It’s August, it’s officially summer so it’s time for a barbie. It doesn’t have to be scorching hot to dig out your pinny and tongs in the UK, but getting friends or family together to share some freshly cooked grub is a winner whatever the weather.

You don’t even have to be a good cook to impress as the BBQ King or Queen! Especially if you look beyond the bland beef burgers with typical relish and soggy salad. I joined a group of hungry bloggers this week to try out some sizzling summer recipes from the nation’s favourite meat alternative ‘Quorn’ and the newly founded London BBQ School in Peckham.

Considering Quorn is predominantely a ‘fungi’ or microprotein (grown in the same way as yogurt or beer) it is suprisingly tasty, and a super healthy alternative to it’s meaty equivalents! Low in fat and saturated fat, it’s a great substitute for almost anything that can be made with meat, with products including Quorn chicken fillets, meat-free mince, meat-free burgers,  meat- free hot dogs, meat-free bacon and my personal favourite meat-free meatballs! Too much time spent in Ikea perhaps- where veggie meatballs are a bit of an institution?! Who knows, but the fact I can buy some frozen chunks of loveliness from Tesco makes me very happy now!

With our host, barbecue expert and founder of the school, Alistair talking us through the impressive equipment, we were given a demo on how to start the fire, and in teams were let loose…

With four very easy to follow recipes on the menu, we were soon tucking in to some freshly cooked and quite frankly delicious grub. Quorn doesn’t take too long to cook, and the mango meatball kebabs, chicken fillet and pepper wraps, traditional veggie burgers with sweetcorn relish and sausage skewers in a pesto dressing tasted as good as they looked. Even the dips and marinades were easy to prepare (after a glass or three of cava!) and if I can do it, anyone can!

You could of course steal these recipe ideas and use them with meat, but that’s twice as much fat, and alot longer to wait for your balls!

Try them out for yourself

http://www.quorn.co.uk/recipes/vegetarian-meatball-kebabs/