There’s a particular moment, somewhere between the first warm evening and the smell of charcoal catching, when cooking moves outside and everything feels a little more relaxed. Alfresco dining, at its best, isn’t about precision or performance – it’s about generosity, ease and the quiet theatre of food shared in the open air. This spring, as longer days pull us into gardens, balconies and borrowed patches of sun, it’s less about what’s on the table and more about how it brings people together.
That’s the thinking behind this collection of recipes, created in collaboration with Elevated Food For Life, Laura James and chef and food consultant Jason Shaw. His approach is refreshingly unfussy: “When I cook outdoors, I always think about balance… a great alfresco table usually has a mix of textures, temperatures and flavours – something smoky, fresh, creamy and crunchy.” It’s a philosophy that runs through everything here, from slow-cooked lamb neck with charred leeks and burrata to quick, bright dishes designed for last-minute gatherings.
Crucially, these are recipes that understand the mood of outdoor cooking. “I always recommend dishes that are simple to cook over flame but still feel generous and impressive when you serve them outdoors,” Shaw says. “Cooking over charcoal adds depth to ingredients that might otherwise feel quite simple.” That might mean a spatchcock chicken marinated with garlic, herbs and lemon for a hit of Mediterranean freshness, or salmon paired with charred baby gem – the sort of detail that quietly elevates a dish without overcomplicating it.
Even the more comforting elements have their place here. Think filled potato skins loaded with macaroni cheese, designed to be prepped ahead and passed around as the evening cools, or a prawn saganaki that feels both rustic and quietly showy. And yes, dessert belongs on the barbecue too: grilled apricots, their sweetness intensified by the heat, finished simply with cream or yoghurt.
For more spontaneous moments, Shaw leans on instinct over instruction. “The best impromptu outdoor meals rely on great ingredients and simple preparation rather than complex cooking,” he says – whether that’s a quick carpaccio, a watermelon and feta salad, or flatbreads thrown on the grill and torn apart at the table.
If there’s a single takeaway, it’s this: the smallest details often matter most. “One of the simplest things people can do to elevate outdoor cooking is focus on the finishing touches,” Shaw explains. A squeeze of citrus, a scatter of fresh herbs, a final drizzle of good olive oil – small gestures that turn something good into something memorable.
Because ultimately, alfresco dining isn’t about perfection. It’s about the easy rhythm of cooking, eating and lingering a little longer than planned – preferably with something smoky on the plate and a glass in hand.
Six easy al fresco recipe ideas
BBQ lamb neck with leeks and burrata
In this recipe, we are grilling lamb neck, a fabulously underrated and inexpensive cut of lamb that is high in protein and low in fat once grilled. Ordinarily, a tough, hard-working muscle that requires slow cooking, lamb lends itself remarkably well to the BBQ.
We are serving it with chargrilled heart-healthy leeks and tender burrata, a high-protein Italian cow’s milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream.
The recipe is low on ingredients; in fact, it couldn’t be easier to cook, but look after this and treat it with respect, and you’ll get more wow from your grill than you ever could with a burger and sausages.
Serves: 2
Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
300g lamb neck (2 pieces)
2 leeks
100g burrata cheese
2 stalks of rosemary or oregano
Method
1. Light your BBQ and allow the charcoal to stop flaming and turn white.
2. Season your lamb neck steaks with salt and place them on the grill with a sprig of herb on each.
3. Cook for around 15-20 minutes in total, turning frequently to even out the cooking.
4. Remove the lamb and allow to rest for a further 15 minutes.
5. In the meantime, add your leeks with the outer skin on to the slightly cooler charcoals or embers to the side.
6. The leeks will be done when you prick them with a knife, try to lift them and if they fall off the knife, they are done.
7. Thinly slice the lamb onto a plate, split the leeks in half (you only eat the inner, tender part).
BBQ spatchcock chicken
Rather than running the risk of grabbing some cheap chicken breasts that will only toughen up on the grill, in this recipe, we’re grilling a young chicken (also known as a poussin), spatchcocking it and grilling it with heart-healthy leeks for an amazingly tender dish.
Serves: 2
Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 young chicken (poussin)
2 shallots
2 tbsp Elevated house rub
1tsp rapeseed oil
100g/4oz Elevated BBQ sauce
Method:
1. Either get your butcher to spatchcock the poussin, or remove the backbone with a sharp paring knife. This allows it to be spread out and cook better and more evenly on the grill.
2. Rub the bird all over with our house rub loosened with a little oil and allow to stand for an hour or so before cooking (overnight is even better).
3. Light your BBQ and allow the charcoal to stop flaming and turn white.
4. Using either two cooling racks with which to sandwich the bird, or a pair of skewers going through it at a cross angle, place it on the grill skin side down.
5. Flip after 5 minutes and continue to turn (for extra flavour, place some sprigs of herbs under the bird as it cooks).
6. Meanwhile, clean and split your shallots and gentle char grill alongside the chicken.
7. Using a meat thermometer, ensure the chicken is cooked to higher than 75C in the thickest parts.
8. When done, remove and allow to stand for 20 minutes.
9. Serve with the chargrilled shallots and either our BBQ sauce or a good store-bought one.
BBQ salmon
You don’t have to buy low-cost burgers and sausages to keep your BBQ costs down. In this recipe, we take salmon tail fillet, a cheaper cook and let it cook over charcoals, serving alongside char-grilled lettuce, which tastes a little like ‘seaweed’ from a Chinese restaurant.
You don’t have to buy low-cost burgers and sausages to keep your BBQ costs down.
In this recipe, we take salmon tail fillet, a cheaper cut and let it cook over charcoals, serving alongside char-grilled lettuce, which tastes a little like “seaweed” from a Chinese restaurant.
The baby gem brings with it fibre, antioxidants, vitamins A and K, and minerals such as calcium, potassium, and iron, which help with muscle function, bone strength and oxygen transport.
Serves: 2
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
360g/12oz salmon tail fillet (two pieces)
2 lemons
1 baby gem or 1 small romaine lettuce
Method:
1. Light your BBQ and allow the charcoal to stop flaming and turn white.
2. Season the salmon with salt and place it on the grill skin-side down with a sprig of basil on top.
3. Cover with an inverted frying pan so the top can steam through.
4. Half the lettuce and place it on the grill, centre-side down.
5. Half the lemon and add to the grill, cut side down.
6. After around 8 minutes, check that the salmon is done.
7. Serve with the grilled lettuce and lemon wedge.
Ultimate creamy mashed potatoes
Here’s an indulgent side dish recipe for those days when you want something familiar and comforting when the chills set in.
It’s Jason’s ultimate mashed potatoes recipe, using only the best ingredients: potatoes, our own organic butter and double cream. We won’t pretend this one is super health-giving, but this is a dish that just makes you feel warm inside.
We prepare the potatoes in the same way Italian chefs do for the base of gnocchi. By baking the potatoes, we are not diluting the vitamin and mineral content with steam or water and keeping the dish as nutritious as possible.
Serves: 4
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:
600g/21oz (around four) large floury potatoes such as Cara, Maris Piper or King Edwards
150g/5oz organic double cream
50g/1.8oz organic butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/390F (fan) or 220C/430F (convection).
2. Place the potatoes on an oven-proof tray and drizzle with a little olive oil and sea salt.
3. Agitate the potatoes to cover with the oil and salt.
4. Place in the oven until cooked (around 60 minutes depending on size).
5. Working quickly with a cloth to avoid burning, split each potato and scoop out the warm, tender flesh. Reserve the skins to either return to the oven and crisp up as a snack.
6. Pass all the flesh through a sieve to create the ultimate smooth, intense pomme puree.
7. Add the cream and butter to a pan and heat until it reduces to a custard consistency.
8. Fold in the potato to the emulsion and add salt and pepper to taste.
Prawn saganaki
Quick, simple, and super tasty, this recipe is super high in protein and omega-3 fats while retaining a real show-stopping look when served at the table, especially if steaming in the pot.
Saganaki comes from a Greek dish, rediscovered by us on our trip to Athens and Sparta in September 2023, when James ran Spartathlon, and Jason crewed for him. The name comes from the double-handed pot in which it is traditionally cooked, but essentially it’s a form of sauteeing or shallow frying. We ate this dish in several iterations, and they were all delicious.
Raw shrimp or tiger prawns are essential here, either peeled and deveined, or left in shells for a more rustic look and eaten, with all the juices kept intact.
The ingredients naturally carry salt and saline notes, so we have consciously not added any more to the recipe and the spiced heat that gives it a zing comes from the chilli, so no black pepper either.
Serves: 1
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
6-10 (75g/2.6oz) raw peeled shrimp/tiger prawns
1/4 red chilli de-seeded and diced
3-4 spring onions, thinly sliced
150g/5oz BB Tomato Fondue
5-6 pitted black olives cut into quarters
3-4 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
5tsp feta cheese
2tsp Olive oil
Squeeze lemon juice
Crusty sourdough to serve
Method:
1. Pre-make your BB Tomato Fondue or draw some from the refrigerator or freezer.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/360F (fan) or 200C/390F (convection).
3. Heat your skillet/pan on the stove top, add a splash of olive oil and seal off the prawns quickly on both sides, lifting out and reserving one side (these are not fully cooked yet).
4. While the skillet is still hot, add the chilli and the white slices of the spring onion, cooking out for 1-2 minutes but not colouring.
5. Add the Tomato Fondue, stir and bring to a gentle bubble.
6. Place the tomato and olive quarters on top, cover with a butter wrapper as a cartouche and pop in the oven for 5-6 minutes until thoroughly heated through.
7. Remove from the oven and lay the sealed prawns on top.
8. Pop back in the oven for a further 3-4 minutes (do not cover) until the prawns have cooked through.
9. Just before serving, crumble the salty feta over the top, along with the green parts of the sliced spring onions, torn Greek basil (or thyme) and a squeeze of lemon juice.
10. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with warm, crusty sourdough.
BBQ grilled apricots and almond macaroons
A BBQ pudding? Yes please!
In this simple dessert recipe, we harness the power of our grill to first chargrill and then stew down our stone fruits alongside some delicious blueberries and serve them with a simple almond macaroon also done on the grill.
Nutritionally, we are using just a dash of natural maple syrup here to bring out the natural flavours of the fruits. Apricots are high in antioxidants, can help promote gut health and have heart-protective properties.
We’ve married them with blueberries for both a flavour enhancement, but also as we’ve added cardamom to the cookies. Cardamom and blueberries together have been shown to help boost natural killer cells – a type of immune cell that can help fight cancer.
Serves: 6
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
For the fruit:
12-14 apricots
100g/4oz blueberries
Dash of maple syrup
For the macaroons:
2 egg whites
150g/5oz caster sugar
150g/5oz ground almonds
5 tsp flaked almonds
½ tsp ground cardamom
For the crème chantilly:
250ml/9oz double cream
1g ground cardamom
Splash of rum (optional)
½ tsp vanilla extract
Method:
1. Light your BBQ and allow the charcoal to stop flaming and turn white.
2. Make your dessert before you make anything else to ensure the grill is clean from meat juices.
3. Split the apricots and destone, lightly spray with oil to stop them sticking and place them flesh down first to caramelise.
4. Flip over after 2-3 minutes and cook skin side down for a further 2-3 minutes.
5. Remove to a heat-proof dish, add the blueberries and maple syrup, cover and place on a rack or cooler part of the grill to keep warm and gently stew out.
6. The macaroons can be made in advance if desired.
7. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks are formed.
8. Fold the sugar, ground almonds and cardamom together.
9. Fold the dry mix into the eggs, being careful not to remove the air.
10. Spray a jam tart or muffin pan with a little oil, divide the mixture into 12 and place one in each receptacle.
11. Cover and place on the grill (or in the oven) for 5 minutes or so.
12. Flip and cook on the other side for a further 5 minutes.
13. Whip the double cream to peaks and add the rum, vanilla and cardamom.
14. Place the stone fruits in a serving tray and surround with the macaroons, daub with the cream to serve.
For more inspiration – from clever cooking shortcuts to thoughtfully designed pieces that make hosting that bit easier – explore Elevated and the new-in garden collection at Laura James, where alfresco dining is treated as both an art and a way of bringing people together.
