My new favourite BBQ meat baste recipe with a surprising ingredient.

Call me crazy but with the delightful heat wave that we got to enjoy last week, we’ve already indulged in our first BBQ of the year! The boys were super excited as it meant a plate full to the brim of their very favourite, sausages! For the grown ups I like to mix things up a bit, sure we had a hot dog each but we also had a delicious salad, quiches, coleslaw, potato salads and some rather tasty (even if I say so myself) kebabs. We had beef and chicken but I used the same meat baste for both, and it was delicious… Plus the boys were desperate to try some when they discovered what the secret ingredient was!

This can be a hot baste or a mild one, I love extra spicy food, so I add the hot chilli to mine, but Adam hates it, so I leave it out. It’s that simple!

Here’s my extra special meat baste recipe:

• 100g of butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 1/2 smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of hot chilli powder (optional)
• 50g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids
• Pinch of mustard powder
• Pinch of salt
• Melt the butter in a microwaveable dish in 10 second blasts. Add the spices and seasoning, then stir in the chocolate until it melts – you might want to microwave it a bit more if the butter is too cool to melt the chocolate. You should get a smooth, quite runny baste, if it’s not ‘paintable’ it’s not runny enough so you may want to add more butter or a touch of oil.

I think that this baste gets better the long you leave it, so if you can I would definitely make it the night before, store it in the fridge and then melt it together again the following day. If you don’t have time it’s not a worry, just ‘paint’ it on to your chosen meat or veg and add it to the BBQ. As its cooking keep painting it on (which is essentially what basting is – painting on to your food) and allow it to cook.

It really is worth giving it a go, it’s just so tasty. The best thing is, because it is dark chocolate and there is only a bit, it is in no way sweet, in fact the high cocoa content just gives it a really savoury, slightly bitter flavour, that works oh-so well with the smoky paprika!

Trust me, and add it to your BBQ list!

Harriet x