Quick appetizer for barbecue

What do you eat shish kebab with?

When going out into nature, many people manage to get pretty hungry along the way, so they need to take extra food with them or prepare light treats while waiting for the meat on the skewers to cook. All kinds of salads and snacks for barbecue help you get enough without filling your stomach too much with complex food, because meat is already difficult to digest.

1. Ideal snacks for barbecue are vegetables in any form: fresh, pre-baked in the oven or on coals, stuffed.
2. Baked mushrooms go well with meat; champignons marinated in a fragrant mixture are ideal for an appetizer.
3. Toasted bread over a fire is an excellent addition to a meat dish.
4. The most popular appetizer is pickled onions; there are a huge number of recipes for preparing them: with vinegar, wine or lemon juice.
5. It is better to prepare salads from fresh vegetables without adding mayonnaise or sour cream. On a hot day, such a dish will be the first to spoil.
6. Don't forget about the sauces that complement the meat. These can be ready-made ketchups, Caucasian adjika, or homemade sauce from tomatoes, herbs and spices.

Bread on the fire with garlic

Deliciously tasty and crispy bread cooked over the fire will be an excellent companion to meat dishes. The garlic aroma can be achieved in two ways - grease it with a spicy mixture in advance and fry the pieces over a fire, but you can also first brown the bread and then grease it with garlic and vegetable oil.

Ingredients:

• baguette – 2 pcs.;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• olive oil – 50 ml;
• oregano.

Preparation

1. Cut the baguette into 1.5 cm thick pieces.
2. Fry over a fire until golden brown.
3. Mix oil, pureed garlic and oregano.
4. Brush the warm slices of bread with the flavorful dressing.

Mushrooms on the grill on the grill

Deliciously tasty mushrooms on the grill are even more appetizing if you pre-marinate them in a fragrant mixture.
Champignons perfectly absorb the flavors and aromas of spices, so do not overdo it with their addition, so as not to interrupt the natural mushroom taste of this excellent barbecue snack. Ingredients:

• large champignons – 10-15 pcs.;
• olive oil – 100 ml;
• lemon juice – 50 ml;
• black pepper, salt;
• chopped greens;
• garlic – 2 cloves.

Preparation

1. Wash the mushrooms and place in a bowl.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade, pour it over the champignons, and leave for 2-4 hours.
3. Fry the champignons for 5-7 minutes over a fire.

What is served with barbecue at home and outdoors?

In our country, shish kebab has become the dish that is most often prepared when going out into nature. Usually, the matter is not limited to simply frying meat strung on skewers; there are many treats that accompany this process. It is assumed that on the road people have time to get pretty hungry, and the time required for preparation should not be wasted.

At the same time, such a popular dish requires a special approach to the side dishes and appetizers that make up its gastronomic background. In order to decide what to serve with barbecue, you need to evaluate the capabilities of the digestive system, and, unfortunately, they are not limitless. First of all, this will be helped by the experience of the residents of the Transcaucasian republics, who traditionally have a culture of consuming spicy meat foods.

So, what do they serve with barbecue in Georgia or Armenia? Typically sauce, vegetables and herbs. No Olivier salads, sandwiches with sausage and herring on the Caucasian table go side by side with charcoal-roasted meat. Tkemali is considered the best sauce; it unobtrusively emphasizes the aroma of smoke from fruity charcoal and fried lamb. Its sourish tint does not interrupt the taste of the main product, which is very important when the meat is good. An excess of pepper or vinegar is an eternal trick of catering workers who try to hide behind them the “not the first” freshness of what they sometimes try to pass off as kebab, so you shouldn’t be like them.

The lack of time drives modern people to the point where they serve regular store-bought ketchup with their barbecue. It’s better to cook it yourself from pureed fresh tomatoes, simmered over low heat with herbs and a little pepper. In any case, the sauce should not be too strong.

Now about the side dish. The best option for everything served with barbecue is salads and grilled vegetables. Simply chop the cabbage and mix it with onions, seasoning it with a little sunflower oil. Dill, parsley and fresh cucumbers are welcome in this composition. You can bake eggplants either in Georgian style, cutting them into brackets and placing them on the grill, skin side down, or in foil. In the second case, it is recommended to place them together with carrots, small pieces of potatoes and onion rings, it will be juicier.

The king of all side dishes is onions. It goes well with everything served with barbecue. Onions should be present both in the marinade and in the presentation of the finished dish. It can be baked on coals, marinated, or simply cut into rings. It is so important that without it, kebab is not kebab, but simply fried meat.

The side dish should be minimal, and potatoes or rice are not very suitable. The task is to enjoy the taste of a dish that is difficult or impossible for most of our fellow citizens to prepare at home. Therefore, the table for barbecue should be plentiful, but laconic. Salad, pickled onions and garlic, bread or pita bread, baked vegetables, a bottle or jug ​​of good red wine, that’s all.

As for dishes, contrary to popular stereotype, disposable plastic plates are not the best option. An event like an outing with barbecue doesn’t happen often, so it’s worth treating yourself and your friends to something more interesting. An excellent option is a set of earthenware, including a jug.

Vegetable appetizer for barbecue

A side dish of vegetables for barbecue can be prepared in different ways, taking into account the preferences of each eater. The product composition can be limited to cucumbers, tomatoes and pickled onions, but you can also expand the range of dishes with eggplants, zucchini, and peppers. The side dish should be minimalistic so as not to interrupt the impression of the main dish.

1. Light snacks for barbecue can be prepared in advance - bake vegetables at home in the oven or fry them in a frying pan.
2. You can make rolls from eggplant or zucchini or stuff them with a vegetable or meat mixture.
3. Tomatoes are stuffed with a mixture of cheese and garlic.

Eggplant appetizer for barbecue

Before you cook vegetables on the grill on the grill, you need to marinate them in advance. Eggplants are cut into convenient pieces and salted for 10 minutes to get rid of bitterness. In addition to all the other advantages of preparing such an appetizer for meat shish kebab, eggplants do not absorb much oil and remain juicy and not very high in calories.

Ingredients:

• eggplants – 2 pcs.;
• vegetable oil – 50 ml;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• lemon juice – 50 ml;
• oregano and thyme - a pinch each.

Preparation

1. Mix dry herbs, pureed garlic, lemon juice and oil.
2. Cut the eggplants into slices, remove the bitterness by salting them for 20 minutes.
3. Place the vegetable slices on the grill and fry for 5 minutes on each side.
4. Place the eggplants on a plate and pour over the aromatic dressing.

Tomato appetizer for barbecue

A tasty and spicy appetizer of tomatoes and onions for barbecue, a perfect complement to a meat dish. The moderately hot and spicy addition turns out so tasty that people will eat it first. The main flavor-forming component of the dressing is honey; it reveals the bright taste of spices and makes the snack more rich.

Ingredients:

• tomatoes – 4 pcs.;
• onions – 3 pcs.;
• garlic – 3 cloves;
• lemon juice – 20 ml;
• honey – 50 g;
• olive oil – 100 ml;
• fresh basil – ½ bunch;
• mixture of peppers, salt.

Preparation

1. Cut tomatoes into circles, onions into half rings.
2. Mix salt, spices, add oil and citrus juice.
3. Add honey and chopped basil, pureed garlic and mix everything.
4. Place the tomatoes and onions in layers in a container, pour in the marinade, cover with a lid, shake a couple of times.
5. Marinating the barbecue appetizer will last 2 hours.

Delicious onions for barbecue - recipe

There are several ways to marinate delicious onions for barbecue. For the dressing mixture, use regular vinegar, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar or wine vinegar. If not everyone likes this component, you can soak onion half rings in pomegranate or lemon juice, adding herbs and spices to the mixture.

Ingredients:

• onions – 4 pcs.;
• vinegar 9% – ¼ tbsp.;
• water – 1 tbsp.;
• a mixture of peppers, chopped herbs.

Preparation

1. Cut the onion into half rings.
2. Pour in vinegar and warm water.
3. Add the pepper mixture and leave to marinate for 2 hours.
4. Drain the marinade, mix with chopped herbs and serve.

Vegetable shish kebab salad with cheese and sour cream

Not all barbecue salads can be ideally suited to grilled dishes. This salad will perfectly complement your collection of grilled dishes.

Ingredients

• Cucumbers – 4 pieces.
• Garlic – 4 heads.
• Cauliflower – 5 inflorescences.
• Hard cheese – 300 grams.
• Sour cream – 4 tablespoons.
• Dill - half a bunch.
• Red pepper, paprika, salt, Italian herbs.

Preparation

We prepare salads for barbecue only from fresh ingredients, we won’t even cook cabbage, it is healthy and tasty in its raw form. So: cut the cucumbers into strips, separate the cabbage into small inflorescences, and cut the cheese into squares. Mix the main ingredients, add salt and seasonings. Press garlic + sour cream – that’s the dressing.

Salads for barbecue

Every cook can quickly prepare a salad for barbecue. The ideal solution would be all kinds of vegetable combinations seasoned with aromatic mixture. You should not prepare Olivier or vinaigrette, they will quickly spoil, and in general they will not be very suitable for the taste of barbecue.

1. Do not add hard or processed cheese to the salad; it will melt in the heat and make the dish very unattractive. If there is a need for such an ingredient, replace it with feta cheese or Adyghe cheese.
2. A simple salad of cucumbers and tomatoes will taste much better if you season it with olive oil, lemon juice and pureed garlic.
3. Multi-ingredient appetizers for meat shish kebab are prepared directly on the fire, resulting in an excellent salad with a taste of Caucasian cuisine.
4. Do not dress salads with fermented milk sauces. Give preference to oil mixtures and adjika.

Tbilisi salad for barbecue

A delicious Georgian vegetable salad for barbecue is prepared quickly, without complex and inaccessible ingredients. The classic recipe contains roasted beef; it can be safely removed from the composition or replaced with canned red beans. The basis for the extraordinary taste is created by nuts and cilantro.

Ingredients:

• bell pepper – 200 g;
• canned beans – 280 g;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• red onion – 2 pcs.;
• cilantro – 1 bunch;
• oil – 50 ml;
• wine vinegar – 20 ml;
• nuts – 2 handfuls;
• salt, hops-suneli.

Preparation

1. Grind the garlic with salt, spices and oil. Add wine vinegar and stir.
2. Cut the peppers and onions into half rings.
3. Mix vegetables with beans, add chopped herbs, season with sauce.

Armenian salad for barbecue

An Armenian barbecue appetizer is prepared from a variety of vegetables. The main feature of the dish is frying whole eggplants and peppers until they are as dark as possible, almost black, then the skins are removed from the hot vegetables. The “smoky” flavor inherent in this treat will definitely conquer all lovers of Caucasian cuisine.

Ingredients:

• pepper – 5 pcs.;
• eggplants – 5 pcs.;
• tomatoes – 6-7 pcs.;
• onions – 3 pcs.;
• greens – 80 g;
• lemon – 1 pc.;
• salt, black pepper, oil.

Preparation

1. Wash vegetables, peel onions.
2. Place vegetables on the grill and brown on all sides for 5 minutes.
3. Remove vegetables from the grill and immediately rinse with cold water.
4. Peel and remove seeds from peppers.
5. Chop everything coarsely, put it in a large container, add chopped herbs.
6. Season with salt, spices, lemon juice and oil.

Warm salad for barbecue

This salad is prepared over charcoal for barbecue immediately after roasting the meat. During the frying process of the main dish, vegetables are marinated in a fragrant mixture, then fried on a grill and the appetizer is served warm, seasoned with aromatic sauce. The composition of the salad can be adjusted to your own taste by adding ingredients or replacing them with other ingredients.

Ingredients:

• eggplants – 1 pc.;
• pepper – 2 pcs.;
• salad onion – 2 pcs.;
• celery – 1/2 stalk;
• asparagus – 100 g;
• zucchini – 1 pc.;
• olive oil – 50 ml;
• juice of one lemon;
• grain mustard – 50 g;
• salt, pepper, oregano and thyme.

Preparation

1. Grind the garlic with salt and dry herbs, add mustard and lemon juice.
2. Cut the eggplants into slices, add salt and leave for 10 minutes, then rinse.
3. Cut the pepper into quarters, the onion into large slices, and the zucchini into thin slices.
4. Place eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, chopped celery, peppers and onions in a single layer on the grill.
5. Fry over a fire until golden brown.
6. Place vegetables on a plate and add sauce.
7. The salad is served immediately with the kebab.

Source

How to beautifully serve shashlik on the table and decorate the dish

In order for shish kebab to become not only a tasty dish, but also the main decoration of the table, it is important to serve it beautifully to guests.

Serving shashlik on the table is usually done on a large platter, where the meat is laid out on skewers, or removed from them, or from a barbecue grill.

You can and should additionally serve pickled onions, lemon slices, olives, and various sauces (adjika, ketchup, narsharab, tkemali) with the meat.

Mandatory additions to the barbecue should be fresh vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers), herbs (parsley, dill, basil, cilantro).

This is done not only for reasons of taste; meat and vegetables are much better digested in the stomach.

When serving shish kebab, the side dish is not only a decoration, but should also harmoniously reveal the taste of the meat.

Many people also like to bake vegetables for kebabs - tomatoes, eggplants, onions, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms (champignons). Add some garlic for flavor.

It is incredibly tasty to boil young potatoes or fry them on skewers, placing pieces of aromatic lard between the potatoes.

On skewers, meat can be laid out in a radius, fan, well, hut, parallel rows, etc.

After removing from the skewers, you don’t need to do anything fancy; lay it out in the shape of a dish or in a pyramid.

When thinking about how to decorate a kebab, you need to remember that the dish should look as appetizing and tempting as possible.

Many restaurants decorate charcoal-grilled meat like a real work of art that you can simply admire.

The dish should please you with a harmonious combination of color and taste of everything you decide to decorate the kebab with.

The kebab, served on a platter, is served with chopped onion rings or half rings; you can separate the rings individually and place them on top.

Shish kebab with grains of corn and green peas, and asparagus sprouts looks beautiful and festive.

Slices of red and yellow bell peppers with sprigs of parsley and dill look impressive and appetizing.

Garnish the dish with fresh green salad leaves.

Figurative decorations cut from vegetables and fruits in carving style are very common in restaurants.

Oriental-style kebab is decorated with walnut crumbs and pomegranate seeds, grapes, prunes and dried apricots.

Fruits and berries are also used to decorate meat kebabs.

These are red and white currants, pieces of peach or apricot, apples, pineapple slices, lemon and orange mugs.

Fish kebab can be served garnished with boiled carrot stars.

Sprinkle it with vinegar, pour sauce or mayonnaise. Place lemon slices on top and sprinkle with herbs.

When decorating meat, remember that all details must be edible, so that the meal does not turn into a process of searching for inedible parts and does not spoil your appetite and mood.

Skewers of various shapes and sizes, with original tips made of carved wood, metal, plastic and even feathers, can become a natural decoration for a shish kebab.

And of course, no barbecue feast can be complete without a bottle of good wine or beer, which will help create the right atmosphere.

See the photo of a beautiful presentation of kebab on the festive table.

Bon appetit!
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