As we try and savour the last of the summer sun, Linda Barker recommends her favourite alfresco dining recipes for us to try this weekend.
Linda’s Lamb Burgers
Ingredients
1 packet of lamb mince
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. ground coriander
1 tsp salt
black pepper
1 tbsp. sweet smoked paprika
Optional ingredients for the above if you want to turn it up a notch…..
1 tbsp. of hot paprika (in addition to the sweet paprika)
2 cloves of chopped garlic
3 tbsp. of harissa
Method
Mix everything in a big bowl and wet your hands before forming these into mini burger shapes. Then BBQ!
And for afters…
Apple Crisp
Cook this in an enamel pie dish directly on the hot coals as soon as the lamb or chicken skewers come off the grills, the pudding will be ready in about 20mins when you’ve finished your main course…
Ingredients
4 or 5 apples
half a mug of brown sugar
1 mug of brown flour
1 mug of porridge oats
1 tsp of cinnamon
half a pack of butter
Method
Mix all the dry ingredients together and roughly chop the butter into this so that there are small, visible lumps. Peel and roughly chop the apples, place into the bottom of the pie dish (or dishes if yours are small). Top with the oat mix, cover with foil and place on the cooling BBQ (at the edge of the hottest coals). Keep checking for readiness, as it’s not an exact science, then dive in with big spoons once the apple juices are bubbling through the crust and the top is looking cooked through.
That’s the cooking sorted, but even when the light is fading don’t be tempted to dash indoors. Bring blankets and cushions outside so you can stay a while to watch the stars. I make pretty night lights by chopping the ends off some cheap glow sticks and pouring the contents into screw topped jars (one per jar). Top up with water and position around the garden to make everything look pretty as the light fades.
Hang tea-lights lit inside simple jam jars from the garden fence or a convenient tree branch, simply make a hanging loop around the neck of the jar using thin wire and suspend as you like – the more the better.
Now where’s my margarita?
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