Spice Up Your Life
- By Shaun Parker
- Published 01/15/2009
- Food and Drink
- Unrated
Summers on its way! Well, this may be a little optimistic but what else is there to look forward to after Christmas apart from the long, long dark nights of dreariness and cold with a little frostbite and flu thrown in? So, you see my point, Christmas is over therefore summer is on its way!
Along with that comes the great outdoors living and weekends of barbecues. So, it's been a long, hard winter with miserable weather and miserable news on every bulletin so let's spice it up a little. Let's inject a little fun into our lives and brighten up those summer barbecues with something a little different and a little more upmarket without a drastic expense.
A rotisserie is just as healthy as your average barbecue but brings more options, particularly for those cooking for bigger parties. In fact, if you are simply cooking meat for the family, a rotisserie is worth using. It allows all the fat from the meat to drain away, leaving you with a much healthier meal that is full of flavour.
For those who like to experiment with their food to make it that little more interesting, you would do well to take a look at a few recipes for spicing up rotisserie meats.
Tandoori Chicken: Mix together one cup of plain yogurt, one tablespoon of paprika, on tablespoon of fresh ground ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, one tablespoon of oil, two teaspoons of salt, one and a half teaspoons of ground cumin, half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
and one teaspoon of turmeric. Marinate a whole chicken in this mix for at least three hours and then cook on a rotisserie. This will produce a beautifully spicy meat that is a little different from your average barbecue meat.
For those who love nothing more than a Chinese takeaway, don't go without just because it's barbecue weather. Get out the rotisserie and try this: Get a quarter cup of lime juice, quarter cup of orange juice, quarter cup of soy sauce and quarter cup of chopped cilantro (coriander leaves) and mix together with one tablespoon of chopped garlic, one tablespoon of sesame oil, one teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Chuck it all in a bag with your chosen meat, seal and leave for about six hours and then cook over the rotisserie.
These are just a couple of ideas but you can easily create some exciting recipes of your own. Just remember that if you want to tenderise meat you should marinade it in something acidic such as white wine, kiwi or lemon juice or vinegar etc. This can then take other strong flavours such as garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, rosemary, chilli or a variety of others.
You can use a mixture of dry spices or herbs to coat your meat or for something a whole lot more subtle, simply put herbs or aromatic wood chippings on the heat below the meat. This will infuse flavours into the meat without becoming over-bearing and all adding to making your barbecue that little more exciting and unique. Play around with different flavours until you find a favourite for al the family.
Along with that comes the great outdoors living and weekends of barbecues. So, it's been a long, hard winter with miserable weather and miserable news on every bulletin so let's spice it up a little. Let's inject a little fun into our lives and brighten up those summer barbecues with something a little different and a little more upmarket without a drastic expense.
A rotisserie is just as healthy as your average barbecue but brings more options, particularly for those cooking for bigger parties. In fact, if you are simply cooking meat for the family, a rotisserie is worth using. It allows all the fat from the meat to drain away, leaving you with a much healthier meal that is full of flavour.
For those who like to experiment with their food to make it that little more interesting, you would do well to take a look at a few recipes for spicing up rotisserie meats.
Tandoori Chicken: Mix together one cup of plain yogurt, one tablespoon of paprika, on tablespoon of fresh ground ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, one tablespoon of oil, two teaspoons of salt, one and a half teaspoons of ground cumin, half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
For those who love nothing more than a Chinese takeaway, don't go without just because it's barbecue weather. Get out the rotisserie and try this: Get a quarter cup of lime juice, quarter cup of orange juice, quarter cup of soy sauce and quarter cup of chopped cilantro (coriander leaves) and mix together with one tablespoon of chopped garlic, one tablespoon of sesame oil, one teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Chuck it all in a bag with your chosen meat, seal and leave for about six hours and then cook over the rotisserie.
These are just a couple of ideas but you can easily create some exciting recipes of your own. Just remember that if you want to tenderise meat you should marinade it in something acidic such as white wine, kiwi or lemon juice or vinegar etc. This can then take other strong flavours such as garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, rosemary, chilli or a variety of others.
You can use a mixture of dry spices or herbs to coat your meat or for something a whole lot more subtle, simply put herbs or aromatic wood chippings on the heat below the meat. This will infuse flavours into the meat without becoming over-bearing and all adding to making your barbecue that little more exciting and unique. Play around with different flavours until you find a favourite for al the family.
Shaun Parker
Shaun Parker is a leading culinary expert with many years of experience in the catering industry. Find out more about rotisseries at http://www.superiorfoodmachinery.com/products/cooking/rotisseries/rotisseries.asp
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