We are all familiar with the incredibly dull array of chops and snags available at the regular BBQ, but these weird and wonderful BBQ recipes could just be the thing you need to spice up your next BBQ!

1. Coca-Cola Steaks
Amanda Diggins has taken a leaf out of the American’s book and used a favourite soft drink as a sweetener for this dish!

Ingredients:
6 Scotch Fillet steaks
1 can Coke
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

Method:
Combine all ingredients in shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Barbecue steaks until done to your liking. Boil marinade in a saucepan until thickened slightly and serve with steaks.

2. Vegemite Rissoles
Leisa Conley has taken your everyday breakfast spread and turned it into a winning dinner dish that all the family can enjoy.

Ingredients:
750g minced meat
1 onion finely chopped
½ capsicum finely chopped
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vegemite
Salt & pepper

Method:
Mix together and shape into rissoles, roll in plain flour
Cook on BBQ as long as you like – the vegemite makes them go dark anyway, serve on bread with tommy sauce.
The kids can’t get enough of them!

3. Char-Grilled Bugs
This recipe from Sarah Evans gives new meaning to getting back to nature!

Grill Morton Bay bugs in their shells, split in half. As they warm place a knob of garlic herb butter on top and watch it soak in. They melt in your mouth.

4. Satay Prawn Pizza
Ever thought of cooking a pizza on your BBQ? Well now thanks to Elizabeth Davey’s recipe, you can…
Elizabeth Davey

Ingredients:
1/2 bottle satay marinade
Thai sweet chilli sauce
1 medium brown onion, sliced
Can of diced capsicum
100g snow peas, sliced thinly
500g small uncooked prawns, shelled
1/2 cup roasted cashews
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 cup pizza cheese
Small store-bought pizza bases

Method:
Mix marinade with desired amount of sweet chilli sauce. Spread pre-cooked pizza base with satay marinade, top with onion, capsicum, snow peas, prawns, cashews, coriander and cheese. Cook in a covered BBQ, using indirect heat for about 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
Enjoy!!

5. Barbecued Bacon Wrapped Prawns
Effie Bakkalis’ recipe puts a gourmet tw

ist on the traditional pig wrapped in blanket party favour recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Dash of cayenne pepper
24 large/jumbo prawns, shelled and deveined
12 bacon slices, cut in halves

Method:
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan

. Add the onion and saute until soft and transparent. Stir in the ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, tomato paste, dry mustard and pepper. Stirring continuously, simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately stir the prawns into the sauce, covering them completely. Let them stand for 15 minutes. Heat the grill and grease the rack. Remove the prawns from the sauce. Wrap each prawn in a piece of bacon and secure with a wooden pick, or thread 4 bacon-wrapped prawns onto a skewer. Place on the greased rack, on high heat, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Then turn them and cook the remaining side until the bacon is crisp. Reheat the

sauce and serve separately as a dipping sauce.
This recipe makes 6 main-dish servings or 12 appetiser servings.

6. Grilled Pineapple with cracked salt

This recipe from grill master, John Ryan, is surprisingly delectable with the salt bringing out the sweetness in the pineapple!

Take one ripe pineapple, skin and cut out the eyes. Either core and cut the pineapple into rings or slice the pineapple from the core; marinade in a good Rutherglen Muscat for 4 hours. Heat the grill to hot and place the pineapple slices on, watching carefully as they will char very quickly. Turn once and ensure you get good grill lines. Remove from the grill and crack rock salt liberally over. Serve with good quality vanilla ice cream if desired.

7. Barbecued Leg of Lamb with Lavender and Baked Garlic
Deidre Steain’s recipe provides an interesting combination of flavours. Don’t be frightened to leave it in the marinade for a little longer!

Ingredients:
1 leg of lamb (roughly 1.75kg and butterflied)
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp of fresh lavender flowers (retain the stems)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp demerara sugar
Salt and black pepper
Baked garlic
2-3 bulbs garlic
Olive oil to sprinkle
Sprigs of fresh thyme

Method:

Flatten the lamb by pressing on it and place in a large dish
Sprinkle over the onion and the lavender flowers
Mix together the balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and sugar. Season with the salt and pepper and pour over the lamb
Leave to marinate for 1 hour, turning frequently to ensure an even coating
Dampen the leftover lavender stalks and scatter over a cool area of the BBQ
Remove the lamb from the marinade and place on a medium-hot BBQ and cook for 30-35 minutes, turning occasionally, basting with the reserved marinade. Allow to rest
To prepare the garlic, shake over some olive oil, add a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme and then wrap loosely in some tin foil. Leave over the warm part of the barbecue for 30 minutes or until soft.
Slice rested lamb and serve with garlic and salad of your choice.

8. Grilled Pork Chops with Apricots
The following recipe, according to Juliette Elfick, is a bit different, healthy, simple and scrumptious.

The idea of bbq’ ing fruit is one which makes our barbies so much more interesting for everybody, but particularly vegetarians. See Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer for her bbq’d pineapple dessert (we chuck amaretto over the top too at mine). Take a few pork chops and 2 apricots, halved and pitted, per chop and bbq. Be sure each chop has a small layer of fat on it. BBQ the apricots cut side up drizzle with a little honey until they are quite mushy – soft enough that you can see their inner fibres – and maybe a little caramelised (you may need to coat them in honey for this).
The cooked apricots should be eaten as a kind of relish with the chops. Ideal accompaniments to this dish are bbq’d sweet potato (in thin discs) and asparagus.
A total barbie meal!

9. Beer Can BBQ Chook (need a Weber TM)
According to Angela Clark, this recipe can even be used with duck! The beer infuses a fantastic flavour into the chicken, a keeps the meat tender and moist.

Ingredients:
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp granulated onion
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 whole free range or organic chicken
2 tsp olive oil
1 can large beer – the Germans make the big cans, like DAB
Cherry wood chips (optional)

Method:
In a small bowl combine the rub ingredients.
Lightly spray or brush all over with the oil, and season inside and out with the rub.
Open the beer can and pour off half of the beer. Set the half-full can on a flat surface and slide the chicken over the top so the can fits inside the cavity. Transfer the bird to the grill, keeping the can upright. Carefully balance the bird on its two legs and the can. Roast for 1¼ to 1½ hours.
Carefully remove the chicken and the can from the BBQ, being careful not to spill the beer – it will be hot. Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before lifting it from the can. Discard the beer. Cut the chicken into serving pieces.
Eat!
To make it even better, try soaking some cherry wood chips in the remaining beer for a few hours beforehand and place them in the WeberTM with the roasting chook for an extra smoky flavour.

(Julian Wu’s Beer Can Chicken Pictured)

10. Blue Bone Groper in Beer
This one’s for the seafood lovers by Caroline Nicholls.

Nothing beats a fillet of Blue Bone Groper in a banana leaf or foil wrap.

Method:
Place fillet in leaves, garnish with onion, tomato, lemon slices, lemon pepper. Pour half a cup of beer over fillet. Seal and place on the grill until done. Totally decadent!

This week’s blog concludes our series on the art of char grilling. Hopefully with your newfound skills you are now able to create a BBQ feast to impress your friends and family alike!

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.