Barbecue is not just for meat and vegetables. A real cooking tool in its own right, it also allows you to enhance fruits in summery and gourmet desserts. Fruits like peach, pineapple, mango, banana and even melon are fantastic on the barbecue, because they are rich in natural sugar that caramelizes under the heat. In “The Art of Barbecue” published by Marabout, BIG.T, chef and barbecue expert, gives some ideas for preparing fruits on the barbecue.
Thierry Cornuet, aka BIG.T © Fabien Breuil
Peach and lavender honey
“Take some peaches and cut them in half. Mark them lightly on the barbecue to get a nice colour. Then cut them into quarters and put them in a small pan on the barbecue with a little lavender honey. Let them roast slightly. Then serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s amazing.”
Pineapple and Sichuan pepper
“Another great fruit for barbecuing is pineapple. Cut the pineapple into nice slices and brown them on the grill. In a small pan, combine rum, brown sugar, and Sichuan pepper. Grill the pineapple, then dip in the rum and sugar mixture, and repeat this process. Then, finish the last 15 minutes by letting the pineapple marinate in the mixture. The result is incredible!”
Fruit crumble
Even more surprising than roasted fruit, try barbecue crumble. Spread the dough, a mixture of flour, butter, almond powder and sugar, in a cast iron pan. Let it cook for about twenty minutes using indirect cooking so as not to dry out the dough. For indirect cooking, place your pan on the grill above a container of water, or the liquid of your choice, and close the barbecue lid. After cooking, let it rest and add the fresh fruit of your choice: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or apricots. For an even more delicious treat, the chef suggests coating the fruit with a homemade honey-whiskey syrup before serving.
Mango Pickles
To enhance your starters, main courses or desserts, consider fruit pickles. “Mango pickles, for example, bring a very pleasant fresh and vinegary side that enhances any preparation,” says the chef. To prepare them, nothing could be simpler. Marinate them in a mixture of white vinegar and water for at least 2 days. You can add honey, chili pepper or even maple syrup to this mixture.
Discover BIG.T’s exclusive recipe for roasted mango with maple syrup:
© Fabien Breuil
For 4 people
2 mangoes
2 sprigs of lemon thyme
3 tablespoons maple syrup
5 cl of bourbon
3 tablespoons of thyme honey
40 g butter
The juice of 1 lime
Preheat the barbecue.
Cut the mangoes in half lengthwise and remove the stone. Make a grid pattern on the flesh using a knife. Strip the thyme sprigs and arrange the leaves in the spaces between the grid patterns.
In a bowl, mix the maple syrup, bourbon, honey and lemon juice.
Melt the butter on the ceramic board using indirect cooking or on the griddle. Place the mangoes flesh side down on the board and brown them for 8 minutes, brushing them with the maple syrup-honey-bourbon mixture every 2 minutes.
Serve with 2 scoops of mango sorbet.
