Marinade tips

A marinade can turn a boring barbecue meal into something special. There are some stunning ready-made marinades and sauces on the market that are perfect for keeping in the pantry, or you can whip up one of your own.

Here's a selection of easy marinades:

Seafood

• Use lemon or lime infused oil to cook delicately flavoured fish and seafood (eg prawns or scallops).
• Marinate prawns for about ½ an hour in 4T sweet chilli sauce, juice and zest of one lime and about 2cm grated fresh ginger.

Meat & chicken:

• Marinate meat and chicken in garlic, ginger, soy sauce, olive oil, citrus juice and water for at least 10 minutes.
• Mix a paste of oil, cumin, smoked paprika and garlic, paste on meat and leave for 10-30 minutes.
• Mix a thinly sliced stick of lemongrass, 2 T honey, 2 T soy sauce, 2 T hoisin sauce and 1 t each crushed ginger and garlic and brush over beef or pork. Marinade for at least an hour.
• Marinate pork chops or ribs in a little oil, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.

Vegetables:

• Replace Portobello mushrooms stalks with feta, give light spray of chilli infused oil and ground black pepper.
• Cook button mushrooms, garlic and sliced red onion in garlic infused oil.
• Strip back fresh corn cob leaves and tie them to form a handle. Discard the silk and brush cobs with flavoured oil. Grill until tender.
• Barbecue thinly sliced eggplant, courgette, whole mushrooms, asparagus, roma tomato halves and capsicum chunks. Serve drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and parsley.

Tofu:

• Marinade tofu cubes in 1 cup mango or pineapple juice, crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon liquid honey and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Serve with satay sauce.
• Marinate cubes of tofu in 2 tablespoons tandoori paste mixed with 1 cup yoghurt for 30 minutes.
• Marinate tofu in 3 tablespoons salt-reduced soy sauce, 2 cloves grated garlic, 2 teaspoons grated ginger, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and 3 tablespoons hoisin or plum sauce for 30 minutes.

Bread:

• Wrap bulbs of garlic in foil and barbecue til soft. Squeeze out the sweet, mellow pulp and spread onto slices of toasted baguette for butter-less garlic bread.