Sausages – tick. Burgers – tick. Chicken wings – tick. The barbecue staples are the usual suspects, sourced from the supermarket (usually) or a local butcher (hopefully), but what to serve alongside the meat fest? It’s always the quandary.
Supermarket buns to house sausages and burgers are obligatory, unless you bake your own. But please don’t serve tubs of gloopy coleslaw drenched in bad mayo as the only plant element! We can do better than that at a small effort. Also, in case you were reaching higher than supermarket bangers, check out my barbecue meat collection.
Homemade coleslaw is the best and this is a healthy version: no mayo, lovely seasoning, yoghurt dressing and a variety of lightly fermented vegetables. No more roughly shredded cabbage slathered in gloopy mayo! For other exciting slaw recipes check out kohlrabi slaw and leek slaw.
Or maybe something slightly different? Celeriac remoulade is a lovely salad made from raw, shredded celeriac dressed with a sauce designed especially for it. Who says root vegetables are boring?
Hispi cabbage is trending, but not everyone is preparing it raw as a salad. Brilliantly refreshing after an eternity of mixed leaves, spring cabbage salad is perfect with fish, great with chicken and an absolute must for a barbecue.
Immodestly, I consider my version absolutely the best because it is light, fresh, spring-like and unbelievably tasty. The ingredients are just right: a crunch from radish, sweet and sourness from the gherkins, sharp spring onions, fresh herbs and the dressing of mayonnaise lightened with Greek yoghurt.
Ditch the boring traditional Greek salad for the pared down, more exciting version with half the effort: cucumbers with feta and honey. Refreshing and crunchy, salty and sweet: who could resist such an outstanding combination of flavours? Also, cucumbers without tomatoes are better for your digestion.
Cucumbers with feta and honey
RECIPE
If you’re serving Pimm’s at your BBQ, serve the non-alc dry version as well. This is the freshest and most vibrant summer side dish and just like Pimm’s without the liquor. Cucumber, strawberries and mint on the bed of shredded lettuce need only excellent balsamic and olive oil and a showering of black pepper.
Green salad with strawberries
RECIPE
You simply cannot NOT have a jar of spicy pickles at a barbecue, and these are super quick, easy and vibrant. They are sweet and slightly spicy, or really hot if that’s what you like and you bump up the chilli content.
Dress the broccoli in advance to let it marinate and tenderise in this incredible, Asian in flavour dressing. It’s an outstanding side to cut through fatty sausages, and it’s so tasty it might disappear faster than the bangers.
Even if you’re only a totally amateur baker, you can still win with this pita bread recipe. And there’s nothing like flatbread slapped on the hot grill next to those kebabs and sausages, then wrapped around one of them.
My list would not be complete without a drink. Anyone for Pimm’s? No. 1 Fruit Cup is a must drink for English summer, come rain or shine