Smokestak’s favourite barbecue extras – recipes

Pickles

Rich and salty smoked meat calls for something sharp to cut through it. Pickles allow you to play around with different vinegars, aromatics and vegetables, which often lend a bit of texture, too. This is our favourite pickle brine.

Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Pickle 4-5 days
Makes 1 litre

1 litre white wine vinegar
300g caster sugar
20g coriander seeds
20g cumin seeds
20g mustard seeds
20g pink peppercorns
1kg vegetables such as cucumber, radishes, fennel or chilli, sliced as thinly as possible (about 1-2mm thick) on the diagonal

 
Bring all the brine ingredients to a boil then turn off the heat. To pickle more robust vegetables such as fennel or chillies, add them to the brine while it is still hot so they soften a bit. For other, more delicate, vegetables such as cucumber or radishes, chill the brine right down (to around 4C) to maintain the texture and colour of the vegetables. Put in a sterilised jar and refrigerate for four to five days, although the pickles will last for weeks.

Wild garlic and mint chimichurri

This south American sauce is especially good with beef and lamb. When wild garlic goes out of season, substitute with two to three garlic cloves and 500g spinach or rocket leaves.

Prep 20 min
Makes 20 portions

500g wild garlic
300g mint
100g parsley
150ml red-wine vinegar
50ml sugar syrup, or honey or maple syrup, to balance sweetness
Maldon salt, to taste

Simply blitz all the ingredients together.
Classic barbecue sauce

This is an all-purpose barbecue sauce that can be served with any grilled or smoked meat. We also use it as a marinade for pork and beef ribs before glazing them with the sauce while they are cooking over a direct heat, turning every couple of minutes repeatedly so they caramelise nicely. This is made possible by the sauce’s high sugar content, building depth of flavour and charring. What barbecue is all about!

Prep 5 min
Cook 1 hr 20 min
Makes 1 litre

250g onions, peeled and chopped
25g garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
250ml cider vinegar
375ml apple juice
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
40g sugar
40ml Worcestershire sauce
750ml ketchup

Sweat the onions until translucent – about 10 minutes – then add the garlic, and cook for two to three minutes. Add the cider vinegar and reduce to a syrup – about 20 minutes – then add the apple juice and reduce the mixture by half its volume.

In a separate, dry pan, toast the red chilli flakes and cumin, then add to the mixture and stir in. Add the sugar and cook for 20 minutes, or until the sugar caramelises with the other ingredients, then add the Worcestershire sauce. Finally, add the ketchup and cook for another 30 minutes on a medium-low heat.

Use to marinate, glaze or to serve alongside cooked meat.

Jack Monroe’s lentil, bean and kale salad recipe

Move over kale pesto, there’s a new kid in town. It is worth making plenty of this great little salad as the leftovers are perfect for taking to work to scoff at your desk – it is best at room temperature, so it doesn’t matter if you forget to take it out of your bag or fridge space is at a premium. Warm the dressing before tossing it through the salad to further soften the kale and ensure it clings to the beans. Then eat hot, cold or somewhere in between.

(Serves 4 for lunch)

100g dried brown or green lentils

100g dried black-eyed or haricot beans

8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

A handful of black olives, chopped

A fistful of parsley, torn

80g kale, chopped

For the dressing:

1 fat clove of garlic, minced

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

130ml olive oil

1 lemon, zested and juiced

Soak the lentils and beans for at least eight hours, and preferably overnight.

Meanwhile, make your dressing – a good steeping in oil and acid will calm the chilli and garlic and meld the flavours. Put the garlic and chilli into a lidded jar and pour over the oil and some of the lemon zest and juice. Screw on the lid tightly and shake vigorously to emulsify. Unscrew, taste and adjust with more lemon, if needed.

When you’re ready to make the salad, thoroughly rinse the lentils and beans and put them in a pan of unsalted cold water. Bring to the boil, scrape off any scum and boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain and rinse.

Meanwhile, warm the dressing in a small saucepan over a low heat.

Toss the other salad ingredients together with the pulses – there is no need to cook the kale. Add the dressing to taste and serve.

Pistachio palmiers recipes

I like to mix pistachio and marzipan to make them a little sweeter and add moisture. Palmiers are so versatile you could add almost anything to them.

Makes about 24
shelled pistachios 100g
marzipan 100g
caster sugar for sprinkling
frozen puff pastry 1 sheet (about 300g)

Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet with parchment

In a food processor, blitz the pistachios and marzipan into a crumbly powder. Sprinkle a work surface liberally with caster sugar and lay the rolled puff pastry on top of that. Sprinkle again with sugar. Scatter ¾ of the nut filling over the pastry and then roll with a rolling pin to embed it into the dough a bit, without rolling the pastry any thinner really.

With the short side of the rectangle facing you, fold in each of the long sides of dough to meet in the middle. Sprinkle with another layer of caster sugar, cover with the remaining nut mixture and roll again to imbed. Fold the outer edges into the middle again to meet and then fold a final time, giving you a long log of filled dough.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Cut the log into 1cm thick slices and place cut side down onto your prepared baking tray about 8cm apart. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.