Wintertime is the best time of year in Dubai, which means that just as we enter November, BBQ season in Dubai is here. I love to BBQ. L.O.V.E. it, and pretty much spend the entire time from November to March on my balcony, grilling up some form of meat and vegetables or the other. To kick off BBQ season this year, I ordered everything from Fresh Express Online. The veggies, ready-to-grill marinated meats, butter, cheese, the whole shebang. It was all too easy and convenient, even for a weeknight, with none of the fuss but all the satisfaction of BBQing at home.

Here’s what I got and made (serves 4):

• Tandoori marinated chicken, ready-to-grill.
  • Ingredients:
    • 2 packs of pre-marinated chicken of choice. you can get thighs, or half a chicken, it’s up to you!
  • Method:
    1. Literally just open it up and slap it onto a hot grill and cook till done.

• Ribeye and Striploin with wasabi soy dressing.
  • Ingredients
    • 15o days grained Australian Striploin steak 
    • 120 days grain fed Ribeye steak
    • Maldon Salt
  • Method
    1. Lightly season the steak with salt and pepper, and cook each steak as per your preferred level of doneness. You can always use a steak thermometer, or the old school way of assessing the doneness. I like it Medium rare, so I cook my steak for 3 minutes on each side, until the center is 60 degrees and the outside has nice grill marks on each side.

• Asparagus with Comte.
  • Ingredients
    • 500 grams XL green asparagus
    • 1/4 cup Comte, finely chopped
  • Method:
    1. Cut off the bottom two inches of the asparagus as they might be hard/woody.
    2. line the asparagus up, side by side, tightly, and then run two long skewers through the asparagus spears, spaced 4-5 inches apart. This will make it easier to flip the asparagus in one go on the grill
    3. Place on the grill and char for 2-3 minutes on each side. This will soften the asparagus but still maintain a bite and give it a nice smokiness.
    4. Place on a plate and while it is still hot, sprinkle the Comte onto it.

• Lettuce hearts with crispy bacon and homemade ranch dressing.
  • Ingredients
    • 8 Lettuce hearts
    • Ranch dressing (mix 1/4 cup sour cream, 2 Tbs mayonnaise, 2 Tbs yogurt, a pinch of Maldon salt, and some fresh chives)
    • Crispy bacon bits (optional)
  • Method:
    1. Cut the lettuce hearts in half, lengthwise. Place the insides down onto a hot BBQ grill, char for 1 minute, and remove.

• Grilled Padron Peppers.
  • Ingredients
    • 8-12  Padron peppers
  • Method
    1. Skewer the peppers onto BBQ safe skewers, leaving 1 cm in between each pepper
    2. Place on hot BBQ grill for 1 min on each side

• Burrata and Carnival tomato salad- for that one little something that’s completely fresh and not grilled.
  • Ingredients:
    • 1 Burrata
    • 250 grams carnival tomatoes
    • 2 handfuls of rocket
    • Balsamic vinegar
    • Olive oil
    • Maldon salt
  • Method:
    1. Lay out the rocket in a flat even layer on a plate
    2. Plate the burrata
    3. Cut the tomatoes into halves and lay around the edges of the burrata
    4. Drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top
    5. Season with Maldon salt.
    6. Enjoy.