The sun decided to show its face yesterday. A whole 26 degrees worth of face! Crazy! That’s so warm for London that my mum actually messaged me from Australia to remind me to wear sunscreen. Thanks, Mum.
My housemates and I wanted to make the most of the amazing weather by having a little barbecue in our back garden. It’s a communal garden that no one in our building ever really uses but it seemed a shame that the massive patch of grass would go to waste on such a nice evening.
As one housemate was given a barbecue for his birthday by someone completely awesome (hint: it was me), it was the perfect opportunity for the little green bucket to make its début.
Barbecue culture is one thing I really miss from Australia so it was nice to recreate this, even if it was on a much smaller scale. And it was nice not having to keep a little ‘meat-free’ zone aside!
Earlier in the day, we’d taken a quick trip to our local farmers’ market and picked up some tasty sourdough bread and a nice supply of vegetables, including an amazing array of rainbow tomatoes. The tomatoes were definitely the pick of the day as they were so sweet and flavourful – perfect for salads and for sticking on a skewer and barbecuing!
Our menu for the evening included:
- Fresh Sourdough Bread
- Vegan Potato Salad
- Rainbow Tomato Garden Salad
- Linda McCartney Red Onion & Rosemary Sausages
- Halloumi & Lemon Filo Cigars
- Spicy Tofu & Mediterranean Vegetable Skewers
And of course a barbecue isn’t complete without a nice array of summery beers and ciders!
We spent the evening cooking up and devouring our delicious feast without a shred of meat in sight. Here’s the results:
Happy summer!
What a fantastic way to spend the day. I’m new to vegan and have since stayed away from breads. Is sour dough typically vegan?
It was such a lovely day! 🙂
From what I know, the basis of sourdough is generally flour, water and yeast. I’m not a vegan (though I do avoid eggs) so I’m not 100% sure – it may sometimes have milk in it so always best to check!
Awesome thanks.
Really lovely looking spread! I can’t wait to break out the charcoal and get cooking, I love a veggie barbecue!
Thanks! I’m sure it will be the first of many summer barbecues! Such a relaxing (and delicious!) way to spend an afternoon. 🙂
Absolutely glorious! This is such an inspiration.
Thanks so much! That’s really lovely. 🙂
Enjoy your London summer! It’s could in the southern hemisphere today.
The skewers looked great. I never knew you could cook filo on a barbecue.
Thanks! Trying to make the most of the London summer while it lasts! I give it a week… 😉
The skewers really really yummy and the halloumi cigars were great! I didn’t know you could barbecue filo either but Ross Dobson informed us we could in ‘Fired Up Vegetarian’ so we went for it! We learnt the hard way that we should probably cook it away from the open flame… oops!
A thousand times like! Vegetarian barbecues are the absolute best way to spend a summer day. Please tell me what you put in your potato salad!
Haha, thank you! 😀
You’re in luck as the recipe is actually on my blog here: http://wp.me/p2jz5Z-JN (shameless plug!). I used less oil this time and forgot the parsley but it was still delicious!
I suspect there will be many more veggie barbecues before the summer is over…
Love that shameless plug! I am all over that recipe. BBQs and potlucks, here I come.
Enjoy! 😀
Looks wonderful! We did pretty much the same thing this weekend- though, sadly, no pics to show for it.
Thank you! My neighbours probably wondered why on earth I was taking so many photos of our food!
Maybe you’ll just have to throw another barbecue to get pics. 😉
This is great, your farmers market veggies are beautiful! I’ve never had the courage to throw an all vegetarian bbq, but I have snuck a vegan chocolate mousse into a potluck before. 😉
Thanks! The farmers’ market veggies were so good. The tomatoes were honestly some of the best I’ve ever eaten!
I’m lucky in that one of my housemates is also a vegetarian and the other is happy to eat veggie but it can be hard to convince others how good it can be! I love sneaking in vegan dishes (especially baking) to parties or the office. 😉
Some superb ideas for a BBQ. I’m veggie, but the vegan ideas are great. Such lovely photos too:) Andy vegiefoodie.com
Thanks so much! 🙂 I’m a vegetarian too but experimenting more and more with vegan foods. This barbecue was delicious! Fingers crossed the amazing London weather keeps up so we can have many more. 😉
That’s a good thing to do. There is so much lovely food out there. Yes, let’s hope the weather holds for more BBQ’s.
Looks brilliant! Especially those sausages!
Thanks! We had so much good food that night – think we rolled back up to our flat! 😉 The Linda McCartney sausages are definitely my favourites of the veggie brands and the rosemary ones are extra delicious!
I like the rosemary ones too. They have a really nice flavour and go well with a BBQ or in a toad in a hole.
They were so good with that charcoal barbecue flavour. Yum!
I just googled her, and the range is amazing too! : )
Way, way better than Quorn (of which I am not a fan) and many of the others out there. Hope it’s available where you are! 😀
It is and that’s awesome since I share your dislike of Quorn! : )
Hooray! Enjoy! 😀
Great spread and great photos.
Thank you! 🙂
Reblogged this on Ferro Cosmetics Confidential and commented:
A perfect Vegan Cookout! Pretty Amazing!
What a lovely way to spend a day 😀
It was so nice! I’m a bit sad that summer seems to have truly left now… May have to rug up and host a winter version soon! 🙂
There is nothing like a winter bbq 😀 It will be spring here soon so at least I wont be freezing my bum off any more.
Ooh, I’ll be in Sydney for a couple of weeks next month so think I may force a veggie BBQ on the family! 😉
[…] little portable bubble that although adorable and fun, barely holds more than a few sausages (like the barbecue my housemates and I have). They have a proper, built in, multi-burner, multi-plate, hooded barbecue. And in a happy stroke […]