Brazilian barbecue kebabs are delicious kebabs and vegetables on a skewer which bring the taste…
Ainsley Harriott Barbecue Experience
I was quite excited when Ainsley Foods got in touch and offered to send me a hamper of food to have a BBQ and report back on the Ainsley Harriott barbecue experience. I have had a BBQ sitting in my garage for a year but never had an opportunity to use it. This has been due to the weather which has not been at all summery. I kept my fingers crossed and hoped for sun.
The hamper contained a brilliant selection of Ainsley Harriott couscous, fresh salad vegetables, herbs and spices, skewers and a couple of recipes to try out. To complete the hamper we had plastic wine glasses, plates, knives and forks and napkins. It was lovely and I couldn’t wait to get cooking.
The first step was to light the BBQ. This involved lots of firelighters and my husband and son going “Fire, Woman, No” in caveman light style. I left them to it and got on with sorting out the food. Eventually the barbecue was lit and warming up nicely, just as I had got everything else prepared.
This is my son enjoying drinking coke from a plastic wine glass while the food cooks. He was really taken with the plastic wine glass. The dog was incredibly interested in what we were doing, I think he thought we had gone mad.
These are the recipes we tried:
Beef and Red Pepper Skewers with Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 x 100g sachet of Ainsley Harriott Roasted Vegetable Couscous
- 15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 225g (8 oz) sirloin steak trimmed and cut into cubes
- 1 small red pepper, cored and cut into cubes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Place the olive oil in a shallow dish with the paprika and garlic. Season to taste and mix well. Add the beef cubes and toss until they are covered with the marinade. Cover with cling film and marinate for at least 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Light the barbecue
- Soak four bamboo skewers in cold water for at least 15 minutes.
- Make up the Ainsley Harriott Roasted Vegetable Couscous following the instructions on the packet
- Pat the bamboo skewers dry and then tread on the marinated beef with the red pepper cubes. Place onto the barbecue and cook for 8-10 minutes until cooked though and lightly charred, turning occasionally.
- Divide the Ainsley Harriott roasted vegetable couscous between the plates and arrange the beef and red pepper skewers to the side.
I added slices of red onion to the skewers as well and have to say these were really nice and the marinade was lovely. Here you can see them cooking on the barbecue.
This is the second recipe:
Fragrant Beef Koftas with Raita
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 sachet of Ainsley Harriott Moroccan Medley Couscous
- 350g (12 oz) lean minced beef
- 4 spring onions finely chopped
- 10 ml (2 tsp) garam masala
- ½ tsp cumin
- 120 ml( 8tbsp) thick Greek yoghurt
- 5cm (2 in) piece of cucumber – grated with excess water squeezed out
- 1 ripe tomato chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Light the barbecue
- Soak the bamboo skewers in water for 20 minutes
- Mix together the minced beef, spring onions, garam masala, cumin and 30 ml (2 tbsp) of the Greek yoghurt. Season to taste.
- Roll into 6 pieces about 7.5 cm (3 inches) long. Push onto a 15cm (6 inch) bamboo skewer.
- Make up the Ainsley Harriott Moroccan Medley Couscous according to the instructions on the packet.
- To make the raita, mix the remaining Greek yoghurt in a bowl with the cucumber, tomato, garlic and seasoning.
- Check the barbecue is ready and place the beef koftas on the rack for aproximately 12-15 minutes, turning occasionally until nicely browned and cooked though.
- Divided the Ainsley Harriott Moroccan Medley couscous between two plates and arrange the beef koftas on top. Drizzle with raita before serving.
I had a slight disaster with these as I occidentally added a bit too much yoghurt and they would not stick on the skewers. I ended up cooking them in a frying pan but even with that mistake they still tasted really nice. I had never thought of doing raita before but I have to say that it worked really nicely with the koftas and the blend of yoghurt with the salad vegetables and garlic is delicious. You can just see my kofta at the side of the plate below the couscous.
The Ainsley Harriott couscous was lovely and as I have quite a bit left over I will be thinking of some other recipes to use it with. We were lucky with the weather, we had a nice day for the barbecue and we really enjoyed trying these new recipes. I would never have thought of having couscous at a barbecue before but it actually works really well. If you have any left over it is nice cold with a salad as well. I was really pleased with how well the barbecue actually works, I was a bit worried the food would take ages to cook and not be very nice. It actually make the meat a lot more tender with a slight charcoal taste which was lovely. I hope to have more barbecues in the future. We really enjoyed our Ainsley Harriott Barbecue Experience.
Disclosure: I was sent a hamper to try out but the opinions are my own.
You can find more information about Ainsley Harriott foods at http://www.ainsley-harriott.com/
Cheryl says
Oooh looks great, I made the koftas earlier in the week but haven’t done the beef skewers yet ! 🙂