It’s hard to beat a late-summer barbecue. The last of summer’s harvests is particularly well suited to the treatment of some glowing hot coals. Cooking over a fire delivers the most wonderful flavour to your food. It's the way humans have been cooking for thousands of years, and it still offers an almost primal sense of satisfaction. With this in mind, we have two delicious barbecue recipes to savour the last of summer.
Our first is for a heavenly charred eggplant salad. We were first introduced to cooking eggplant this way on the south coast of Turkey, and have been making it ever since. One ingredient that Turkey knows how to prepare incredibly well is eggplant — the reigning queen of Turkish cuisine. With heat, oil, salt, and patience, this glorious vegetable transforms into melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. Eggplant is at its peak right now — the final flush of summer produce before autumn settles in.
In this recipe, the eggplant is charred on a bed of coals, resulting in an incredible smoky, almost buttery flesh. This is then chopped and mixed with garlic, olive oil, parsley, and a little red onion — so simple and utterly divine. We love to serve it with some warmed pita as a starter, or to accompany grilled vegetables and meat as part of a larger spread. If it’s not barbecue weather, you can also cook the eggplant in the oven — use a fork to prick some holes in the eggplants and roast them whole in a hot oven (250ºC fanbake) until they have completely softened and collapsed (about 20 minutes).
Next up, we have some fabulous barbecued lamb smashburgers, which bring together the best parts of American hamburgers, Greek gyros, and Turkish kebabs. This recipe serves four but can easily be scaled up. Flavourful spiced lamb is accompanied by golden pita, a garlicky tzatziki to bring everything together, a crumble of feta (optional but recommended), and some fresh, crunchy vegetables and herbs. Use a vegetable peeler to thinly slice the cucumber into long, refreshing ribbons — they look so pretty and taste fab, too. You can make these burgers in a hot, heavy pan on the stove if preferred.
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Charred eggplant salad
You may think you’ve burned the eggplant as the skin will be charred to a thick, brittle black crust, but don’t worry, underneath the char, the flesh will be lightly smoky and meltingly tender.
Ready in 30min
Serves 4 as a starter
Suitable for DF GF RSF V VE
Ingredients
2 eggplants
1 clove garlic
1 tsp flaky sea salt, or more to taste
¼ red onion
¼ cup chopped parsley, plus a few leaves to garnish
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
To serve
4 pita breads, or gluten-free alternative, toasted
flaky sea salt
Method
Two hours before cooking, light your fire, and continue to feed it wood to build up a nice bed of coals. When you’re ready to cook, prick a couple of holes in the eggplants to stop them from exploding.
Place the eggplants directly on to the embers of the fire and cook, rotating every 5 minutes or so, until they are collapsed and very black and charred all over (15 minutes). Remove from the heat using tongs and transfer to a bowl. Cover with a plate and leave to steam and cool for about 10 minutes.
While the eggplants are cooling, crush the garlic to a paste (either with a mortar and pestle or using the back of a knife) and mix with the salt. Finely chop the red onion on the chopping board, then chop through the garlic and parsley. (You can also chop everything and mix together in a bowl with a fork.)
Once the eggplants have cooled to touch, peel away the charred skins and remove the stems, discarding both. Place the eggplants on the board on top of your onion-garlic mixture, and chop them into the mixture, using the back of your knife to incorporate everything together.
Make a well in the centre of the mixture, and pour in 2 tablespoons olive oil, continue to chop and incorporate, folding the outside of the mixture into the middle, distributing the oil evenly. Continue adding the remaining oil, in 2-tablespoon increments. Once the oil is incorporated, follow the same technique and mix in the red wine vinegar. Season to taste and transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with extra parsley leaves.
When you’re ready to serve, toast the pita breads, cut them into quarters, drizzle with olive oil and top with flaky sea salt. Serve alongside the eggplant.
Note: This will keep well in the fridge for 4–5 days.
Barbecued lamb smashburgers
When cooking the burgers, make sure you smash the pita down on top of your mince as hard as you can to get the lamb as thin as possible — you want to cook the lamb all the way through on one side so that when you flip the lamb and the pita over, you’re just warming and toasting the bottom side of the pita.
Ready in 30min
Serves 4
Suitable for GF RSF
Ingredients
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
4 pita breads, or gluten-free equivalent
60g feta cheese, crumbled
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
Spiced Lamb
500g lamb or beef mince
1 small red onion, coarsely grated
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp finely chopped mint
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp fennel seed, crushed or chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
Cucumber Ribbon Salad
½ a telegraph cucumber
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ cup picked herbs such as mint, dill, coriander, parsley
Tzatziki
½ a telegraph cucumber
¾ cup Greek yoghurt
1 clove garlic, grated
zest of ½ a lemon
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp finely chopped dill
2 Tbsp finely chopped mint
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
Start by preparing the spiced lamb. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to combine.
Use a vegetable peeler to peel long ribbons of cucumber. Once you have peeled half (you are going to use the remaining cucumber for your tzatziki), place the ribbons in a bowl along with the sliced onion, quartered cherry tomatoes, and picked herbs. Give it a light toss and set aside.
Grate the remaining cucumber and place it in a bowl along with all other tzatziki ingredients. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat your barbecue plate. When you are ready to eat, use damp hands to divide the lamb into four equal-sized balls.
Heat ½ Tbsp of the olive oil on your barbecue plate over medium-high heat. Put a ball of lamb on your plate, and place a pita on top of it. Use a large heavy pan or pot with a lid to press down firmly on top of the pita — you want to get the lamb patty as flat as possible.
Cook, weighed down for 2 minutes, then remove the weight and cook another minute or two until the meat is well browned and cooked through. The lamb will be firmly stuck to your pita. Use a spatula to flip the lamb and pita over and cook the bottom side of the pita until golden (1 minute).
Repeat with the remaining olive oil, lamb, and pitas. Place each smashburger, pita-side down, on a serving plate. Spoon over the tzatziki, sprinkle with feta, and top with your cucumber salad. Season with salt and pepper and give them a last-minute drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.
Serve immediately.
