Ramadan Iftar BBQ 2018
Every year, we here at Feed the Lion celebrate the month of Ramadan by throwing an annual BBQ Iftar where we enjoy good food and drink following a long day of fasting.
And this year’s event was certainly the most exciting yet as we got to showcase and try produce from three UK-based companies.
While beverage was ordered from The Mocktail Company, the barbecue was stoked and ready for food from the recently launched Gourmet Halal Kitchen and the well established Hartwood Foods.
THE MOCKTAIL COMPANY
The Mocktail Company’s endless search to find exciting and refreshing options in non-alcoholic drinks!
We first met the team behind The Mocktail Company a few years ago at the London Halal Food Festival where we were left thoroughly impressed by their ambition, drive and, above all, their superbly-packaged mocktails which were utterly delicious.
And with the introduction of their latest flavour, Old Passioned, it had to be The Mocktail Company and their quartet of bottled beverages that would be priming our taste buds.
This is the new addition to the family. A vibrant orange-looking passionfruit sparkling drink that was delicious.
This is currently the only non-sparkling mocktail in their collection; and what a drink it was too. Full of that familiar Pina Colada flavour, and as smooth and silky as you’d like.
The fragrance of the strawberry was apparent as soon as the fizzy pop went off. Certainly had us coming back for more!
Their take on the classic mojito was superb! A strong, tangy, sharp sparkling drink this Nojito that we all thoroughly enjoyed.
GOURMET HALAL KITCHEN
And we’re set for the big BBQ with this incredible selection of Gourmet Sausages
Gourmet Halal Kitchen are the new boys on the block who use the finest and freshest HMC-approved halal meat and ingredients that are all locally sourced to produce and deliver handmade sausages of the highest calibre and standards, straight to your door!
The sausages come all fresh and vacuum packed to ensure optimum freshness, with free delivery for all orders over £75. They even go the extra mile in making available the option of sausages being prepped sous vide or raw.
Gourmet Halal Kitchen is also environmentally friendly too with their products wrapped in sugarcane trays which can be domestically composted or recycled via waste paper channels, and packed into recyclable Kraft paper boxes.
Half a dozen Buffalo Beef Sausages that are perfect for burgers.
Superb little Buffalo Beef Sausages that were perfect for building a burger.
The flavour was such that we didn’t really need that many condiments.
A little relish and some lettuce nestled in between quality brioche buns made for an incredibly enjoyable munch.
Just let the natural taste of these gourmet sausages speak for themselves.
Sriracha Chicken Sausages
These Sriracha Chicken Sausages had a subtle spicy taste that was just right. Deeply flavoured and addictive.
Chicken, Lemon & Thyme Sausages
The lemon and thyme were perfectly balanced making these Chicken, Lemon & Thyme Sausages really good.
Lamb & Mint Sausages
The text of these Lamb & Mint Sausages were wonderful. The mint was finely balanced enough to allow for the natural flavour of the lamb to come through very nicely.
Barbecue Beef Sausages
Oh yeah! Barbecue Beef Sausages with that smoky barbecue flavour coming through strongly. Absolutely delicious!
HARTWOOD FOODS
Raising the steaks with Hartwood Foods
Hartwood Foods is a speciality purveyor of beef that has established a state of the art, integrated, meat processing plant that’s fully approved by the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC).
What makes this a Muslim family-run, Bedfordshire-based business stand out head and shoulders above its competition is its entirely transparent supply chain for premium 35 day dry-aged beef.
If you want the ultimate primer on what to look out for when it comes to premium, quality beef, don’t forget to give their educational editorial a read.
Sirloin Dry Aged Srteak
Sometimes a picture is all that’s needed for selling a product.
Similar to all their meat, this gorgeously red piece of Sirloin was blast freezon to -40°C to optimally preserve its integrity while maintaining freshness, so as to retain both flavour and moisture for far longer than conventional refrigeration.
When Hartwood Foods says it goes the “extra mile” at sourcing “only the finest quality beef from UK and Irish farmers” that’s “naturally reared and grass-fed”, you better believe it!
Six Beef Burgers
Oh yes! Seeing these thick, huge beef patties got us extremely excited.
Dark and with the perfect fat content, these were full of flavour.
All that was required from us was to do justice to such quality by matching this with ultra-quality condiments.
We opted for beef tomatoes, pineapple, applewood cheese that was perfectly melted, all atop some crispy baby gem lettuce, and covered in tangy barbecue relish and ketchup.
Rib Eye Steak
Rump Steak
For dessert we here you ask?
Barbecued marshmellows for dessert
And a heavy meal, what could be better then something light in the form of barbecued Pin Panther marshmellows?
Courtesy of Gourmet Halal Kitchen, these were fat free and only 33 calories per servinig.
Coming in pink and white, they were perfect to the finale of this year’s Ramadan BBQ 2018!
Thanks again to our three sponsors:
The Mocktail Company, Gourmet Halal Kitchen and Hartwood Foods.
