ingredients together and pour over salad, toss, garnish and serve

Once you’ve chosen what to cook, next you need to consider all the safety issues – these include keeping children away from the barbecue and making sure the food is safe to eat; especially:

1. Avoid cross-contamination of raw meats on plates, hands and cutlery

2. Don’t grill frozen foods, fully thaw them first

3. Use a meat probe to be sure food is thoroughly cooked

4. Raise the grilling surface from the heat source to avoid causing a carcinogenic black char on the food

5. Avoid fat dripping onto the flames and causing flare-ups and smoke

6. Don’t leave meat lying around. If you’ve cooked too much meat, cover it and get it into the fridge ASAP. If you leave meat out to fester, you won’t be the only ones enjoying that warm summer’s evening!