Zesty chicken thighs to make your BBQ swoon

Gas is for cissies

Oh, ok, so we skipped spring and went straight to summer. I have no problem with this at all, except for that moment of panic when I forgot what clothes I normally wear in hot weather (it's been sooo long!). I will ignore the fact that the rain is returning next week and pretend this is it for the next couple of months. Divine. I would put money on the fact that I'm not the only sun-lover planning BBQ based treats for what is set to be a magic weekend of sun. Therefore it was only right to share one of my favourite recipes for chicken on the barbie. I hope you like it as much as I do. Boneless chicken thighs are pretty much made for a charcoal grill. Don't be talking to me about gas ones, where is the fun in flicking a switch when you can play with coal, fire lighters and paraffin to your heart's content? However trying to pry the liquid paraffin from The Boyfriend's hands (for the sake of safety, for us, and surrounding trees) can be challenging. I served this with barbecued asparagus and some steamed courgette ribbons tossed with a bit of crumbled feta and a simple dressing of lemon juice and olive oil.

As this is a marinade it's all a bit loose in quantities, but the following recipe is enough for about 12 boneless chicken thighs. Add the following to a dish big enough to fit your chicken thighs in one layer: 6 chopped garlic cloves, either a load of dried chilli flakes or chopped red chillis, the grated zest and juice of four limes, a tbsp of  freshly crushed coriander seeds, a tbsp paprika (any type but smoked really), lots of salt and pepper and a decent glug of olive oil to loosen it up. Mix well, add the chook, coat it really well in the marinade for at least a couple of hours, and then cook on the barbie. The skin gets beautifully crispy and the dark thigh meat stays gorgeously moist, shun those chicken breasts immediately. When cooking, make sure you keep turning the meat though, otherwise you end up with crunchy carbon which is just gross. Of course you could do this with bone-in thighs or drummers or whole legs, but they are super easy to eat boneless.

And when you have a pair of tongs in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, easy to eat is preferable.

End Of Summer (meat) Party

Want. Now.

Towards the end of the summer I was getting that old nagging feeling, a little whisper in my ear that said 'Hey, you haven't had a party for a while, surely your nice nearly finished garden needs trashing while you water the lawn with red wine...' It was decided, we were to have a bash, invite all our friends, and above all, cook delicious meat. The meat planning commenced, or rather I day dreamed about marinating, jerking and rubbing for a few days before consulting the Bularian Meat Man of Surbiton. This wasn't something I did without thought, he is a serious and busy man, I didn't want to waste his time, what I did want was some beautiful meat. To cut a long story short, I asked for some pork and chicken wings and got to work deciding on a jerk recipe for the wings and some sort of fennely garlicky rub for the pork. Not necessary. I went to pick up the meat and it was handed to me by a girl who's name he had just texted to me (all very cloak and dagger) and I was a bit perplexed when I found the pork to be slightly warm.  I could see it was vacuum packed in (what I thought) was its own juices and blood, and cut open the bag over the sink as soon as I got home to investigate. Nooooooooo!!! It became immediately clear that this most generous man had not only marinated the meat, but cooked it in his sous vide for 48 hours at low temperature. I felt such a fool. Unworthy of such meat bestowed unto me, I pulled myself together (no point in crying over spilt marinade) and rubbed it with garlic and fennel anyway, wrapped it tightly in clingfilm to keep the moisture in and stuffed them in the fridge. The meat was so tender I could have broken the flesh in half. I prayed I hadn't blown it and planned to just brown them on the barbie the next day, surely the two hunks of oink would be fine? They were, and it was a triumph, but I desperately tried to get them cooked and sliced up before the  meat man came and saw what I had done to his perfect pork. I have never seen so many people gorging on soft melty pork all at once, I just wish I had saved more for myself as by the time I got some I was so hammered I can barely remember it. But I know it was definitely good.

A Right Royal Meaty Feast



No room for hippy bean burgers here

 So we've done the Royal breakfast, we've sipped our bubbles earlier than normally allowed (I love how a Royal Wedding permits, and even encourages pre-midday intoxication, not to mention A DAY OFF) and now it was time to skip down the road to Pip's house, where that strange English phenomenon known as the Street Party, was taking place. We had strict orders to pick up some pork from the legend that is Surbiton's Bulgarian Meat Man, also known as Kalin. It was all a bit mysterious and exciting, even more so when he was no-where to be found in the pub kitchen where we were meant to meet him. So we trotted off to the street party (where it was bunting and Union Jacks a go-go) to wait for him. Hopefully the pork would turn up. An hour later it did, Kalin came and dropped off what must have been about 8 or 9 kilos of beautiful pork loin. Kalin had been working in the pub kitchen all day and was happy to leave it to me to 'do something' with the pork. It HAD to be marinaded, we didn't have much time but a quick rub with something tasty would be better than nothing. After telling me she didn't have much in her kitchen, I found everything I needed at Pip's, and made two different flavours for our porcine friends.

Meaty treats

Forget everything the NHS tells you, when it comes to BBQs and pork, salt is your best friend. Use it liberally and you can't go wrong. For the first marinade bash up fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar, then add lots of peeled garlic and bash that up with the seeds, adding a good helping of salt. That is it, fennel seeds, garlic and salt, like with the pork belly recipe I blogged in January, simplicity is key. Loosen with olive oil and smear all over the pork. Marinade number two is just bashed up coriander seeds and dried chilies, garlic, lemon juice, salt and again, loosen with olive oil then get smeary with it. Ideally let the piggy bathe in that for a good four hours or so, but the coals were ready and Kalin was looking anxious.

The pork was expertly cooked by Kalin, gently and slowly, this was a lot of meat and bloody pork was not the effect we were after. We sliced it all up, put it in baguettes, with some salad for the girls. We handed round the sliced pork and the gannets devoured the lot. Except for the vegetarian lady who longingly sighed at the heavy platter of heaven. God didn't give you those canines for nothing lady. The street party was a fantastic triumph, bringing out the community spirit in everyone, not to mention, the carnivore.