5 mouth-watering recipes to try...
At Arctic Cabins, “The Perfect Escape” isn’t just a neat marketing line – for our customers it’s a way of life: a sanctuary from the world; an oasis of family calm; a place to rest and be together just a short walk from your back door – and a place to fire up that fantastic barbecue grill and let your imagination run wild.
The BBQ season is now well and truly with us. Of course, when you own an Arctic Cabin BBQ Hut, all seasons are BBQ season!
So, whether you’re reading this at the height of July (when I’m writing it) or in the depths of winter (my favourite time to fire up the central, integrated BBQ in my cabin), I hope you’re making the most of your perfect escape.
This weekend I grilled some delicious Orange Spiced Chicken Escalopes and a guest joked that I’d served the ‘perfect escalope in my perfect escape’. To be fair, it was funnier after a glass of Prosecco or two!
Chicken escalopes are my favourite cut of meat to barbecue, they’re quick and easy to cook and that unique ‘barbecue grilled taste’ is in every bite.
What Is An Escalope?
As with many culinary expressions, the term escalope originated in France. An escalope is a piece of boneless meat that has been thinned out, beaten using a mallet or rolled with a rolling pin, or, as I do, simply butterflied (sliced in half) with a sharp knife. Butterflying is my quick go to method but, if you have more time, using a mallet breaks down the fibres in the meat, making it more tender.
The thinner meat cooks faster, and as there is more moisture lost in the cooking process you can achieve a lovely taste and texture on the Arctic Cabin’s BBQ grill – that unique bbq taste I mentioned.
A quick note, the term escalope was probably always applied to veal in those early days in 17th Century France! The recipes I’ll share here are with chicken in mind but they all work really well with other meats, especially lamb and pork and, particularly in the case of the oriental basting sauce, duck. Enjoy!
THE TOP 5 PERFECT ESCALOPES TO ENJOY IN YOUR PERFECT ESCAPE
1 - ORANGE SPICED CHICKEN ESCALOPES
To make 4 to 6 servings:
4-6 Butterfly Chicken Breasts
Orange-spice marinade (see below)
Method:
Prepare orange-spice marinade; pour half to three quarters over the chicken in a shallow glass baking dish. Refrigerate, covered, for 4 to 6 hours.
Drain.
Grill!!
Brush your butterfly chicken breasts with the reserved marinade several times during cooking; turn over halfway through cooking time or as and when required.
Serve with salad and pittas!
The magic is in the marinade! So here you go …
ORANGE-SPICE MARINADE
250ml olive oil
8 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
Grated orange rind (About 5 tablespoons worth)
1 onion, chopped
Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Quarter of a teaspoon of ground cloves
Combine all the ingredients.
CHEF’S COOKING TIP – SWAP IN SOME LAMB!
With this marinade, you can make really amazing lamb kebabs - just swap in about a kilo of lean lamb, cut into 2-3 cm cubes. After marinating, arrange on 4 to 6 metal skewers.
TOP KEBAB TIP Meat on skewers cooks much more quickly if a small amount of space is left between the pieces of meat! With kebabs we tend to cram everything on don’t we? Leave a little space and you’ll also get a more even cook!
2 - TANDOORI CHICKEN ESCALOPES
Serves 4 to 6
4-6 Butterfly Chicken Breasts
500ml plain yoghurt
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons paprika
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon coriander seed, crushed
¾ of a teaspoon of ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
½ a teaspoon of white pepper
Chopped chutney.
Sliced cucumber.
Method:
Mix yoghurt, ginger root, garlic, paprika, cinnamon, cumin, coriander seed, cloves, salt and pepper; pour over chicken in a shallow glass baking dish. Refrigerate, covered, for 6 hours or overnight.
Remove chicken from marinade; make sure you reserve your marinade!
Place the marinaded chicken pieces, on the BBQ grid, cook until the chicken is tender and juices run clear.
Arrange chicken on a serving platter; serve with chutney and cucumbers.
CHEFS TIP Brush chicken pieces generously with reserved marinade several times during cooking; turn chicken pieces regularly and brush with marinade each time – don’t be shy with that marinade!!!
3 - PLUM GLAZED CHICKEN ESCALOPES
Serves 4 to 6
4-6 Butterfly Chicken Breasts
Place chicken escalopes on the bbq grill; brush with your plum glaze. Cook until chicken is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
Brush chicken generously with glaze several times during cooking; turn chicken over regularly throughout the cooking time and re-apply the glaze each time.
HOW TO MAKE THE PLUM GLAZE
14 tablespoons of plum jam (trust me!!!!)
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons mustard
A pinch of grated horseradish (¼ teaspoon or less – depending on taste!!!)
A pinch of salt (¼ teaspoon)
Mix all ingredients.
CHEF’S TIP Try adding a generous handful of chopped raisins. They really add a texture to the glaze!
4 - INDONESIAN PEANUT CHICKEN ESCALOPES
Serves 4 to 6
4-6 Butterfly Chicken Breasts
Peanut sauce (below)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced coriander and/or parsley
Method:
Prepare your peanut sauce (below). Place the chicken pieces on the cooking grid, cook until chicken is tender, and the juices run clear. Brush chicken pieces generously with peanut sauce several times during cooking; turn chicken escalopes regularly over during the cooking time.
Arrange chicken on a serving platter; sprinkle with green onion and coriander and/or parsley.
HOW TO MAKE THE PEANUT SAUCE
Half a chopped onion (or more if, like me, you love onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
14 tablespoons of peanut butter
2½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch (eighth of a teaspoon) of crushed red pepper
250ml to 375ml water (depending on consistency – see below)
Method:
Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in oil, in a small skillet until tender. Put the onion mixture, peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and red pepper in your food processor or blender and process until the mixture is very smooth, adding just enough water to make a medium to thick consistency.
5 - ORIENTAL CHICKEN ESCALOPES
Serves 4 to 6
4-6 Butterfly Chicken Breasts
Oriental Basting Sauce (see below)
Prepare the oriental marinade/basting sauce; pour half over the chicken in a shallow glass baking dish. Refrigerate, covered, for 4 to 6 hours.
Place chicken escalopes on the bbq grill; brush with the remainder of your prepared basting sauce. Cook until chicken is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
As with the other recipes, I like to brush the chicken generously with basting sauce several times during cooking. I turn the chicken over regularly throughout the cooking time and re-apply the sauce each time.
HOW TO MAKE THE ORIENTAL BASTING SAUCE
150ml soy sauce
125ml mustard
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar.
1 clove garlic, minced.
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Mix all ingredients.
I hope that this has made your mouth water! The escalope is a very forgiving cut of meat, hard to under or over cook on the barbecue which should give you the confidence to mix and match flavours and try new things!
I think that marinades and sauces for the BBQ should be like the approach that I take to cocktails – experiment, experiment, experiment.
A good marinade can lift your guests’ barbecue experience and add a real variety to your range, so watch out for my blog just on marinades!
If you have any great BBQ recipes, I would love to hear them!
Or to start your Arctic Cabins BBQ Hut adventure, call 0115 932 8888, get in touch via arcticcabins.co.uk or visit our Arctic Cabins Village (our show-site) just off junction 25 of the M1 near Nottingham.
