The teen decided to have a primary school reunion this weekend, a barbecue. Lesson learnt by me: don’t even bother with salads or vegetables, even half French teenagers, brought up on a diet of good food, are only interested in Doritos, Coca Cola, 7up, marshmallows and meat. Except for my kid who had all the previous plus veggie sausages. The bread on a stick went down well though. I tried the recipe ‘Damper bread’ from the camping section of Alice Hart’s new book from the New Voices in Food series published by Quadrille.
However for broader minded adults, it is possible to have delicious meatless barbecues: halloumi should be a store cupboard staple for unexpected vegetarians; home-made veggie burgers, made of beans and cheese, are so much better than ready-made, fold into home-made pitta breads with tendrils of salad and home-made ketchup. I’ve threaded tiny parboiled new potatoes on skewers, sprinkled them with rosemary salt, and baked them slowly over the coals. Add sticks of rosemary and bunches of sage to your barbecue for instant incense! If you eat fish, I like to wrap an entire one in a wet newspaper. When the newspaper is dry, it’s cooked. Perfect for wild camping.
As for salads, vegetables and anything remotely healthy… who are these perfect mothers that manage to make their kids eat this stuff?
I hope your teen really appreciates you, I really do. Most of my teen experience was avoiding my father's wrath and my mother's cooking…
Something weird happens to teenage taste buds; I think it's all the hormonal changes – I hated vegetables until I was in my late twenties (apart, of course, from potatoes). But my excuse was that my mother crucified them; your progeny doesn't have that excuse so I can only guess it's social pressure. (Wot – eating veg, snark, Mummy/Daddy will be pleased, snark snark.)
But I reckon there's a point where North becomes South and vice versa in our eating lives; from subsisting on burgers, sausages etc, I am now unbelievably picky about eating such things – last burger 1996, last sausage (a really good butcher's sausage) November last year.
But I have always been mad for cheese, so the veggie burgers really rather interest – any chance of the recipe?? Pretty please?
Hi chumbles,
Fry up some onions, mix with cans of beans such as black beans or good quality baked beans. Add grated cheese, egg to bind and bread crumbs. You can also add chopped up chilli peppers, garlic, and spices.
I must have another go as it's been a while since I made them.
An outdoor fireplace/bathtub? I love it!!
All you need is some bubble bath, wine and some nibbles within arm’s reach… decadence
my veggie barbeque normally consists of a whole romano pepper (mum stuffs hers with cous cous some times), a corn on the cob, a whole roasted beetroot.
i think mainly because they are easy & i'm getting a little lazy with my cooking.
but i like the bread on a stick idea!
i ate most veggies as a child but only as i reached my 20's would i eat mushrooms, peppers, aubergine. This was more down to the eating disorder than anything else i think – just because of it i tried new veggies – mum wouldn't have bought aubergine or butternut squash, neither of the artichokes eiher.
The manchego bread looks delicious!
Hi MsMl,
Thanks for that – I'll give it a go. But first I'll wait for some cooler weather to make some breadcrumbs!
Odd – I loved vegetables when I was a kid. Those halloumi kebabs look awesome, shame they were untouched. Kids eh!
Ugh – vegetables, they haven't got enough sugar in. Bread, beer and sausages sounds more like it. That's all you need isn't it? Ha ha. Maybe they'll see the light one day.
I had the barbecued halloumi revolution last month. So good!
Gave up offering leaf salad (even adults) for BBQ's – always left. Spinach, tomato, red onion, organic feta-like cows cheese and olives does go well though.
Marshmallows for a starter? Well you could do sweet potato and marshmallow skewers – like that US thanksgiving dish.
Can't believe they passed up those haloumi kebabs – delicious. by the way, love the fire bath – I saw that when at The underground restaurant and wondered what it was!
James: I must try that dish. It's always fascinated me.
Was going to do it for the Elvis meal, but I felt they might keel over from sugar overload.
Gourmet chic: I must get the bath going for some sous vide cookery one night!
Outdoor cooking! I love doing that. It is good for everyone. Through that your bond with your friend will going stronger than before. My family loves doing that.
That bath is absolutely awesome.
This post really made me laugh. All I used to eat when I was a kid was Findus crispy pancakes and sandwiches.
Oh dear…one day they'll look back on that with regret….such tasty healthy food! xxx