Barbecue starters

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Its barbecue time again, although for us here in Valencia it never was closed season. We barbecue all the year round. Even when we are having a thunderstorm, I have been known to cook under a large sun shade with a glass of 12 year old scotch in each hand.

However, in a lot of places, the weather is too much for barbecue and it’s about this time of year – Easter, when people clean down the rust and prepare for the new season ahead.

This weekend we will be having a barbecue on Good Friday, Sunday and Monday. We love our barbecue and use it as often as we can. We intend to have our own barbecue – just Sheila and I, without a hint of paella within a mile of us. Therefore, we are cooking our own favourites, just the way we like them without having to buy in loads of other bits and pieces to feed the hordes that seem to appear out of the woodwork.

In Spain, it seems to be a tradition where you invite one or two people to a barbecue and twenty turn up. They all invite their friends and family – to your barbecue. We have had dozens of guests in the past who we didn’t know from Adam. They eat all your food, drink all your wine and then disappear into the woodwork never to be seen again.

Here are the recipes for the starters we will be using over the weekend. The main courses will come in the next article. (I haven’t decided what we are doing yet). The weather forecast is good, so we can sit in the sun and have a relaxing easy weekend. We will be using paper plates – so no washing up! I have a good supply of wines on hand, but Sheila’s favourite at the moment is a Romanian semi sweet red called Zestrea Murfatlar Merlot. When I visited Romania a couple of times many years ago, I used to drink the white version, but It is very difficult to buy outside of Romania. The red Merlot however, is freely available through our local supermarket. I have a dozen bottles in the fridge already. I strongly recommend you to try it if you can get it. My own tipple will be a white Rioja called Diamante. It is a sweet wine and very, very Moorish.

No doubt Zak, our Chow-Chow will be by my side as I cook. He always lies in hope that a sausage might just manage to roll off the barbecue and into his mouth. (I always put a few extras on anyway).

So, here we go. Barbecue starters for our Easter barbecue (watch out for the mains, I shall put a link in from this page when I post the next article.)

PRAWN AND MELON SALAD

500g cooked shelled prawns
1/2 honeydew melon, chopped
1/2 rockmelon, chopped
1/2 bunch endive, chopped

TANGY MAYONNAISE

1 tablespoon tomato sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons castor sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Spoon prawns and melon over endive, top with mayonnaise. Tangy Mayonnaise: Combine sauces, mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar and parsley in bowl, mix well.

Stuffed Vegetables

Most of the vegetables in this section are wrapped in aluminium foil for cooking. Use thick foil or double thickness of ordinary foil.

TOMATOES WITH COURGETTE FILLING

6 tomatoes
4 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
30g butter
2 courgette, grated
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

Cut top from tomatoes, scoop out half the pulp; reserve. Sauté shallots and garlic in butter for 1 minute, add courgette, tomato paste, basil and reserved tomato pulp; cook further 1 minute. Spoon filling into tomatoes, sprinkle with cheese, barbecue until heated through.

CHEESY VEGETABLES IN COURGETTE

6 medium courgette
2 bacon rashers, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated tasty cheese
440g can mixed vegetables, drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon drained capers
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Add courgette to pan of boiling water, boil 3 minutes, drain. Split in half lengthwise, scoop out pulp. Fry bacon until crisp, drain. Sauté onion and garlic in butter few minutes, add flour, cook 1 minute, stirring. Gradually stir in milk, stir until sauce boils and thickens. Add tasty cheese, vegetables, dill and capers. Fill the courgette with vegetable mixture, stand on heatproof tray, sprinkle with bacon and parmesan cheese. Cover loosely with aluminium foil, barbecue until filling is hot.

ONIONS WITH CHICKEN AND CORN

6 medium onions
2 bacon rashers, finely chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken
440g can creamed corn
1 small red pepper, finely chopped

Peel onions, leaving root end intact to hold onion together. Carefully pull centres from onions, leaving about three outside layers intact. Drop onions into pan of boiling water, boil for 3 minutes, drain upside down. Cook bacon with curry powder until bacon is crisp, drain. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Fill onion shells with chicken mixture, wrap onions individually in aluminium foil. Barbecue until filling is heated through.

Bill & Sheila’s Barbecue

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