What Sides Should You Serve at a Barbecue?

For many people, a barbecue is all about the meat and lots of it.  But for others, something else is needed to really make a successful barbecue and side dishes are often the best way forward.  But what kind of sides should you serve at a barbecue?

Spicy sides

Corn on the cob is a popular choice for a summer barbecue and is simple to prepare and to serve.  It can also have a little extra spice added to it to make it into something different.  Salt the corn and boil it in a pan for 10 minutes.  While this is cooking, take some butter, 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander and two teaspoons of chili powder or smoked paprika, depending on your preference.  Mix them together and once the corn is cooked, empty out the water and add the butter, allowing it to coat the corn. 

Lots of us have lovely sets of dip dishes that we enjoy bringing out for special occasions and a barbecue doesn’t need to be any different.  Tortilla chips are a favourite for many people and the different dips that can be served with them make for a great starter to the meal or to be served alongside the meat dishes.  Making tortilla chips from scratch is surprisingly easy.  Take 12 corn tortillas, brush both sides with vegetable oil and cut them into triangles.  Put them on a baking tray and cook for 7-8 minutes then set to one side.  Classic dips include sour cream, guacamole and tomato salsa.

Cool sides

Salad is another great addition to the barbecue menu and is a nice green contrast to all that red meat.  For something summery and fresh, try an avocado and leaf salad.  Take a bag of mixed leaves, say spinach, rocket and watercress and place them in a bowl.  Add chunks of peeled and stoned avocadoes.  For a dressing, take 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar and 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard.  Whisk the three together with 1 teaspoon of water then drizzle over the mixed salad.  You can also add croutons for a little extra crunch.

Essential potatoes

Jacket potatoes are often served on or with a barbecue but there are plenty of other potato dishes that work well alongside.  Sautéed potatoes are a great idea if you have someone in charge of the barbecue and you are free to hit the kitchen.  Take 1.5 kg potatoes and cut them into small chunks.  Cook them in a pan with water until they begin to soften then drain and leave to dry for a few minutes.  In a pan, heat together 1 tablespoon of butter, 4 tablespoons of rapeseed oil and toss in four torn up bay leaves.  Add to 2 garlic cloves and warm together then toss in the potatoes and allow them to be coated.  Cook together for 20-25 minutes, turning often.  Once the potatoes are crisp and golden, grate over the zest of one lemon and cook for another minute or two.  Finally, serve them in a bowl with some parsley sprinkled over for seasoning.

The Secrets of Wine Food Pairings

Recently, I bought a ‘Wine O Clock’ personalised glass as a birthday present for a friend because she is such a wine fan.  She is one of those people who doesn’t just buy what’s on offer at the supermarket but plans her purchases around the meals she is making.  She can list what wine goes well with what meals but I always wondered what the basis for this was.  What are the secrets of the wine food pairings?

Flavour profiles

According to WineFolly, a good source of information for those in the know and those without a clue, there are six basic flavour profiles that can be used to pair up food and wine.  This is one of the main ways that a chef or a sommelier works out which wines should be offered with which meals.

The six profiles are:

• Acidity – this works well with fatty or sweet food
• Fatty – these foods need with an acidic or a high alcohol wine otherwise the wine won’t taste great
• Bitter – also called tannic wines can be balanced out with food that is sweet
• Salty – keep it away from acidity in wine and use it sparingly to make the meal have a little sharpness
• Sweet – both foods and wine work well with a little acidity
• Alcohol – high levels work well with fatty foods or to balance out a dish that is sweet

Pairing techniques

One of the easiest pairing techniques is to look at where the food and the wine are from and pair them by this.  So you can add a bottle of Italian wine to an Italian meal or a wine from Oregon to a cheese from the same area of the US.

Acidity is a profile that doubles up, unlike most of them.  This is because if a wine has less acidity than the food, the wine will taste really flat.  So think along the lines of taking an oaked chardonnay from a warm climate with a vinaigrette salad.

Combining profiles is another successful idea with sweet and salty being one of the most popular.  If you are a fan of salty food such as salted caramels or maple bacon, then a sweet wine makes for an ideal pairing.  Riesling, for example, works really well with some of the Asian dishes such as Pad Thai or fried rice.

Bitter food and wine don’t pair well but by taking a fatty food with a bitter wine, a perfect balance can be achieved.  This is the classic example of red meat and red wine but there are plenty more examples.  A red Italian wine such as Sangiovese works well with a Tuscan dish with tomatoes and rocket and a potato croquette as the fat in the croquette works well with the tannins in the wine.

Fatty foods also work well with acidic wines so champagne cuts through the fattiness of a dish – this is why white wine butter sauce is a popular sauce for many dishes.  The white wine works well in the butter and adds life to the dish.  If you have a fatty dessert such as cheesecake, add a glass of champagne.

Buying a Gift for the Children’s Teacher

As the end of the last term of the year comes around, many people turn their mind to buying a little thank you gift for their children’s teacher.  If you know the teacher quite well, picking a little something for them can be easy but for the teacher you haven’t had much to do with, it can be a bit trickier.  You can take the kids word for what their teacher likes but who knows how that will end?

Best teacher

For the teacher that the kids love, something that tells them they are the best teacher is always popular.  The good news is rather than buying a simple generic ‘Best Teacher’ plaque, you can now buy personalised presents that have their name on.  One example is the Best Teacher Personalised Apple Crystal Token.  The crystal block features a bright green apple image and two lines for text so can say ‘Mrs Smith Best Teacher’ or any variation including for teaching assistants, teachers helpers or other messages.

Mugs are another good bet as nearly everyone drinks coffee or tea.  Personalised mugs featuring a wife owl in blues and greens for male teachers and pinks for female teachers are an ideal present.  Add a few lines of text such as ‘thanks for helping with my English’ and add the kids’ name allows the teacher to feel appreciated for the work they have done.  Cups and saucers for those who like their drinks in the proper way are another option and can include simple messages such as ‘To My Lovely Teacher’ and who the present is from.

For the home

Something that the teacher can take home with them and fondly remember their students is another option.  This could be something as simple as a plaque with best teacher on or perhaps one personalised from your child including a message such as ‘It takes someone special to be a teacher’. 

Candles are another great idea and plain white ones will fit in with any scheme in the house.  With a simple thank you and a name on them, they aren’t too gushy but will be while teacher relaxes at home after a hard day.

If everyone in the class wants to get something together, then why not consider a hand-paintedcommemorative plate?  These plates can have the teacher’s name, a special message and the class year and name added around the right red apple image so the teacher can hang it on their wall at home or in their office and remember the thanks of the class.

Fun presents

Finally, if you know the teacher has a sweet tooth, then a personalised sweet jar is a perfect present.  The label on the jar can have their name and thanks added along with a cute teacher owl and even comes with a selection of Swizzle Sweets already in place so no shopping around, trying to guess what sweets they will like.  Then once it is empty, they can fill it up again!

Can Wine Be Good for You?

Many of us enjoy a glass of wine or two with a meal or on an evening while relaxing.  While we all know that too much of anything is bad for you, how accurate is the idea that a sensible amount of wine can actually be good for you?

Real facts

One of the most commonly mentioned ideas is that a glass of wine, particularly red, is good for the heart.  There is evidence to show that one or two units a day can help to protect the heart against heart disease but this is only for men over the age of 40 and for post-menopausal women.  In younger people, this doesn’t have much of an effect because younger people aren’t at risk of heart disease as much.

However, there are other benefits that will work for younger people and older ones.  Firstly is the presence of those helpful antioxidants such as quercetin and resveratrol.  Antioxidants have been shown to work against the causes of both heart disease and cancer as well as a number of other conditions.

Good Red

If you are a fan of red wine, then the darker the better.  Scientists have discovered that the darker a red wine is, the most antioxidants is contains as well as another useful chemical called polyphenol.  Polyphenols are classed as phytochemicals, meaning they come from plants and are known for their health benefits including helping with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and even some forms of cancer.

One study by Professor Andrew Waterhouse of the University of California showed that merlot, zinfandel, Syrah and petit Syrah grapes all had medium to high levels of antioxidant in them. It also showed that wines from milder regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Napa Valley of California may have higher antioxidant levels that those from hot areas such as southern Italy and Languedoc in France.

Even white wines were shown to have some of these benefits, with a special chardonnay called Paradoxe Blanc having four times as many polyphenols in it than a red wine does.

Drinking the right amount

The key to gaining these health benefits from wine is to drink the right amount.  Drinking too much wine can work the other way with an increased vulnerability to heart disorders, high blood pressure and strokes.  There is also a connection between younger women drinking heavily and developing osteoporosis in later life. 

There is also a connection between alcohol and cancer according to some research.  Around 3% of case of cancer of the mouth, larynx and throat come in people that drink more than five units of alcohol a day.  And we are all aware of the potential problems that come from binge drinking, not lease the simple increase in the risk of having an accident – falling down drunk may look funny but it can lead to a serious injury.

So when it comes to buying your friend that beautiful personalised wine glass for their birthday that sums them up perfectly, make sure you only pop the one bottle of wine in the bag for them so that they can enjoy the benefits without becoming in danger of the perils.

Top Summer Cake Recipes

As the weather gets warmer and the sun shines, the range of fruits that appear in the supermarket seem to increase and all the local fruiters have a mouth-watering choice available.  There are many ways of making use of all this luscious fruit and one of the best ways is to use it in cakes.  So here are two top summer cake recipes to inspire you.

Raspberry Bakewell cake

Ingredients

• 140g ground almonds
• 140g softened butter
• 140g golden caster sugar
• 140g self raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g raspberries
• 2 tbsp flakes almonds
• Icing sugar for finishing

Heat the over to 180C and take a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, which then needs base lining and greasing.  Into the food processor put the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and the vanilla extract.  Blitz until they are well combined.

Take half the mixture and spread in into the cake tin, smoothing it out.  Scatter the raspberries over the top of the mixture then add the other half and let it spread roughly – fingers can be the best bet for this.  Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top and then bake in the oven for 50 minutes until it is golden in colour.  Remove it from the oven and leave to cool.  When serving, dust with icing sugar.

Orange layer cake

Ingredients

• 225g baking spread
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• Zest of 2 oranges, grated finely

For the butter icing:

• 150g softened butter
• 300g icing sugar
• Zest of 2 oranges, grated finely

For the glaze:

• 25g caster sugar
• Juice of 2 oranges

Heat the oven to 180C and grease and line two 20cm loose bottom sandwich tins.  Measure all the cake ingredients and put them into a large bowl then beat with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until smooth and combined.

Split the mixture into the two tins then bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and risen.  They should shrink away from the sides when properly cooked.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, but the butter and icing sugar into the large bowl and mix until light and fluffy then stir in the orange zest. 

Remove the paper from the cakes and turn one upside down on a plate.  Make up the glaze of caster sugar and orange juice by adding together in a pan and heating over a low heat until the sugar dissolved.  Boil until it reduces by around half then brush the mixture onto the upturned side of the cake.  Spread half the butter icing on top of this then put the second cake on top.  Brush the remaining glaze on the top of the cake and add the rest of the butter icing then sprinkle with a little orange zest.

The cake is best eaten fresh but will keep for three days in a cool spot and the basic cake, un-iced, can even be frozen if you want to make a batch.

Original recipes to be found at BBC Good Food