Pizza

Pizza on the barbecue couldn’t be easier and is one of the quickest things to make! Make the dough in advance or buy it pre-made. Preheat the pizza stone with the barbecue as shocking the stone with the heat will cause it to crack, you want your barbecue to be upwards of 220°C. Roll out your dough until it stops springing back, this is how you can tell the gluten is activated, and dust your pizza paddle with flour. Lay your pizza base on the paddle and assemble your pizza, the trick is to not overload the base otherwise you will struggle to get it off the paddle smoothly. Raw meat or fish will need to be pre-cooked as the pizza will not be on the barbecue long enough to cook it through.

Once your pizza is assembled transfer it from the paddle to the stone and close the lid. If you have a larger barbecue you could even invest in another stone and paddle and cook two pizzas at a time! The pizza should take around four to five minutes to cook through, lift it slightly with the paddle to check the base. Once the pizza is cooked remove it from the barbecue with the paddle and enjoy!

Hot Smoked Salmon

Add an exciting new layer of flavour to your salmon by smoking it! This is a delicious weeknight dinner and it couldn’t be easier to make. You will need to pre-soak some seafood wood chips for this recipe for at least half an hour. When it comes to cooking, first preheat your barbecue, if you are cooking on a gas barbecue with multiple burners turn one burner on about half and one full, leave any other burners off. On a Q turn the burner on full or on a Q 3200 turn the ‘Q’ burner on full and leave the middle off. For a charcoal barbecue heat your barbecue to 150-160°C.

Add the woodchips, on a gas barbecue you can do this before turning the barbecue on, on a charcoal barbecue you will want to sprinkle them over the coals once they are hot. If you have a gas barbecue place your smokebox or pouch directly over the burner that is on full heat. Charcoal barbecue users will see smoke almost immediately, for a gas barbecue close the lid for 10-15 minutes until you see smoke; when you see smoke turn your high burner down so the barbecue is at around 150-160°C.

Once you see smoke you can start cooking your salmon. We recommend elevating the salmon off the cooking grates with a Weber^®grill basket and placing a sheet of baking paper underneath it. Close the lid of the barbecue and cook the salmon for 10-15 minutes until its internal temperature is 50-55°C for medium-rare. Please note that the fish will continue to cook even after being removed from the barbecue, for the fish to be FDA safe it should be cooked to 60°C.

Meatballs with Pasta

Why hole up indoors when the weather is so lovely? Ordinary family dinners can be easily cooked on the barbecue, meaning you can get more use out of your grill and enjoy the outdoors. For this meal, you will need a deep oven-safe dish with a lid, like the Weber^®Dutch oven, and your barbecue preheated to around 180°C. First, make your meatballs, you can do this step in advance if you want. Mix any minced meat of your choice with onions, bread crumbs and seasoning – why not try pork mince with the Riverside herby fish rub for a seasonal flavour? Brown the meatballs and add the sauce, you can make one from scratch or use a shop-bought sauce. Thicken the sauce slightly with the lid on the dish then add the pasta, around 75 to 100g per person. Cook the pasta through with the lid on the dish to avoid the sauce thickening too much, add some water if your sauce is looking too dry. You could even melt some cheese, such as mozzarella, onto the pasta.

Frittata

This delicious weeknight dinner can serve larger groups and is so easy to customise it never gets boring. Heat the barbecue to 180°C on a direct heat, whip or blend eggs with single cream and parmesan for the base of the frittata and prep any fillings such as vegetables, cheese or meat. In a frying pan or griddle cook the necessary ingredients in oil; spread them evenly around the pan then add any raw ingredients interspersed equally. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook for around fifteen minutes with the lid closed until the eggs are brown and firm in the centre.

Curry

This is another amazingly versatile recipe, you can switch up between chicken, beef or even tofu and try a multitude of different sauces. You can use a shop-bought sauce for this or make your own with yoghurt, spices and a thinning agent like coconut milk or stock. Marinade your meat in the yoghurt and spice mix for at least 15 minutes – try chicken with garam masala and coriander. Meanwhile, heat your wok on a direct heat of around 180°C and fry onions, peppers and any other veg you want to include in oil. Once it’s cooked through add your stock or coconut milk then the meat and yoghurt mixture, stir well to combine. Cook the curry until the sauce has thickened and your meat is cooked through. Warm naan bread on the warming rack whilst you cook up this delicious treat!