A casual French BBQ with friends, petanque, brochette, merguez and harissa

In France, we do  barbecue or BBQ mostly with Merguez  (Lamb sausages) and brochettes (vegetables/ meat on skewers) served with salads and rice. We rarely do burgers or hot dogs like in the States. So few months ago during a relaxing and lazy week end, we invited our friends Michael, Jackie,Dani, Barbara and Terry for a French BBQ.

The night before on Friday Joel made a beautiful, fruity, delicious red Sangria.

Saturdaym morning I made les Brochettes ( beef and chicken vegetables skewers) and marinated them  in olive oil and fresh herbs. I made the same marinade  that my sister and mother make in France, every summer.

Few hours before our BBQ I cooked white Basmati rice  and cooked Zuchini and Tomatoes a la Provencale and Joel made and bake his French baguettes.

I asked our friends to bring some Finger foods , tapas style . We also ordered some Merguez on line via Dartagnan that we sandwiched in fresh baguette spreaded with homemade Harissa : Harissa is in North Africa mainly Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisia what American call hot chili paste or Asian shirasha.Harissa is added to couscous, soups, pastas and other recipes. It can also be purchased in Middle Eastern stores in a tube or jars. My homemade recipe is below.

For hours between the food, the pool ,la petanque game – a form of bocce game (popuar all over France but mostly in Provence and Marseille )where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet , the Sangria we  spent a lovely evening.

Our menu :

Sangria

Tapas/ finger foods ( brought by our friends)

Merguez Lamb Sausages  dartagnan with Fresh homemade baguette and Harisssa ( see recipe below)

Summer vegetables and beef or chicken skewers

Rice

zuchini and tomatoes a la Provencale

Fresh Summer fruits en papillote served with Caramel Salted ice cream and Palmiers cookies

Harissa is in North Africa mainly Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisia what American call hot chili paste or Asian shirasha.

Harissa is added to couscous, soups, pastas and other recipes. It can also be purchased in Middle Eastern stores in a tube or jars.

Harissa-tomato sauce recipe

½ tsp cumin seeds

100 ml olive oil , plus a little extra

4 garlic cloves, peeled but kept whole

1 tsp smoked paprika

6  tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

1 Fresno chilies , deseeded (use more chilies if you like it very fiery)

Heat the spice seeds in a dry pan until lightly toasted and aromatic, then lightly crush using a pestle and mortar.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic, toasted spices, paprika, tomatoes and chillies. Cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, until the tomato flesh has cooked down to a pulp and the garlic is tender – this will take about 15 mins.

Remove from the heat and blend it pulse in a food processor to make a rough paste. Spoon into a sterilized jar and pour a little oil over the surface to completely cover it. Will keep in the fridge for several months if you cover the surface with oil after each use.

Thank you friends it was a fantastic evening, can’t wait to do that again soon….

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