Come to a Barbeque at my Kitchen Table

It's Barbeque season and, although the weather has been rather variable, when the sun shines we love to cook and eat outside.  Some hardy souls even brave the rain and wind and carry on regardless.  Here are a few of the products that have arrived on my kitchen table for review and how I think they can be served as part of al fresco eating.


Let's start with some soup!  "Soup at a Barbeque!" I hear you cry, well yes... ideal for those days that are not quite warm enough and also perfect to keep hunger pangs at bay while the barbie is heating up and the main event is cooking.  This healthy Glorious Skinnylicious Soup is perfect to start your party.  The San Antonio Fiesta is a  hearty chilli sin carne with Black eye beans, Haricot beans, Black Turtle beans, and Red kidney beans. Also carrot, red pepper, basmati rice, a smoky Chipotle chilli paste, a pinch of peering at colourful floats parading past and ending the night shamelessly line-dancing in an old dancehall.

For those who prefer something a little smoother and sweeter there is New England in Autumn and it certainly doesn't taste like it has less than 1% fat. Made from roasted butternut squash with a hint of warming cumin, this soup reminds us of happening upon honesty stalls full of autumn harvests and strolling under colourful tree canopies.  Kids will love this too.


Now, you can't have a barbeque without burgers.  These are a little different, they are haggis burgers which I made by combining 500g of beef mince and 450g Macsween Haggis, then forming into patties. Chill and then cook in the usual way on the barbeque or fry them, cook under the grill or bake in the oven. Serve with salad, homemade coleslaw and homemade potato wedges.



To dress up your burgers, sausages or steaks you need some spicy sauce or a tasty marinade.  Encona Taste Explorers have a great range of sauces and marinades provide something a little different,  how often do you taste Jamaica, Korea or Morocco on the grill?

With Encona’s new marinade range, you can spice up your barbeque and bring flavour to the fire. You have a choice immersing your food in Jamaican Jerk, Korean BBQ or Moroccan Harissa.

Each marinade has been inspired by its origin, combining authentic ingredients to create three mouth-watering marinades that will make you feel like you are sunning in the Caribbean, riding a camel in North Africa or wandering through Gwangjang market.

A spicy and fragrant Moroccan paste made with a blend of chilli puree, herbs and spices; the harissa marinade adds the perfect kick to a lamb skewer.

For those who feel taste travelling to Morocco isn’t far enough, you can take your taste buds all the way to Korea. The BBQ marinade is made with a blend of gochujang spices, which can be enjoyed on beef, chicken, pork or grilled vegetables.

Alternatively, you could virtually hop across the pond to the sandy beaches of Jamaica, and enjoy a beach BBQ with a mild jerk marinade blended with scallions, hot pepper and pimento spices.

Each marinade is suitable for vegetarians and  two are gluten free.
Time to get saucy with Encona Peruvian Amarillo Sauce, a blend of authentic Peruvian Amarillo chillies, roasted onion, spices and herbs creating a sweet, subtle chilli flavour with a hint of garlic – the perfect way for eager taste explorers to get their taste buds tingling without the cost of a plane ticket.
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I was provided with samples to review, all opinions are my own. 

Labels: barbecue, barbeque, burger, Elizabeth Shaw, Encona, Glorious Skinnylicious, haggis, halloumi, Macsween, marinade, mints, Moose Maple Butter, rice and grains, sauce, Soup, Uncle Ben's

posted by Janice @ 00:00 149 Comments

Persian Halloumi and a Toshiba Cookalong

Gousto are a company who deliver everything you need to cook delicious healthy recipes, delivered weekly for you to make at home.  You might wonder why you would do such a thing, but you only have to have tried one of their recipes to know that what you are getting is all the expertise of their chef in putting together fabulous flavours and none of the hassle of having to buy larger quantities of specialist ingredients that you may not use again.

I've reviewed Gousto boxes before and really enjoyed all the recipes, I also learned a few different techniques that I have used again. 


Here are the ingredients for the Persian Halloumi recipe.  I was familiar with all of them except the barberries, which I have heard of but never tried. 


However, this isn't the usual sort of food box review, because this time I had been invited, along with some other bloggers,  to be part of a Cookalong on Skype using the
Toshiba Satellite Radius 11 - The ultimate cook along companion.  We were guided through the recipe by Gousto Chef Alice,  the Cookalong experience was quite intense and, unfortunately the connection was not too good for some of us.  However, there was the Gousto recipe card to follow as well so, one way or another, we all managed to make the recipe which was really delicious.  

Persian Halloumi
Serves 2 - 3

250g halloumi cheese
50g bulgur wheat
2 red onions
20g dried barberries
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
10g fresh mint
1 tbsp ras el hanout
1 lemon

1. Boil a kettle. Add the bulgur to a pot with 275 ml of boiling water, cover with a lid over a medium-low heat. 
2. Simmer for 5-7 min or until almost all the water is absorbed. Remove and set aside with the lid on for 10 min, until dry and fluffy 
3. Meanwhile, put the barberries in a small bowl and add 100 ml of hot water, add 1 tbsp of sugar and mix well.
4. Peel the onions, cut them in half and slice finely. Chop the mint finely and grate the zest of the lemon. 
5. Cut the halloumi into thin slices (approx. 1cm thick) 
6. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the halloumi ,combine half the ras el hanout with 1 tsp of black pepper for the spice mix.  Coat the halloumi in the spice mix.
7. Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to a large pan on a medium-high heat,  once the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for 4-5 min or until soft and lightly caramelised.
8. Add 3 tbsp of the barberry water to the bulgur wheat,  drain the barberries and add to the bulgur wheat. Combine the barberry bulgur with the mint, lemon zest, remaining ras el hanout, pomegranate molasses and 1-2 tbsp of olive oil,  season to your taste with salt and pepper.
9. Push the onion to one side of the pan and add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, add the halloumi and cook for 1-2 min on each side or until golden all over.
10. Serve the bulgur wheat with the onion and halloumi 

Here you can see Camilla from FabFood4All  on the left and Helen from Fuss Free Flavours on the right.  There wasn't much time for chatting and I didn't manage to see all of the other bloggers involved, but I did have a chat with Leslie Williams, the Dublin food writer, at the end of the cookalong when we were the only two left online. The built-in high-quality webcam and microphone on the Toshiba Radius 11  lets you easily chat with friends or take part in group Skype calls, as we did.  It would be a great way to talk your friend through a recipe with which they are unfamiliar.


The  Toshiba Satellite Radius 11 is a Windows 8.1 laptop and a tablet all in one. It was ideal for the Cookalong and also for viewing recipes online.  I use fewer cookbooks than I used to and often cook recipes by other bloggers, or from websites and, of course, I also return to Farmersgirl Kitchen to look up favourite recipes to make again.  

The versatility of the Toshiba Satelitte Radius 11 makes it ideal as a perfectly portable kitchen companion, The innovative hinge lets you transform the Satellite Radius 11 into any one of five different modes – laptop, tabletop, presentation, audience and tablet. Its touchscreen makes it easy to flick through recipes, or catch up on your favourite TV cookery programmes online and cook along in your kitchen at the same time.  I also found it quite easy to set up and navigate my way around, much though I love my tablet, it is not very good for writing up blog posts and I enjoy having a proper keyboard and the full functionality of a laptop.

It's also amazingly compact, the Satellite Radius 11 easily fits onto kitchen worktops, and when in tablet mode the 29.5cm (11.6”) devices take up less space than a traditional cookbook, giving you more room to get creative.

Toshiba Satellite Radius 11
 £300.00
www.toshiba.co.uk
Designed for mobility, delivering a smooth, seamless PC experience anywhere
500 GB hard drive for storage along with a responsive 32 GB of cloud storage
Fast boot-up and online access
www.facebook.com/toshibauk
@ToshibaUK
www.facebook.com/followgousto
@FollowGousto goustocooking

If you would like to try a Gousto box I have a code which will save you £20 on your first box, simply click through the code below to claim your discount. 

Gousto Code: gousto.co.uk/farmersgirlkitchen

Labels: Bulgar wheat, cookalong, Gousto, Gousto Box, halloumi, laptop, review, Tablet, Toshiba, Toshiba Satellite Radius 11

posted by Janice @ 20:00 12 Comments