Tahini BBQ lamb chops with fresh plums and spiced plum sauce

Barbecue no longer automatically means burgers and ribs as Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co's recent book Chasing Smoke amply demonstrates. This is a gorgeous way of grilling and serving lamb chops

"If you can, buy nicely trimmed lamb racks without too much of a fat cap, so that you don’t need to worry about rendering fat off them before dividing into individual chops" they advise. "Be forewarned, though: there will be a fair amount of smoke while cooking these, so they are best grilled outside. We use tahini in a few different versions of BBQ sauce, as the sesame paste lends itself so well to roasted meats, adding a rich nutty note. Here we include anchovies for a savoury touch and pomegranate molasses for sweetness.

The accompanying plum sauce is like a chutney or Chinese plum sauce, with its sweet, sour and spicy flavours. It partners perfectly with these rich BBQ chops, and also works amazingly with a simple roast chicken or duck. The BBQ and plum sauces can either be made shortly before grilling the chops, or up to a couple of days in advance.

A feast for 4–6

2 racks of lamb, divided into 12–14 single chops
100 g / 31⁄2 oz baby red chard (or lamb’s lettuce
4 plums, halved and stones removed)

For the tahini BBQ sauce

150 g / 5 1⁄4 oz tahini paste
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced

2 salted anchovies, chopped

1 tsp pul biber or Aleppo chilli flakes
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

100 ml / 3 1⁄2 fl oz water, plus more if needed
1 tsp flaky sea salt

For the spiced plum sauce

Use a stick blender or a small food processor to blitz the BBQ sauce ingredients to a smooth, thick paste. You may need to add a little more water to reach the desired custard- like consistency, depending on the variety of tahini. You can use the BBQ sauce straight away or keep it in the fridge for a day or two until needed.

Put the plum wedges, sugar, garlic, spices, bay leaf and pomegranate molasses in a small frying pan, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Cook for 5 minutes until the plums soften and start falling apart, then remove from the heat and stir in the salt and vinegar. You can use this straight away, or cool and store in the fridge for a few days.

When you are ready to cook, brush half of the BBQ sauce over the chops, coating both sides. You will need the rest of the BBQ sauce to brush on the chops as they grill. Place the chops one by one on the rack above a hot BBQ. Grill for 2 minutes, then turn them over and brush with some more sauce. Grill for another 2 minutes before turning them back over and basting again. Repeat the grill-turn-baste process until the chops have cooked for a total of 6 minutes on each side. Remove to a serving platter with the baby chard spread over it.

Pop the plum halves on the BBQ, cut-side down. Grill for a minute or so just to warm a little, then add to the platter with the chops. Serve with the plum sauce on the side.

To cook without a BBQ

Use a lightly oiled, preheated griddle pan on your stove and cook just as you would on the fire. But have your extractor fan on full blast, as it will get very smoky!

What to drink: A robust modern red with a touch of sweetness. A Spanish garnacha would fit the bill. FB

From Chasing Smoke: Cooking over Fire around the Levant. Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich published by Pavilion at £26. Photograph ©Patricia Niven.

Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

There have been a lot of great veggie cookbooks this summer but one of the most useful is Genevieve Taylor's Charred which finally empowers vegetarians to enjoy barbecues as much as meat eaters. That said this isn't the recipe in the book that makes the most extensive use of the grill but it's such a sublime combination of ingredients it's really summer on a plate.

Gen writes: OK, I’ll admit that no actual vegetables were grilled in the making of this salad but I hope you agree it is worthy of inclusion. And, after all, grilled halloumi with almost anything is very much worth eating. You cangrill watermelon (useful to know if your melon is a little underripe), but I do prefer its texture when eaten raw.

Serves 6–8

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

zest and juice of 2 limes

2 tsp caster sugar

1kg (2lb 3oz) watermelon, about ½ medium-sized one

4 tbsp olive oil

3 x 250g (9oz) blocks of halloumi, cut into 1cm (½ inch) thick slices

a small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves roughly chopped

a small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped

50g (½ cup) pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Put the onion into a small bowl with the lime zest and juice and the sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Cut the watermelon into 1cm (½ inch) thick wedges, trimming off the rind as you go. Spread over a large platter.

Fire up your barbecue ready for direct grilling, or heat up a griddle pan on the hob.

Drizzle a little of the oil over the halloumi (save the rest for the salad), then place directly over the heat on the grill bars. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until seared, then turn over with a fish slice and cook the other side. Once the halloumi is cooked, cut each slice in half on the diagonal and scatter over the watermelon.

Sprinkle over the coriander, mint and pickled onion slices, drizzling over the lime juice from the bowl too. Scatter thechopped pistachios over the salad Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper and serve immediately,while the halloumi is still warm.

What to drink: Any crisp fresh white would be great with this from an albarino to a sauvignon blanc.

Extracted from Charred by Genevieve Taylor, published by Quadrille at £16.99. Photograph © Jason Ingram.

Overnight pulled pork

The problem about Father's Day being in high summer is that you don't necessarily want to be stuck in the kitchen making a slap-up meal. So camp out and make these delicious pulled pork rolls instead

The recipe comes from Genevieve Taylor's inspiring new book How to Eat Outside which gives year-round suggestions from summer picnics to bonfire night.

Genevieve writes: "I’ve often noticed that when I hold my hand over the campfire in the morning it’s still lovely and toasty (providing it hasn’t chucked it down!), so I wanted to find a recipe that would harness all the lovely gentle heat the fire gives off as it cools. This pulled pork is absolutely ideal as it cooks to perfection in the dying embers overnight. Stuff the tender tasty meat into soft baps for the most perfect Sunday brunch ever. After a long night around the campfire catching up with friends, this is just the ticket to revive you the morning after.

SERVES 6–8

5 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

4 tsp English or Dijon mustard

1 tbsp fennel seeds, roughly ground

2 tsp smoked paprika

2kg (prepared weight) pork shoulder, boned and rolled

3 large onions, thickly sliced

3 large carrots, roughly chopped

1 x 500ml bottle cider (doesn’t need to be special; any type will do)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6–8 soft white baps, to serve

Assuming you have a cool box to keep the meat cold for a couple of days, the ideal low-fuss way is to marinate the meat at home and shove it in a ziplock food bag, so all you then have to do at the campsite is cook it.

In a small bowl, mix together the tomato ketchup, sugar, mustard, fennel seeds and smoked paprika. Rub this all over the pork, then seal it in a ziplock food bag before adding it to your cool box.

When you are ready to cook, line a Dutch oven with a triple layer of foil (to help make washing-up easier!) and scatter in the onions and carrots. Place the pork on top, season generously with salt and black pepper, then pour in the cider. Seal completely with a tight-fitting lid (add a layer of foil if your lid is a bit loose).

Place the Dutch oven directly on the dying embers of your fire, using a shovel to push the coals around the oven a little. Leave to cook overnight, about 12 hours is perfect (depending on the heat left in the fire). Have a peek inside the pot first thing in the morning to see how it’s doing. If it’s been a particularly cold or damp night, you may want to get the fire going again slowly to carry on the cooking process until brunch time. Like all fire cooking it’s a bit suck-it-and-see, and with this dish the cooler the embers are, the better – you don’t want the embers to be too hot and cook the pork too quickly.

To serve, tease the meat apart with two forks, pulling it off in pieces, and shove it into the baps. There may or may not be gravy to spoon on as well (depending on the heat of your fire and how much evaporation has occurred).

What to drink: since you're using cider in the dish that's what I'd drink with it too - or, if you're having it for lunch and feel that's a little early, apple juice would also be delicious.

Extracted from How to Cook Outside: fabulous al fresco food for BBQs, bonfires, camping and more by Genevieve Taylor, published by Bantam Press at £17.99. Photographs by Jason Ingram.