Alfresco dinner with friends

Plenty warm to have alfresco dinner, so the best is to have nibbles as starter, then bbq meat as mains, easy to prepare and to please.

Starter:

Cheese crisps - thin slices of mild cheddar, bake at 180˚C until golden, around 10 minutes.

Carrot sticks with yogurt dip - season thick Greek yogurt with lemon juice, mustard, honey and finely minced kaffir lime leaves.

Black garlic on biscuit

Main:

Skewer of CharSiu - I asked the butcher to slice the surface layer of meat from the thigh of pig, called Grillard in French, never seen this cut presented in other countries. It is marbling with fat but not as much as pork neck, good enough for nice moist meat.

Cut into strips, season like making CharSiu (bean paste, 5 spices powder, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine), thread on wetted sticks, grill until cooked, brush honey and sprinkle sesame on top and quick grilled again for charred edges, great flavour and texture.

Tandori style drumstick - Score the drumstick to cook through faster, season a day ahead with yogurt, curry powder, minced garlic, brown sugar, rice wine and soy sauce. Grill on BBQ, very juicy tender meat with spicy flavour.