BBQ Season

RECIPES VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN | IMAGES BRYDIE THOMPSON

My secret to a great BBQ is good quality meat and lots of delicious salads and sides. The better quality the meat the less you need, as it will shine. Add in some interesting salads using beautiful in season produce and you will impress without breaking the bank.

A great example of this is the house made lamb koftas from Expleo. Serve these on a large platter with cucumber ribbons, carrot noodles, fresh herbs and cos or iceberg lettuce leaves to wrap them all up in. Add an easy dressing of Greek yoghurt with fresh mint or dill and you have a gorgeous, low carb meal.

BBQ PORK RIBS

WITH CHARGRILLED CORN & ZUCCHINI SALAD

Back in my university days, I worked in a Tex Mex restaurant that served the best pork ribs. From then on, every rib experience is measured against these and sadly most don’t live up to expectations. There are a number of reasons for this, namely the poor-quality ribs to begin with and the cooking method. I believe to get fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-the-mouth ribs you need to cook them slowly first. Some people do this by simmering them in a stock, but I have found this is often too harsh and the best results are in a low (130°C) oven. Then once precooked you can slather them in your favourite sauce and sear them on the BBQ for some down and dirty lip smacking, finger licking ribs. I used St Louis pork ribs from Expleo, which are cut from the belly of the pig giving you meatier ribs. They also have a layer of fat which adds lots of flavour. This is a favoured cut of low and slow BBQ fans as they suit beautifully a lovely, long, smoky cook.

PORK RIBS

1.5kg (approx. two racks) St Louis ribs 2 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 2 tsp chopped thyme 2–3 cups apple cider (alternatively you can use apple juice, chicken stock or just water)

Pat the ribs dry and rub all over with the salt, pepper and thyme. Allow to sit at room temperature for an hour before placing in a large oven tray with 2 cups of cider. Cover loosely with foil and cook at 130°C for 3–4 hours. After 2 hours check and add more liquid if needed.

Once the ribs are cooked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

Generously slather the cooked ribs with the BBQ sauce and cook fat side down first on the BBQ until warmed through and golden. Slice the ribs down the bone and serve with more BBQ sauce.

BBQ SAUCE

This basic BBQ sauce comes from the King of BBQ

1½ cups tomato sauce ½ cup water ½ cup apple cider vinegar 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp paprika ¼ cup white vinegar 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper

Place all the ingredients into a small pot and heat. Bring to a simmer and then take off the heat.

CHARGRILLED CORN AND ZUCCHINI SALAD

4–5 zucchini 4 cobs of corn ¼ cup lemon juice ¼ cup olive oil 1 tsp sugar pinch salt pinch ground black pepper ½ cup basil ½ cup mint ½ cup chives

Cut the zucchini on the angle into 1cm thick slices. Husk the corn and chargrill both on the BBQ. Allow to cool.

In a large bowl whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, salt and black pepper. Roughly chop or tear the herbs and stir into the dressing. Cut the corn into 2cm pieces and toss these and the zucchini in with the dressing and herbs. Serve on a generous platter at room temperature.

TOMAHAWK STEAK WITH SALSA VERDE

This is a very impressive cut of meat and one you will be hard pressed to find at the supermarket. Basically, a piece of beef rib eye (or scotch fillet) with the rib bone still intact, you’ll find Tomahawk steaks at great butchers, like Expleo where we got ours. Because the bone is still attached, a Tomahawk steak is often thicker than the average scotch fillet, so you need to take this into consideration when cooking it.

1 Tomahawk steak will feed 3–4 people. To cook the steak, season liberally with salt and pepper as the BBQ or a cast iron griddle pan is heating up. Sear the steak in a very hot pan or BBQ for 3–5 minutes on each side depending how you like your steak. Shawn from Expleo, who likes his blue, says 1 minute each side!

The key is a VERY hot pan or BBQ and only turn the steak once, so you get beautiful caramelisation. Once seared, place in a hot oven (200°C) for 5–10 minutes (again depending how you like your steak). Remove from the oven and rest for 5–10 minutes before slicing and serving with the salsa verde.

SALSA VERDE

1 cup coriander 1 cup parsley 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 1 garlic clove 1 anchovy fillet 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 tbsp pinch of salt

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Place in a glass jar and store in the fridge for up to a week.

TIP – remove the steak from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking.

MAKE YOUR PLATTER SHINE THIS SUMMER

With our award winning cheeses, proudly made in the Waikato.

AVAILABLE AT ALL GOOD CHEESE STORES

Summer Style In the Kitchen

WORDS VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN | IMAGES BRYDIE THOMPSON

With BBQ season upon us and the pull to entertain and dine outside, do you find yourself traipsing in and out of the kitchen all afternoon and evening? What was the heart of your home is suddenly a transit station!

Whether you are building from scratch, renovating or just looking at ways to improve your kitchen, Hayley Hohneck and Shannon Meredith from Treetown Kitchens in Cambridge have some great tips on how you can ensure your kitchen has great indoor-outdoor flow.

INSTALL A SERVERY WINDOW

This will extend and connect your kitchen with the outdoors. By adding a bar underneath the window, you have a multi-use space that can act as a servery as well as a space to socialise, with guests able to hang out with you while you are in the kitchen.

OPEN UP

Create an uninterrupted flow with large bifold or stacker doors blurring the lines between what is inside and what is outside.

THE ALL-IMPORTANT FRIDGE!

Consider the placement of your fridge. By locating it close to the entryway guests aren’t needing to move through the main kitchen workspace to refresh their glass. If you have space, consider a separate bar area, complete with a small fridge

EVEN THE KITCHEN SINK

The location of your sink and dishwasher are also important. Having these close to the servery window or door leading outside makes life easy when the flow of dishes starts to arrive back in the kitchen.

Then of course if space and budget permit you can always create an outdoor kitchen complete with plumbed in BBQ, fridge and sink. The opportunities are endless, but it pays to first get great advice from those who know what they are doing. Treetown Kitchens has been building and designing kitchens in the Waikato for over 50 years and pride themselves on not just beautiful kitchens but ones their customers love cooking in.

www.treetownkitchens.co.nz

Thanks to Anne Peters, a happy Treetown Kitchens client, who allowed the Nourish team to invade her beautiful kitchen.