More BBQ Notes…

Just a few final comments about Thursday’s event.

First – we began our planning by deciding to cook just one good piece of meat, rather than offer lots of things [burgers, sausages, chicken portions] Bob was in charge of the meat, and rubbed it with spices [this time a ready made Schwartz mix – previously he had made his own rub, grinding things in the mortar and pestle] He used a meat thermometer to guarantee the pork shoulder was cooked through. You can see it here [it is magnetic and sticks to the outside of the BBQ and the probe on its wire is inside, stuck into the meat.]

To prepare the rainbow kebabs, I soaked the wooden skewers in a deep jar of water [this stops them catching alight] and prepared the  different vegetables. I laid out a line of veg bits as a guide whilst I was assembling.

This really helps speed up the process, you can see what to thread on next!

The desserts were easy – Steph’s 4am cookies are always a winner [recipe often blogged about before, click here] I opted to make the ice cream rather than buy ‘basics’ – it costs more, but tastes so much better. This recipe has been doing the rounds on the net all summer. It is so quick, and tastes good – and the basic contains milk, cream and sugar – and vanilla extract. That’s all [see below*]

INGREDIENTS

• 2 X 160ml pots of double cream
• 1 can of condensed milk [NOT evaporated!]
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• OPTIONAL additions – soft fruits, broken biscuits…

METHOD

• Tip everything into a bowl and beat, preferably with an electric mixer, till it reaches the consistency of clotted cream. I just put mine in the Kenwood Chef with the whisk and let it work away, whilst I prepare the tins…
• Line two loaf tins with a double sheet of clingfilm, allowing enough to hang well over the edge
• Now add a second inner lining of greaseproof paper [I used a couple of proper loaf tin liners for speed]
• Tip half the mixture into each tin. Fold the clingfilm over the top, and freeze for minimum 3 hours
• OPTION – after putting half into first tin, I chopped half a punnet of strawberries into quarters, and stirred these into the remaining mixture.
• NOTE it is a good idea to get the ice cream of the freezer about about 30 minutes before you plan to serve it

TROPICAL PUNCH

In a jug, mix

½ cup tropical juice mix

½ cup cranberry juice

make this up to 1 litre with diet lemonade

add sprigs of mint, ice cubes, strawberries, etc

[you can be flexible about this – use orange/pineapple/whatever juice is to hand!]

*For 89p I could have bought 2litres of ‘Basics’ [Partially Reconstituted Skimmed Milk Concentrate, Sugar, Palm Oil, Whey Powder, Dextrose, Emulsifier: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Flavouring, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Sodium Alginate; Natural Colour: Beta-carotene] but I decided not to!