Building a fire under a grill brings a whole new level of enjoyment to one of my favourite things - the barbecue. The kids especially enjoy busting sticks and scrunching newspaper.
The key of course is to wait for the flames to die down until they are gently waving over the coals, and spread the coals out evenly before adding the food.
Most barbecues, but especially open fire bbqs, will have hotter and cooler regions.
The easiest way to locate these is by holding the palm of your hand out, starting high and working low. If your hand gets uncomfortable within about 5 seconds about 6–8 centimetres from the hotplate, that’s good for steaks and veggies. If it takes longer, that’s good for sausages. And if it feels hot but not hurty, that’s where you send your cooked stuff to keep warm.
On our holiday on the NSW central coast, I had the kids kindling up which I chopped the veggies and cleaned the squid (fresh from the Wallace Lake co-op - super!) My eldest leaned over my shoulder and asked how I was going to cook the carrot - he saw a saucepan nearby and disapproved.
Preparing the vegetables
When I said I planned to steam them, he said “No Dad, we love them when they’re barbecued!” I tell myself I’m a selective pushover!
To my surprise, my Mum who was with us had never seen carrot cooked this way - and if you haven’t tried it, it works a treat! Unlike potato, you don’t have to par-boil it, just whack it on the plate until it begins to blacken in places, and turn it once like a steak.
The trick with barbecuing all veggies, is to oil the veggies, not the grill. Slice it all up, pop it in a plastic bag, pour in some oil, give it a shake, and you are ready to go!
Cleaning squid
Don’t be intimidated - it’s not so difficult. Hold the hood in one hand, reach in above where the tentacles are, and pull the two sections apart. The guts and ink sack will come out pretty easily. If the shorter tentacles are longer than about 4 centimetres, I keep them. The very long pair I discard, as they are gristly. You can either cut the tentacles away from beneath the beak or dig the beak out and keep the tentacles connect - this is probably best if you’re barbecuing.
For the hood, once you pull the wings off (they are also gristle and are discarded) the thin layer of skin comes off pretty easily. Then you simply slice across for calamari rings.
For barbecuing, the pieces need to be oiled in the same way as the veggies, and cooked hot until they just begin to blacken.
My family and I were very happy with our open fire mixed grill!
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