Stuffed chicken and turkey meatballs: Genevieve Taylor’s barbecued poultry recipes

Our hottest meat by far, poultry is a superb selection for the barbecue (a plea, although, to hunt out the most effective you’ll be able to afford, as a result of no different meat has been commodified extra by manufacturing unit farming than the birds for our tables). As a common rule, birds are all the time higher cooked not directly, away from the fierce warmth of the fireplace, and taking issues extra gently and for longer. Speeding the cooking and burning the surface dangers a still-raw inside that’s by no means going to deliver you the most effective consuming. To that finish, a temperature probe is a really great tool – now we have such an innate worry of undercooked poultry that we regularly go in the other way and find yourself with dry outcomes; a probe offers you confidence that it’s accomplished good.

Pistachio- and apricot-stuffed hen legs with fennel slaw (pictured above)

Right here, hen legs are part-boned (simply the thigh bit), so you’ll be able to fill them with a tasty stuffing. This does make turning them on the grill slightly delicate, so in case you have a fish cage, lining them up in that may preserve them a bit safer. If not, simply be further beneficiant with the cocktail sticks to pin them shut – you’ll want 12-16 in whole.

Prep 15 min
Prepare dinner 1 hr 30 min
Serves 4

50g shelled pistachios
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
A pinch of chilli flakes (elective)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 purple onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
50g dried apricots, finely chopped
Just a few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Just a few sprigs of dill, chopped
4 hen legs
Flaked sea salt and black pepper

For the salad
1 small fennel bulb (about 200g), trimmed and thinly sliced
2 heads of purple chicory (endive), thinly sliced
100g radishes, thinly sliced
A very beneficiant handful of soppy recent herbs (I used dill, parsley and coriander), chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
A pinch of sugar, to style

Toast the pistachios in a small frying pan on a medium warmth for a few minutes, then tip out on to a board, finely chop and put in a medium bowl. Toast the cumin, coriander and chilli flakes, if utilizing, in the identical pan for a minute, tip right into a mortar, roughly crush and add to the nut bowl.

Pour the olive oil into the pan, set it again over a low warmth, then gently sweat the onion, stirring typically, for a superb 15–20 minutes, till properly softened. Add the garlic, stir briefly, then tip into the nut and spice combine. Add the chopped apricots and herbs, season properly and go away to chill whilst you put together the hen legs.

Put one leg pores and skin aspect down on a board. With a small, sharp knife, make an incision down the thigh bone to the joint the place it meets the drumstick. Use the tip of the knife to scrape the meat away from the bone, working from the highest of the thigh down, then reduce by way of the joint. Pull out and discard the thigh bone (or put it aside for inventory), leaving the drumstick bone in place, then reduce a pocket within the deepest a part of the thigh meat to open it out slightly – it will allow you to match extra stuffing inside. Repeat with the opposite three legs.

Spoon a few of the apricot combine into every pocket, wrap the meat across the filling, then snugly pin every leg again along with three or 4 cocktail sticks.

Hearth up the barbecue prepared for oblique grilling . Lay the hen pores and skin aspect down on the grill bars away from the fireplace and cook dinner not directly for about 40 minutes, rotating them a couple of times so that they cook dinner evenly. Use a meat probe to test for doneness – hen is technically protected at 74C, however I feel legs profit from being taken past that, to 85C or so.

Toss all of the salad elements in a bowl and serve alongside the cooked hen.

Turkey meatball skewers with fennel and bean stew

The meatballs profit from slightly chill within the fridge to set them firmly on to the skewers. You’ll additionally want 4 to 6 metallic skewers.

Prep 15 min
Chill 1 hr+
Prepare dinner 1 hr
Serves 4–6

2 tbsp fennel seeds
500g turkey mince
1–2 tsp smoked paprika, to style
1 fats garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Salt and black pepper
1 courgette, reduce into 1cm-thick discs
Olive oil, for drizzling

For the fennel
4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium fennel bulbs (about 500g), reduce by way of the basis into skinny wedges
1 purple onion, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tsp chilli flakes (elective)
2 x 400g tins borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of two lemons
100g butter, diced
handful of dill, chopped

Toast the fennel seeds for a few minutes in a small frying pan set over a medium warmth. Switch to a mortar, grind, then tip right into a bowl. Add the turkey, paprika, garlic, a teaspoon of salt and a superb grind of pepper, then combine rather well together with your arms – it will make the combo sticky and assist it cling to the skewers. Divide into golf ball-sized items and roll firmly, placing the meatballs on a baking sheet as you go.

When you have got formed all of the meatballs, thread them and the courgette discs alternately on to skewers, then form the meatballs slightly extra, so that they’re roughly the identical diameter because the courgettes. Put the skewers on a baking sheet and chill for an hour or two; longer (as much as 24 hours) wouldn’t harm, must you need to get forward.

When you find yourself able to cook dinner, hearth up the barbecue prepared for direct and oblique grilling. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the fennel wedges, season with slightly salt and pepper, then grill over a direct warmth for a couple of minutes on all sides, till calmly charred. Switch to a plate.

Set a big, deep, fireproof frying pan or roasting tin on the grill bars immediately over the fireplace, and pour in one other couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion, stir briefly, then shut the barbecue lid and go away to fry for about quarter-hour or so, relying on how scorching your coals are, till tender and calmly golden (in the event that they catch too rapidly, merely slide the pan additional away from the recent coals). Add the charred fennel wedges, garlic and chilli flakes, if utilizing, to the onions, fry for a minute or two, then stir in 250ml water, cowl with a sheet of foil and shut the barbecue lid once more. Simmer for 10 minutes, till the fennel is softening however nonetheless a bit al dente, then take away the foil and stir within the beans, lemon juice, butter and many of the dill (save slightly for garnish). Slide the pan over the oblique hearth to simmer gently whilst you grill the meatball skewers.

Drizzle slightly oil over every skewer and lay them on the grill bars immediately over the fireplace. Prepare dinner, turning recurrently, for quarter-hour, till a probe inserted deep into one of many meatballs reads 74C (cooking them with the lid down if you end up not turning the skewers will enhance the effectivity of the fireplace). Relaxation the cooked skewers over the pan of fennel and beans, and scatter on the remaining dill simply earlier than serving.

• Recipes extracted from Seared: The Final Information to Barbecuing Meat, by Genevieve Taylor, revealed by Quadrille at £20. To order a replica for £17.40, go to guardianbookshop.com