It’s National Barbecue Week but unfortunately the weather in the South East has not been very obliging. If however you live in just about anywhere else in the country and are enjoying the sunshine you have surely got your barbecue fired up and ready to go?

You can’t have a barbecue in my opinion without sausages, they are my obligatory item, every time. How about mixing things up and turning the sausages into tasty kebabs with a lovely beer glaze, accompanied by a really gorgeous bulgar wheat salad packed full of flavour. Mmmm, mmmm.

I was sent a selection of Oxo Good Grips utensils to help me create something really tasty, along with Jimmy’s Farm beer and sausages to celebrate Jimmy’s Festival, a sausage and beer festival! Wow, I was absolutely blown away by the sausages, I have honestly never tasted ones so good. The first thing I did as I tucked into a breakfast sausage was look online to see if they are available to order online and thankfully they are. Other sausages will not compare now.

The beer was pretty good too, the stout was so smooth and made the perfect base for the glaze.

If you would like to try Jimmy’s sausages and beer for yourselves the festival sounds as though it’s going to be great fun. Jimmy Doherty, who originally comes from Essex, first made his name in the BBC documentary ‘Jimmy’s Farm’ which followed his progress starting the ‘Essex Pig Company’ rare-breed pig farm in 2002. Over the years the business has grown in to a family tourist attraction which now includes hosting its very own music and food festival. The family friendly event will be held at Jimmy’s Farm in Wherstead, Suffolk, on 23^rd and 24^th July and will incorporate two music stages, a cookery demonstration area and kids’ zone.

My favourite Oxo Good Grips tool has to be the Chopper, it makes short work of chopping herbs, onion, nuts and vegetables, perfect for the bulgar wheat salad which has a lot of herbs in it. The garlic press is fab too, it even has a built in cleaner so you don’t have to spend ages trying to get small pieces of garlic out of the holes.

A little tip for this recipe is to divide each sausage into two but just in case you haven’t thought of it before the best way is to use your thumb to press the meat into two halves and then twist the skin before cutting with scissors. This ensures the meat stays neatly inside the skin.

And don’t panic if the weather is not being kind, these taste just as good cooked under the grill and eaten indoors.

Beer Glazed Sausage Kebabs & Bulgar Wheat Salad recipe…

Beer glazed sausage kebabs

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Beer Glazed Sausage Kebabs

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  40 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Serves: 4

A sweet smooth beer glaze to give your barbecued meats a big boost of flavour!

Ingredients

• For the glaze
• 300ml Stout
• 30g brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Optional: a spoon of chipotle paste which adds an extra kick
• 30g butter
• The kebabs-
• 8 Sausages, cut into two. See notes for tip
• 1½ red onions
• 12 mushrooms
• 1 red pepper cut into chunks

Instructions

1. Put the stout, sugar, salt and garlic into a small saucepan and bring to the boil
2. Let the mixture bubble away until it has reduced by about two thirds, don't let it burn though. It will thicken up slightly but won't be really syrupy.
3. Once it has reduced remove from the heat and add the butter and stir until melted, if using the chipotle paste add it now and stir well.
4. Let the glaze cool a bit before using
5. Thread all the kebab ingredients onto 4 skewers
6. Pour the beer glaze over the kebabs and turn the kebabs to coat all of the ingredients in the glaze
7. Place the kebabs on a hot BBQ and cook until the sausages are cooked through.
8. Or grill the kebabs if it's not BBQ weather!

Notes

The best way to turn each sausage into two is to press down in the middle of the sausage with your thumb, and then twist the skin and cut with scissors. This keeps the sausage sealed shut

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Bulgar Wheat Salad

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Bulgar Wheat Salad

Prep time:  15 mins

Total time:  15 mins

Serves: 4

Such a quick and easy salad but it is packed full of flavour and makes a great side dish

Ingredients

• 100g bulgar wheat, cooked according to instructions
• 50g parsley, chopped
• 50g mint, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, chopped finely
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• Zest & juice 1 lemon
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well, if you can let all the flavours infuse for an hour or so it will taste even better

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Tickets for the Festival. to be held on 23^rd and 24^th July, 2016 are on sale now including options for camping.

For full line-up and ticket information, go to www.jimmysfestival.co.uk

Disclosure: I was sent a selection of Oxo Good Grips utensils and Beer and Sausages from Jimmy’s Farm but all words and opinions are my own.