An?outdoor fireplace is an important feature?that attracts many people to an?outdoor kitchen?landscape design for their home. Backyard fireplaces are a great way to enjoy the outdoors, and can be used to prepare some of your favourite meals. You can also get creative and make gourmet dishes, depending on your outdoor fireplace design. For the most part, all you need are oven mitts and a grilling rack to make a large number of different dishes. If you?re looking for culinary inspiration, here are ten meals you can make with an outdoor fireplace.
- Scrambled Eggs All you need is a cast-iron skillet to have a great breakfast outdoors using your fireplace. In addition to eggs, you can cook bacon, sausages, beans, oatmeal and pancakes on your outdoor fireplace. You can make a complete breakfast for your family to enjoy outside, hot off the grill.
- T-bone Steak There is no better way to cook a T-bone steak than over an open flame, and it takes under ten minutes to cook. Simply season the meat and place it directly on the grilling rack, turning after five minutes. When those perfect grill marks start to appear, you know the meat is done. You can also place the steak directly on the embers at about four minutes per side. Once removed from heat, brush the meat off to remove any embers that are clinging to it.
- Fish This is one of the easiest meals to make on an outdoor fireplace. Simple seasonings like salt, pepper and lemon juice are all you need for delicious fish. Drizzle a cast-iron skillet with olive oil and place it on the heat for about two minutes (or until hot). Then, place the fish of your choice on the the hot, cast-iron skillet. Flip after about three minutes (four minutes for salmon or other thick-cut fish). Cook for another three minutes before serving.
- Roasted or Baked Potatoes Whether you use sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yellow ones or red ones, roasted potatoes are easy to make on an outdoor fireplace. In fact, you can bake the potatoes directly on the fireplace embers if you so desire. For roasting, you can leave the potatoes whole if they are small, or cube them, and place them in foil on a grilling rack. You can season your potatoes with salt, pepper, chives, garlic?it?s your call.
- Catalan Tomato Bread This is an easy fireplace recipe that takes no time at all. With garlic, ripe tomatoes and the bread of your choice, you have an exciting side dish. All you need is to rub some roasted garlic and halved tomatoes on the bread, getting as much juice out of them as you can. Then drizzle with olive oil and place on the grilling rack for two to four minutes. Remember that bread burns quite quickly so do not take your eyes off the grill.
- Onions Onions can be cooked over any open flame, so they work great on any outdoor fireplace. Cooking onions outdoors is easy because they can be placed whole directly on the fire or on a grilling rack. You can also wrap them in foil and cook them with other vegetables like mushrooms and peppers.
- String-turned Roasted Chicken Depending on the outdoor fireplace design you have, you should be able to easily set up a truss to roast your chicken. This works best with a whole chicken, and you will need a fireplace-safe pan to catch the drippings that fall as the bird cooks. You can also use the drippings to make a gravy or sauce to accompany your roasted chicken.
- Roasted Beef Tenderloin To make this dish, you will need to wrap the tenderloin in a clean towel (you can use a dishtowel if it?s thick enough). The meat needs to be closely wrapped in a towel so that you can place it directly on the fireplace. You will have to dampen the towel first otherwise the meat will stick to it, or it could catch fire. Roasted beef tenderloin on the fireplace takes about thirty minutes. For best results, turn the meat after fifteen minutes.
- Pizza To make perfect pizza it will depend on your outdoor fireplace design. If you?re lucky enough to have an outdoor pizza oven then you?re all set. If you have a traditional fireplace, don?t fret, you can still make pizza on it. You will need a grilling rack to place your pizza on and you will want it to be very hot. When removing the pizza from the fireplace you will need to wear oven mitts, otherwise you will burn your hands.
- S?moresEveryone?s favourite childhood camping trip treat?is easy to make on your outdoor fireplace. All you need are graham crackers, marshmallows, dark or milk chocolate and foil. Simply build your s?mores, wrap them in foil and place on the the grilling rack for one or two minutes. Alternately, you can skewer the marshmallows and hold them over the flames for about two minutes. Remove the marshmallows from the skewers and build your s?mores from there. If you have young children they will probably get a kick out of being able to roast their own marshmallows.
If you have an outdoor fireplace and you?ve wondering what to do with it, now is the time to unleash your inner chef and get to grilling! If you?re looking for outdoor kitchen landscape ideas,?contact us. We can convert any outdoor fireplace design into a reality.