10 of the best recipes for a barbecue

There are few things better in life than eating freshly grilled seafood with your fingers on a warm, sandy beach. For most of us city dwellers, the smoky aroma of fresh prawns on a hot barbecue is enough to transport us to relaxing holidays by the sea. 

But before you fire up the barbecue, here are a few tips on grilling fish. The first thing to remember is that seafood requires less marinating time than meat.

Twenty minutes is plenty for the flavours to infuse. Any longer and the acids in the marinade (in the form of citrus juice or vinegar) will “cook” the fish.

The barbecue itself should be clean and oiled. A long-handled metal brush is ideal for cleaning the grills, but I prefer to use a scrunched-up piece of foil to sweep along the grates. Wipe off any remaining dirt with an oiled piece of kitchen paper. (It’s much easier to remove burnt food from the grill while it is still hot, so make it a habit to clean the barbecue each time after cooking, using a pair of long-handled tongs to avoid burning your hands.)

Light the barbecue 15 to 20 minutes before you start to cook. The fire will eventually die down, leaving hot red coals covered more than two-thirds by white ash, which is when you should add the food.

Delicate fillets of white fish can be placed on a piece of foil to prevent them breaking up but firm fish like mackerel and monkfish should not stick to the cooking grate if well oiled and cooked for just the right amount of time.

Try not to turn any fish more than once. If it sticks, leave it to cook for another minute or two and it should be easier to turn.

Cooking times depend on the size of the fish and the heat of the barbecue so the timings I give here are only guidelines. Take the prawns off the barbecue just as they turn orangey-red and opaque – they’ll continue cooking with the residual heat.

For a whole fish or thicker fillets, insert a knife between the layers of the flesh and turn it slightly to look inside. If the fish is still translucent in the centre, give it a minute or two more.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Mackerel spoils quickly and you should really cook them on the day of purchase, or if you’re lucky enough to live by the sea, freshly caught. It is much easier to grill a whole fish on the bone, rather than filleted, but you do need to score the thick flesh to ensure even cooking. Oily fish always go well with robust herbs such as rosemary, which is what I’m using here. 

4 whole mackerel, gutted
Handful of rosemary sprigs
1 head of garlic
Rosemary-infused olive oil, to drizzle
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, halved

1 Preheat the barbecue or grill. Wash the mackerel well and dry both the inside and outside of the fish with kitchen paper. Score the skin of each fish with a few diagonal slashes on both sides and stud the cavities with rosemary sprigs. 
2 Break the garlic into individual cloves and push the cloves through four long sprigs of rosemary. Stick a sprig inside each fish and season all over with salt and pepper and a generous drizzle of rosemary-infused oil.
3 Lay the fish on top of the hot barbecue or grill and cook for about 5 minutes until the flesh is firm and opaque. Carefully turn over the fish and grill for another 4-5 minutes until cooked through. (Don’t worry if a few rosemary leaves fall into the hot ambers – they will provide an aromatic smokiness to the fish.) Add the lemon halves to the barbecue, cut side down, for a couple of minutes until lightly caramelised.
4 Serve each fish with a caramelised lemon half and a drizzle more of rosemary oil.

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