Barbecues; everyone does them differently. I’m not into bland food getting burnt — I want my parties to be full of flavours everyone remembers. That’s why I started All In A Box in the first place.
That doesn’t mean I want to spend the entire day at the grill, though. I’d much rather be having a beer with my mates and letting the food cook itself. So here are three recipes I rely on, that taste great, are easy to do, and should suit just about every palate. You can mess around with them, too, and the flatbread recipe works with just about anything. Have fun with it. That’s what all barbecues are really about.
Courtesy of All In A Box
The simplest and easiest way to bring the “wow” factor to your barbecue is by cooking homemade flatbreads, and loading them with something delicious. A good flatbread topped with jerk chicken is one of my family’s favourite dishes
— it’s what I’m making in the picture at the top of the page. You can’t go wrong with an ice-cold beer on the side with this one. My favourite is a Pacifico, or keep it classic with a Red Stripe.
- 250g self raising flour
- 250g natural yoghurt
- Pinch of baking powder
- 1 bulb of garlic
- Handful of flat parsley (hold a little back for the garnish)
- 50g butter
- Olive oil
- Salt
- 10-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, depending on how hungry everyone is
- 3 scotch bonnet peppers
- 4 spring onions
- 8 sprigs of thyme
- 1 tbsp ground allspice
- 1 tbsp ground nutmeg
- Knob of ginger
- Salt, pepper
- 2 limes squeezed
- 2 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp orange juice
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mixed herbs
- 1 tbsp all purpose seasoning
- Fresh mango
- Half a red onion
- Handful of coriander
- A deseeded chilli
- Wrap the bulb of garlic in foil with a drizzle of olive oil and place in a slightly cooler section of the barbecue to softly grill away (the longer, the better, so get this on before you start to prep your breads).
- Start on the chicken. Add all the seasoning ingredients into a mixer and blitz up. Lather your chicken thighs in it (for a deeper flavour, leave to marinate overnight).
- Place the thighs on top of each other onto an oiled skewer. They’ll take about 20 minutes to cook on the barbecue, over a medium heat, and be sure to turn them regularly. Put them on whenever you’re ready.
- While they’re cooking, prep your salsa. Finely slice or chop your ingredients and add mango pulp to get a loose consistency. If pulp isn’t your thing, then blitz half a mango with a drop of fresh orange juice to give it the right consistency.
- For your breads, add the flour, yoghurt and baking powder to a bowl and stir through to blend the ingredients. The consistency should start to be dough like in texture. Once everything is combined, roll the ball onto a floured surface. Divide your dough into equal portions (roughly four to eight pieces) and roll it out into a flatbread shape. Try to get a similar thickness across so it cooks evenly on the barbecue.
- Once that’s ready, and once the garlic has cooked for at least 20 minutes, squeeze the garlic cloves out and mash them up. Add the butter and parsley.
- Prick your flattened dough and pop onto the barbecue. They’ll take about five minutes in total to cook, about two-and-a-half minutes each side. Keep flipping them to ensure you don’t burn them, but let the griddle score the skin. Once they’re partly cooked, start brushing them with the garlic and herb butter glaze.
- Carve the chicken skewers till they’re shredded, and pop the meat on top of the garlic flatbread, adding a dollop of the mango salsa. Finish with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley.
Giant lamb koftas with raita
Press handout
Barbecues are all about sharing, so instead of mini kebabs, get all your friends around one table carving up a giant kofta. You could even then put the meat on a flatbread if you fancied, using the recipe above.
To compliment the deep flavours of the lamb, get a rich red out. A Rioja never fails.
- 500g lamb mince
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- Handful of fresh mint
- Handful of fresh coriander
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed or finely chopped
- 250g Greek yoghurt
- Handful of coriander and mint
- A cucumber
- A garlic clove
- Juice and zest of a lemon
- 1tsp garam masala
- Half a red onion
- Salt, pepper
- Pomegranate seeds, to taste
- Parsley, to taste
- Start by prepping your kofta: finely chop your herbs, and add them to the mince, along with the spices and crushed garlic. Mix this thoroughly.
- Lay down some cling film and roll your kofta into a big cylindrical shape.
- Take your skewers and soak them in water, so they don’t burn on the barbecue. Then skewer the giant kofta and put it on the barbecue on a section that has a low heat. It’ll take about 30 minutes, and need turning constantly.
- Whilst your kebab is cooking on a low heat, prep the raita. Top and tail your cucumber and scoop the seeds out with a spoon. Quarter and finely chop (if you prefer it chunky, chop these a little larger). Add this to the yoghurt.
- Crush the garlic clove and finely chop the red onion and herbs, then stir them into the yoghurt. Add the spices and plenty of salt and pepper and a good squeeze of lemon. Give this a good stir too.
- If you’re using flatbreads, top them with raita, slices of the giant kofta, and garnish with parsley and pomegranate, to taste. No flatbread? Simply slice the kofta and put a dollop of the raita on top.
All In A Box
This is the quickest and simplest out of the three but packs just as much flavour. It obviously would suit a vegetarian, but I never think of it as a “veggie” dish, if I’m honest — it’s just a classic that works in pretty much any setting.
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 3 tbp olive oil
- 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tbsp mixed herb
- The juice of half a lemon
- Six oyster mushrooms
- Six portobello mushrooms
- Six chanterelle mushrooms
- Half a red cabbage
- Half a carrot
- Quarter red onion
- Half an apple core, grated
- 150g Greek yoghurt
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
- Start by mixing all your marinade ingredients together, and bathing your mushrooms in the mix. Chop the mushrooms so they can be stacked on the skewers. Oyster and chanterelle mushrooms are a little more delicate, so place these between chunks of portobello, giving each skewer a variety of textures and flavours.
- Flash these skewers on a medium to high flame and watch as they crisp on the outside and get juicy in the middle. They’ll take about 15 minutes to cook, then rest them on a cooler section of the barbecue to serve later.
- For the slaw, finely slice the cabbage, carrot, apple and onion and fold in the yoghurt, cider vinegar and lemon juice. Get your hands in and squeeze the cabbage so that the red bleeds in and makes the mixture a popping pink. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Take the mushrooms off, and serve them with the slaw. They go nicely on flatbreads, too, making a nice alternative to the chicken above.