Caravan Cook: Barbecues and grills

While travelling around the country in your caravans or motorhomes, take advantage of fresh fare at various stops along the way. Simply prepared food that is grilled quickly - what a delicious, healthy way to feast!

Grilled Lime Calamari
Use fresh limes for this recipe if you have them, otherwise bottled lime juice can be purchased from most supermarkets. If you have trouble getting the juice from fresh limes, try rolling them on a flat surface before juicing.

1kg calamari
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 limes, juiced
1 clove garlic, finely grated
1 tablespoon coriander, roughly chopped
1 extra lime, for garnish (optional)

Remove the gut and skin from the calamari, retaining the tentacles and leaving the squid tube intact.

Combine chilli sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and coriander in a sealed plastic container.

Add cleaned calamari and tentacles to the chilli/lime mix and allow to marinate for a couple of hours at least.

When ready to grill, remove calamari (and tentacles) from the marinade, then discard the mixture.

Grill calamari on a heated, lightly oiled barbecue plate until browned. This should take only a couple of minutes. The lime juice in the marinade will have already started the 'cooking' process.

Take care not to overload your barbecue plate and cause its temperature to drop - you don't want to stew the calamari.

Serve Grilled Calamari with the extra lime slices.

2kg mussels
2-3 tablespoons soft butter
s mall handful of parsley, finely chopped
1/2 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
2 cloves garlic, finely grated

Combine butter, parsley, chilli and garlic in a small bowl. Cover butter mixture and allow to stand to allow flavours to blend.

Scrub mussels (a scourer will do the trick) and remove the beards. Cook mussels in batches on a barbecue plate until they open. Remember to discard any that remain closed.

Place small amount of the butter mixture into the opened mussel and continue to barbecue until butter melts.

Serve mussels with plenty of bread for mopping up the buttery juices.

Grilled Corn Cobs
Over the summer, my veggie patch has seen the addition of a couple of rows of corn. Freshly picked corn has a wonderful flavour and if you come across a roadside stall, I recommend you stop and purchase some.

Delicious though fresh corn is, the following recipe will add just a hint of complementary flavours to the finished dish. I like to steam the corn for a few minutes to partially cook it before grilling.

Add garlic to the water that is steaming the corn: this will soften both the texture and flavour of the garlic.

Grilling the corn caramelises its juices, and this adds a whole new dimension of flavour.

Trim cobs to allow for the maximum flat area on the hot plate.

6-8 trimmed corn cobs
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon chopped chives (or teaspoon dried chives)
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons olive oil

Using the blade of a knife, squash steamed garlic clove into a paste. If necessary, finely chop garlic. Combine olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, chives and mustard in a bowl and mix well.

Heat a lightly oiled barbecue plate and add corn cobs. Grill until golden brown, turning cobs frequently.

To serve, place grilled corn in a large bowl and drizzle oil mixture over the top.

Aioli Potatoes
In this recipe there are a couple of ways to cheat: you can use tinned potatoes, or you can cut corners on the aioli preparation by adding a little garlic to an already prepared, good quality egg mayonnaise. Not traditional I know, but the taste is amazing!

Combine mayonnaise and garlic ahead of time to allow the garlic flavour to infuse with the mayonnaise.

I large tin potatoes, well drained
1 cup good quality mayo
1 clove garlic, finely grated

Cook potatoes on an oiled grill plate for a couple of minutes until they turn a nice golden brown.

A handy hint to stop your spuds tumbling off the grill is to cut them in half.

Place grilled potatoes into a bowl, add the garlic-infused mayo into another bowl, hand forks around to everyone and enjoy!