When it comes to summer hosting, it doesn’t get much more impressive than a beautiful seafood feast, cooked to perfection on the barbecue.
There’s something really exciting about fresh seafood cooked on the barbecue. Not only does it look incredible, but being able to see it (aka not hidden away in the oven) makes it easier to cook – you can see it, smell it, and even hear it!
Jamie loves using flavoured butter to take his seafood feast up a notch, and serves it with a delicious salad. Cooked on the Weber Slate Griddle barbecue for maximum theatre and space, this is optimistic, joyful summer cooking.
Whether you pick and choose which seafood to cook up, or go for the whole feast, follow Jamie’s simple guide and make some lucky people very happy!
Serves: 8
Total time: 45 minutes
You’ll need:
FOR THE TUNA
500g asparagus
4 x 150g tuna steaks (ideally 2cm thick), from sustainable sources
8 black olives, stone in
1 lemon
FOR THE SHELLFISH
8 scallops in the half shell, from sustainable sources
a large handful of mussels, cleaned, from sustainable sources
a large handful of clams, cleaned, from sustainable sources
1 lemon
a few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
FOR THE SQUID
4 whole medium squid, gutted and cleaned, tentacles trimmed, from sustainable sources
2 bulbs of fennel
extra virgin olive oil
1½ lemons
2 fresh red chillies
FOR THE LEMON & GARLIC BUTTER
2 cloves of garlic
½ a bunch of flat-leaf parsley (15g)
1 lemon
250g unsalted butter, softened
FOR THE PRAWNS
600g mixed-colour heritage tomatoes
1 orange
a small handful of fresh basil
a small handful of fresh dill
12 large raw king prawns, peeled, tail on, deveined and butterflied, from sustainable sources
How to cook your seafood feast
Prep your seafood
Snap the woody ends off the asparagus. Score the scallops in a criss-cross fashion, keeping them in their shells. Run your knife down one side of each squid to open them out, then lightly score the inside in a criss-cross pattern. Season all your seafood to perfection.
Butter it up
A nice flavoured butter will really take your seafood up a notch. Plus, it’s super simple to make and can be done ahead of time – pop any leftovers in the freezer, then just add a slice of it to steak, veggies and so much more for a delicious flavour boost!
To make Jamie’s lemon & garlic butter, roughly chop the garlic and parsley leaves on a board, then grate over the lemon zest and add the butter, mashing it all up and mixing it together with the back of a knife. Dollop the butter onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and roll it into a cylinder, twisting the ends like a Christmas cracker. When you’re ready to cook, cut off a quarter, then slice it up and place it in a bowl of iced water – keep the rest in the freezer for future use.
Don’t fancy lemon & garlic? No problem! Take your seafood feast whichever way you like – try one of these flavour combos…
- Mix your butter with 15g chopped fresh rosemary, 7 finely chopped anchovy fillets and the zest of 1 lemon.
- Take your butter on holiday with 6 drained and finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes, 2 chopped cloves of garlic and 1 finely chopped fresh red chilli.
Get barbecuing
Now for the main event. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the Weber Slate Griddle. Turn the right-hand burner to low, the central burners to medium and the left-hand burner to full whack.
Arrange the asparagus and seafood on the barbecue from right to left in the following order. Add your flavoured butter on and around the seafood, and cook according to these guidelines:
- Asparagus: low heat (right-hand side) for 5 to 10 minutes, or until tender and lightly charred, turning occasionally.
- Prawns: 6 minutes, or until pink, turning halfway.
- Tuna: 5 minutes, or until golden on the outside and blushing in the middle, turning halfway.
- Scallops (scallop-side down): 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown with caramelised edges.
- Squid: 2 to 3 minutes, or until curled up and nicely chargrilled, turning halfway.
- Mussels & clams: highest heat (left-hand side) for 3 minutes, or until fully opened, tossing occasionally. Chuck away any that haven’t opened.
Once something is cooked, remove it from the heat and set aside – you don’t want things to burn!
Platters, assemble!
When everything is nicely cooked, it’s time to assemble your beautiful seafood feast with a few salad combos.
- Transfer the mussels and clams to a serving dish and squeeze over the lemon juice. Arrange the scallops around the edge and scatter over the parsley leaves.
- Finely slice the tomatoes, season to perfection, add the orange juice and 2 tablespoons of oil and mix. Transfer to a serving dish, pick over the herb leaves and arrange the prawns on top.
- Trim and finely slice the fennel and place it in a large serving dish with the fronds. Add the juice of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and season to perfection. Deseed and finely chop the chillies, scatter 1 over the top and toss together. Roughly slice the squid into pieces at an angle, drizzle over the remaining lemon juice, place on top of the fennel salad and scatter over the remaining chilli.
- Squash, destone and roughly chop the olives. Place the asparagus in a large bowl, dress with ½ the remaining lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of oil, then tear over the tuna and scatter over the olives.
And there you have your stunning barbecue seafood platter! Tuck in.
Make the most of your barbecue with Jamie’s favourite recipes for outdoor cooking.
