Fondueque...

Oh I'm sorry about the title, but I can't help it! 

Okay this is a great little crowd pleaser to throw out at the last minute when barbequing for pals! Its super easy, super delicious and has a very sophisticated air about it.  You can also do this in a bonfire which would stun any party into a hum of eager chewing.

Its Bonfire Fondue, Barbeque Fondue... its FONDUE-QUE!

You'll need

1 Camembert round, in a wooden box (or Brie)

Some sprigs of rosemary or thyme

a glass of white wine

Chunks of bread

Method

Unwrap the cheese and pop it back into its wooden box, then pierce through the curd about ten times, and pinch a sprig of herb through the hole.  

Then wrap the whole thing in about 4 layers of tin foil and just before twisting the top shut, pour in your glass of wine.

Leave on a medium barbeque for about 30 minutes or so, until the cheese is bubbling through the holes in the curd.  Break through the curd to expose a bubbling fondue! 

Dip bread chunks repeatedly and eat!

We play a game called fondue forfeit when eating fondue, inspired by the one in "Asterix in Switzerland", if you lose your bread off your fork while dipping you must do a forfeit... Our favorite forfeits usually involves making a wally of yourself somehow!

Sunday Shining...

We got home from camping on Sunday lunchtime, after being evicted from our pitch by the campsite manager who was apologetic but firm, the space was needed by a large and ominous looking white motorhome who had arrived, either we paid for another night or shipped out by 12! 

So we found ourselves arriving back, a bit deflated, the sun still beating us from the skies, and nothing to do - which of course is the best part of camping but doesn't feel as good at home! So we rang Bills family and bullied them into letting us cook them dinner.  

We were up there like a shot, Barbeque lit, salads being tossed like there was no tomorrow. Although in Ireland, from a barbeque's perspective, everyday could be its last! Even as I type this the rain is pelting down and my sunburned shoulders are looking quizzically at me "did I dream this?"

Anyhoo, the barbeque was a great success, with good wines and great ingredients!  Let me share with you what we ate...

Cool Salmon skewers

For six

You'll need

4 large salmon darnes

1 small pot natural yoghurt

handful dill, finely chopped

juice of half a lemon

2 green peppers, chopped roughly

Chop the salmon into large pieces, and pop it into a bowl containing the yoghurt, dill, and lemon juice. Skewer between lumps of green pepper, season well and barbeque on one side only, they are done when the flesh is opaque throughout.

We served these, along with more of saturdays sausages, with cous cous, tossed with chopped peppers, feta cheese, and a dressing of oil, lemon juice and crushed garlic, and a potato salad, roughly chopped new potatoes, in their skins dressed in a mix of half sour cream to half mayonaisse, spring onions and parsley.  

BBQ TIP - Don't keep turning everything over and over, once is enough.  Oil your grill before starting and if you go to turn something and it sticks, its just not ready to turn, leave it a while linger and it'll turn over just fine.

Easy dessert!

This can be rustled up on a one flame gas burner when camping, and of course at home.

Carmelised Peaches

for four

8 peaches, destoned and sliced

Caster sugar

2 ounces of butter

Toss the peaches in enough caster sugar to coat them thickly and then add them to a hot pan with the butter.  Leave the butter to melt and begin to bubble.  When it is thick caramel, remove from the heat and serve with ice cream (pistachio works really well) and some whipped cream!

Sausage on a stick

There is something strangely compulsory about sausages on sticks, you just cannot resist.  I imagine conversations around the world, "sausage?" "oh no thank you I already ate..." "..but its on a stick!" "oh well in that case..." Perhaps its the reminder of childhood jamborees,  or the party nostalgia it evokes... or maybe its because they are just so yummy, simple as they are!

Here is a recipe for luxury sausages (on sticks of course!)

You'll need

(per person)

2 jumbo pork sausages

2 quarters of a lemon

4 large sage leaves

Dijon mustard

1 skewer

Skewer the sausage, sage, lemon, sage, sausage, sage, and lemon, sage.  Rub each sausage with some mustard and barbeque on a low heat (thirty minute coals are perfect) until nicely brown all over. 

We always make a few extra sausages to prevent 'somebody' burning holes in our backs with her stares!

Creamy Cajun Marinade

100mls Olive oil

125mls Sour cream

2 tsps Harissa Paste

1 Mild chili pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 small onion

2 tbsp vinegar

s+p

Blitz in a food processor until smooth, Pour over skewered meat and vegetables and leave for at least ten minutes.  

Cook on BBQ grill.

Mmm Mmm...

Bananaque...

There is no other way to round off a barbequed meal than with Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Bananas...

Slit a banana on its back side all the way through but leaving the skin intact, stuff with marshmallow and chocolate buttons... Wrap in foil and pop onto the Barbie as you eat your main meal. 

 Then you can check and see if the banana skin is blackened and the chocolate melted - unwrap and pop into a bowl, top with ice cream and eat!

Can it get any better?

Bill is allergic to Bananas so we used a pineapple round, cut in half and sandwiched with the chocolate and marshmallow.

I had no idea when I wrote this post that a "bananaque" is actually an asian treat, see here! I was trying to be clever, playing with the word barbeque and banana, but the amount of hits this post has had is unbelievable with people looking for information on actual bananaques! I couldn't figure it out for ages! So if you came here looking for something else, I apologise for the mix up, but please stay to have a look around, you're very welcome!

Outdoor favorites!

Its amazing what you can do with a small camping stove, if you bring the right ingredients you can eat really well! I've never been one to eat the dreaded Pot Noodle or Smash while camping, with a small barbeque and a gas ring you can eat just as well as you would at home.



This weekend we were off again, and the weather was GLORIOUS!

Breakfast was drop scones, served with tinned cherries and sour cream (mix a tsp of caster sugar with the cream to sweeten it if you don't like the tartness).

Drop scones are made with 200gms flour, 1 egg, 25g caster sugar, a pinch of salt and a half pint of milk - mix the batter and leave stand for about fifteen minutes then spoon into blobs on a very hot frying pan, turning when the bubbles come through! They are really good so do try them!

Lunch was floury baps with pastrami and leaves, and dinner was mixed beans (flagelet and cannelli) in a sauce made from a tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 tbsp wine, 1 tbsp american mustard, splash worcestor sauce and a tsp chilli powder. Served with barbequed sausages and asparagus... We wrapped it all up in wholemeal wraps and ate it with our hands...
In the evening we lit a campfire and made sh'mores... As always with campfire sh'mores there were a few lost to the fire! However most made there way to our watering mouths where they quickly vanished!