Friday 19 May 2017

Roof Top Barbecue with John Lewis.


The month of May has brought so much rain that my longing for a spell of dry weather is growing intensely. I know that rain is good for farmers and the gardens and the soil etc but I do hate wet weather and I can't wait for a proper summer to emerge. I love being outdoors and relish alfresco dining so when John Lewis invited me to their recent roof top barbecue, I jumped at the chance all along keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the sun shines on the day. As if by magic my request was fulfilled as the evening turned out bright and sunny and warm with not a sign of a raindrop!! The venue a film studio -Brunswick studious with a terrace garden set in residential area of Kilburn was perfect and really quaint.



The barbecue was organised to showcase John Lewis's finest electric and gas barbecues and we all had a wonderful opportunity to test them out. Our chef for the evening was non other than Ed Smith from Rocket and Squash, a lawyer turned chef who has recently launched his cook book "On the side" which has a collection of 140 side dishes. Ed showed us how to "burn" food on the barbecue!!!! I think he really meant how to char. 
I loved the electric and gas barbecues, but If you have a small garden like I have and don't have enough space to have these beautiful full size barbecues there are smaller tabletop barbecues available for smaller spaces like these portable grills  from Globo Surf.



We watched a demo of beetroot and red onions being char grilled and then served with a lovely dill and feta dressing. This followed by char grilled leeks and spring onions and baked butternut squash and sweet potatoes. The leeks were served with a romesco sauce made from char grilled red peppers and almonds. Ed also barbecued some lamb for the non vegetarians.



Ed showed us that barbecue food does not have to be boring and all you need to do is be a little more imaginative with your ingredients. With this thought in mind we split into groups, mainly vegetarian and non vegetarians and created our own dishes from all the lovely produce that John Lewis had provided.



With three other foodie friends, Jagruti from jagrutiscookingodyssey, Manjiri from travelsfortaste and Lisa Moore we set about making our two dishes. Jagruti and I concentrated on the savory dish of Barbecued Sweet corn with Roast pepper and Mint salsa whilst Manjiri and Lisa created a sweet dish Smoky-n-Crunchy BBQ Pineapple. 




The other teams created some skewers of vegetables and lamb, roasted sweetcorn and sweet potato mash, sweet potato wedges served with a lovely creamy dip and a dessert of baked apples made on the barbecue served  with vanilla ice cream.



All our creations were photographed by Charlie Richards who is the photographer for the John Lewis Magazine. Once the photo shoots were over, we all tucked into the lovely barbecued feast over lots of chit chat and prosecco. The evening ended with gifts of beautiful signed copies of Ed's book.




You can find the recipe for the Barbecued Sweet Corn and Roasted Tomato Salsa with mint dressing recipe in my next post.
I would like to thank  John Lewis for inviting me to this lovely event, it most certainly brightened the rainy month of May. All the opinions and views expressed in this post are my own as are all the photographs.

50 comments:

  1. Lovely write up and great to meet you. I loved both your corn and the pineapple dishes! Ed

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    1. Thank you Ed it was wonderful cooking with you.

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  2. Oh wow, this looks like an incredible event with some delicious food. I'll look forward to reading the recipe x

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    1. Watch this space its up next on my blog.

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  3. This looks like an amazing event! And I'm very interested in hearing that sweet corn and roasted tomato salsa recipes!

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  4. Looks like you had a great bbq time. Lucky you getting a signed book and il be keeping my eyes out for the Barbecued Sweet Corn reciepe :) x

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  5. This looks like such a wonderful event. Two of my favorite things .. parties on a rooftop and BBQ. All of the food looks like it was amazing and I can't wait for next time when you post the Barbecued Sweet Corn and Roasted Tomato Salsa with mint dressing recipe!

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  6. I would never think of a vegetarian BBQ looking this amazing and delicious! Fab work!

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  7. Ooooh we're on the hunt for a new BBQ this year and the range for JL looks really good. Sounds like a fun event x

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    1. Check out the John Lewis web site there is a lovely range of all sizes.

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  8. Oh wow what a fun sounding event I have to admit I would love a good BBQ for the back garden but I don't know if I could actually use one, perhaps I'll have to try and ask my OH to do it.

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    1. Its actually fairly easy, just put veggies on BBQ and use lots of dips etc to serve them with.

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  9. Oh that all looks delicious, we are huge meat eaters but this really does look like something we would make!

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    1. I was well surprised the variety of veggie food there was.

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  10. How lovely that all your delicious creations got photographed for the John Lewis mag. The sweetcorn and salsa sounds like an exciting BBQ recipe x

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  11. Absolutely sounds like a good event, I'd love to attend in a event like t his, I bet this is so much fun.

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    1. It was lovely and there was so much veggie food.

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  12. Hahaha I like how he said 'how to burn food instead of how to char'. The food looks real delicious and sounds like a lovely evening out

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    1. It was really funny that he was encouraging us to burn the food!!!

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  13. Looks like a lovely BBQ, I can't wait to have my first one and I think it's going to be some point soon x

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    1. Yes hope for some some sunshine this bank holiday weekend.

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  15. Will update with a recipe link once my friend posts it.

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  16. I love a good barbecue and it looks like they really treated you all. I never do veggies on a bbq, I should do though...looks super yummy x

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  17. oh my, got to love a bbq. this looked like a great event and love how you are hands on there

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  18. It sounds like it was a lovely event hosted by John Lewis. The food all sounds delicious I do love vegetables on the bbq.

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  19. Oooh looks like a fabulous event, I love a good BBQ! xo

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  20. Looks like you had a fun-filled barbecue session. I love it too.. every year when we visit our kids in USA during summer we do that almost everyday. Love the smoky flavoured grilled food. Looking forward to the recipe post that you created.

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  21. Wow what an enjoyable way to cook BBQ. The venue looks great and being shown how to cook by a famous chef is like the icing on a cake. Your recipe sounds delicious so I am looking forward to you sharing it soon.

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  22. Wow what an amazing event to go to, and the food looks amazing! x

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  23. What a fun event! You can't go wrong with a good barbecue, and having the right grill is a must. x

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  24. Looks like a lovely event, we're looking for a new BBQ actually, I'll take a look at what John Lewis has. The BBQ pineapple looks delicious too!

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  25. Aww, what a fantastic sounding event. John Lewis are one of my favourite department stores. I'll have to take a look at their barbecues :)

    Louise x

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  26. This must have been really fun Nayna. What a great way to serve the ordinary roasted corn. Roasted pineapple and baked apples... yummy with all the exciting sauces and ice cream.

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  27. This look a lot of fun! I love BBQ and i would have love to been there. The foods look delish!

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  28. I love events like this. Great products mixed with great food and this breaks away from the type of bbq I loathe. I would love to eat all those bbq'ed veggies ...heaven

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  29. John Lewis always do a fab job. Can't beat a BBQ... So pleased it's nearly time to have them regularly!

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  30. oh wow this is my type of lunch date looks gorgeous look how fresh it all looks x

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  31. I think this is awesome! What a nice way to spend the summer. The grills sound amazing and it's good to have a reliable one that you can cook good food with. The dishes all look yummy!

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  32. This looks like so much fun! We don't have a rooftop that we can go on, sadly.

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  33. What a great event! I wish we had a good grill!

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  34. This looks like such a fun event with lots of yummy food!
    Barbecues are my favourite :)

    Dani x

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  35. What an amazing sounding and looking event! That BBQ looks so lovely. From the 23/24 BHE thread, but commenting on another xx

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  36. Looks like you had a great time at this amazing event. All the food looks so delicious

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  37. What a fantastic idea for an event. It looks like a lot of fun and all the food looks delicious

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