Broccoli Feta & Cherry Tomato Salad

I tasted this salad the last time I was back in Ireland and I simply had to get the recipe and give it a go as it was delicious. Cooked Broccoli is not an absolute but a crunchy broccoli salad with feta, cherry tomatoes & roasted hazelnuts with a French dressing is really good.

Cous Cous Salad (Tabouli)

This salad is something I created many years ago and is always a big favourite whenever I have a BBQ at my place. At the time when I created it I did not even know what Tabouli was so you can see my ingredients and style of preparing it are very different to the traditional method as I really just tweaked the salad to my own personal taste & flavours.

With Cous Cous they advise that you use 1.5 cup liquid to every 1 cup cous cous but I like to keep it to 1:1 and then I add in the juice of a couple of oranges/lemon later to bring up this ratio. Also I used warm stock when adding to the cous cous and I noticed in many tabouli recipes they advise using cold water.

Coriander & Spring Onion Marinade

I have been working on this marinade for the first few BBQs of this summer. I always keep my marinades with a consistency of 2:1 in terms of oil & vinegar. By keeping to this ratio the marinade will penetrate the chicken and you will be truly amazed with the flavour. The rule of thumb for marinades and Chicken is that you want to marinade for a minimum of 3 hours.

What I like to do with my marinade is to use half Balsamic & half Applecider vinegar for the contrasting sharpness and also the darker colour of your marinade

Cherry Tomato Salad

Yet again the Food Wholesaler across from my house has cherry tomatoes on sale, a quite ridiculous 12 punnets of cherry tomatoes for only €1.99. The principle reason for buying so many tomatoes was to prepare double batches of both my Chutneys but now I also wanted to find something quick & tasty to go with my planned Tartiflette recipe.

The below cherry tomato recipe is super simple, the only pre-requisite would be that you let it sit for a minimum of 2 hours in the fridge.

Red Snapper on the BBQ

Cooking fish on the BBQ is so easy as you essientially will steam your fish in tin foil and all you need to prepare is the fish and the marinate. When cooking place the fish a hot BBQ, the coals should be burned through and the heat should be consistent throughout the process.

Check out this whole Red Snapper recipe for a Summer dinner on a BBQ. As with most of Food Devil dishes it is actually not that hard at all..

Greek Salad

After a short break after the World Cup Kitchen I am back with a very nice and tasty salad that is really versatile. It can be eaten as a lunch, with a BBQ, by itself as a dinner or to compliment your meal if you feel like something light & tasty.

The Dressing in the salad gives it a very tasty kick and it is all super easy to put together.   

Day 12: Souvlaki

Day 12 
South Africa 2 France 1
Uruguay 1 Mexico 0
Argentina 2 Greece 0
South Korea 2 Nigeria 2

World Cup Kitchen for today is Greek Souvlaki.

Today was the last game for 4 teams at this World Cup. I had a choice of Greek or South African so I decided on the Greek option....in one of the off days later on in the tournament I will cook something from South Afica in homage to hosts of this World Cup.

Souvlaki can be eaten a number of ways….as a main course meal with accompanying salads or like I had it tonight in a fast food style wrap with chips, tzatziki and salad. 

When marinating your meat for best results leave it overnight to enhance the best flavour from the meat. Also when cooking over a BBQ wait until the coals have been burnt right through and the temperature is not searing hot so the chicken will cook slowly and will remain moist and tender

Day 8: Serbian Cevapcici

Day 8

Serbia 1 Germany 0

Slovenia 2 USA 2

England 0 Algeria 0

World Cup Kitchen is a Serbian Cevapcici  

This kebab like sausage originates from the Balkans and is considered the National Dish of Serbia and is also common in Slovenia. The ingredients differ from country to country but in essence it is a combination of minced meats and spices.

Buffalo Chicken Kebabs

For the first BBQ of the summer I really wanted to try and find a spicy marinade that would compliment the Coriander Chicken Kebabs that I had already decided upon. 

When I lived in Toronto many moons ago we use to all love Buffalo Wings so I decided on trying my hand at a Buffalo wing marinade but to use chicken breast instead of wings as I wanted 2 types of chicken kebabs.

Tzatziki

Tzatziki is super easy to make and is perfect for the summer season with BBQs and fresh bread

It can be made with many different flavours but essentially it is a combination of:
- Greek Yoghurt 
- Cucumber 
- Garlic
- Fresh Herbs

I assemble it all in a food processor so it is super easy to make

Coriander Marinated Chicken Kebabs

One of my aims for the summer is to perfect the BBQ. In the past I too often have just gone for the easy option and bought my meat already marinated but not anymore. I have a couple of books on BBQing and in it they explain everything you need to know. So let this be the first of many BBQ related posts...

First up a short introduction on marinades: marinades come in 3 components: acids, oils and aromatics

- The Acids help break down the tough muscle fibers, tenderizing the meat

- The Oil coats the exterior of the meat, keeping it from drying out during cooking

- The Aromatics, which can include chopped vegetables, fresh or dried herbs, ground or whole spices and/or condiments add cannon blasts of flavour

Put them together, and there isn’t a food out there that can resist their transforming powers.

First up for my BBQ segment is Coriander Marinated Chicken Kebabs. I used the Oil method as I was using chicken breast. This method leaves the meat completely tender and the flavours nicely balanced between the acidity of the yoghurt and the light sweetness of the chicken.

If you don’t like Coriander look away now!!

Cayenne Onion Relish

This relish has become a personal favourite of mine so I have given it, its own post so I can hyperlink it within other posts when/if I need too. 

Very easy to make and it goes with sandwichs, BBQ's, wraps and much more