FIRE ROASTED VEGGIES
Fire roasted veggies seem to go with everything, including more of themselves.
This is not a precise guide, but that is the beauty of fire cooking, nothing is precise. This is a general list of tips that will help you on your way to delivering a delicious fiery array.
I N G R E D I E N T S
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Veggies: almost anything works but our favourites are potatoes, small sweet potatoes, broccolini, asparagus, corn on the cob, carrots, asparagus, beetroot and plenty of others.
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Olive oil
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Butter
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Salt and pepper
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Onion
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Garlic
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Smoked paprika
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Lemon
D I R E C T I O N S
GREENS
Brococolini, asparagus (in half), string beans (in half), brussel sprouts (in half) etc
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Pour a dash of oil in a wok, add greens, diced garlic (1 clove per bunch), salt and pepper.
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Put on medium/high heat and stir regularly until the ends start to blacken.
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Add a squeeze of lemon at the end to freshen
ROOT VEGGIES
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips etc.
Method 1 - camp oven
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Cut 1kg of veggies in to rough chunks about 1.5 - 2cm.
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Roughly chop up a shallot and remove the skin from 3 cloves of garlic.
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Put everything in a camp oven (dutch oven) and liberally coat and toss through olive oil, salt and pepper, a teaspoon of smoked paprika and a knob of butter.
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Take a shovel load of coals and put it away from the fire - put the oven on this pile of coals.
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Load up the lid of the oven with hot red coals (or charcoal) - try and avoid putting lots of ash on here. Add one or two small burning logs as well, having a flame on the lid gives a great heat.
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The trick here is to have 20% of the heat underneath and 80% on the lid, this will stop the veggies from sticking to the base and it will cook the veggies more evenly.
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Continue to keep the fire on top of the oven burning - adding medium sticks helps keep the heat up.
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After about 25-30min, check the veggies and lift a couple of bits up to make sure the base isn't burning. If it is fine don't stir the veg, stirring will turn it in to a mushy mess.
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Put it back on the heat and take off when the veg is golden brown - total cooking time is usually 35-45 min.
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Enjoy! They go really well with the Steak mushroom sauce.
Method 2 - Aluminium foil and baking paper
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Follow the first 3 steps of Method 1 - except wrap the veggies in one layer of baking paper (stops sticking) then 2 layers of aluminium foil and throw them in a bed of coals.
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Turn the veggies every 5 minutes to ensure they don't stick to the alfoil.
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Check after 15 minutes to make sure they are not burning in any areas.
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Remove when they are golden brown - cooking time is around 20-25 minutes.
Tip: when wrapping in foil, make sure you have the opening for all 3 layers in the same spot- it makes it easier to check the veggies and not tear the foil.
CORN ON THE COB
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Soak the ear of corn in some water for between 20 min and 3 hours.
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Peel the corn and coat in your favourite coating (some Nandos peri-peri sauce works really well) .
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Put the corn on the hot plate over medium heat and turn every 2-3 minutes until there are a few small charred bits all the way around it.
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Take off and rub a bit of butter over the outside, then put back on the heat for another 2 min to melt it in.
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Total cooking time 10-15 min.
ROASTED BEETROOT
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Take your fresh beets and remove the stems.
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Scrub the beets with some steel wool or a scourer until the skin has been removed and they are bright red.
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Cut the beets in to quarters and wrap in 2 layers of aluminium foil (leave the foil open).
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Add some cracked pepper, pinch of salt and balsamic vinegar in the foil with the beets (around 4 tbpsn per beet).
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Close up the foil and throw on the coals for 30 min, turning once after 15 min.
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The should be slightly charred in a couple of small spots. Add a small knob of butter to the foil and let it melt under low heat for 5 minutes (you can leave the foil open for this).
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Total cooking time 30-40min.
Tip: This also works really well with carrots!
FLAME GRILLING
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This is really versatile and can be used for things like asparagus, thickly sliced broccoli, broccolini, corn, thickly sliced cauliflower or field mushrooms.
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Toss them in a bowl with oil, salt and pepper, some finely sliced garlic and a little optional vinegar like sherry vinegar or balsamic.
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Then grill them over low-medium heat with minimal flame until they have some nice dark lines on them (use the grill, not the hotplate).