The cool nights of fall have now passed into the frigid chill of winter. As folks everywhere are turning indoors for the season, holing up to stay warm until spring arrives, take a look around your block. In more and more neighborhoods, homeowners are discovering they don’t have to completely retreat indoors. With outdoor fireplaces, it’s possible to enjoy the coziness and fun of a campfire right in the middle of winter.
But did you know that outdoor fireplaces are good for much more than providing a cozy backyard gathering spot? They’re known for inspiring cooks to explore a whole new way of preparing food. And what’s best is that you can cook outdoors all year ’round.
Here’s some inspiration for cooking through the seasons on your outdoor fireplace.
Fall: Classic Roast Leg of Lamb
For lamb that is truly tender and uniformly cooked throughout, cook it on a rotisserie over your outdoor fireplace. The rotisserie ensures you get slow, even cooking so you don’t end up with charred outsides and raw interior meat next to the bone.
This is a classic Provençal way of cooking the famous dish and it tastes incredible. If you’re a purist, there’s no better way to prepare this dish: slow roasting over a real fire means tender, juicy results.
Winter: No-Fuss Campfire Tacos
Campfire meals are a staple of summer and fall but in winter we tend to migrate indoors for our cooking. With outdoor fireplaces, there are lots of options for continuing to enjoy the fresh, outdoor taste of delicious food cooked over an open fire.
In the dead of winter, it can be fun to recall the essence of summer by preparing campfire tacos in your outdoor fireplace. Try fish tacos if you can find good fresh fish in your marketplace. You can even prepare all the ingredients indoors and ahead of time if you feel the need to minimize your time spent in the cold air!
Spring: Bacon-Wrapped Dates With Chorizo
Spring is the season of reawakenings, parties, and celebrations. If you’re a cook, it’s the perfect season for light finger foods that can serve a crowd. With an outdoor fireplace, you’ve got what you need to create an impressive, delicious party food right in your backyard. Namely, we’re talking something like bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with tasty chorizo sausage.
It’s a versatile dish because you can put the little nuggets right on the grill or you can use a skillet placed on the grill. They’re also idea for outdoor cooking because there are only three ingredients (chorizo, dates, bacon) with just toothpicks to hold it all together on the grill. Enjoy the exotic flavors as a fun way to celebrate spring and even better, invite your neighbors!
Summer: Grilled Oysters
You don’t have to travel to Georgia to enjoy the world’s best grilled oysters. Smother them in butter and grill them in your own back yard for a summertime treat fit for even the most die-hard oyster lovers in your life.
The oyster remains in the half-shell cup and gets place directly on the hot grill. Butter infused with spices and garlic gets ladled over them. If you let the butter drip down over the heat, even better because you’ll get that singed, smoky flavor that’s unmistakably one of the best things about summertime cooking.
That brings us around to a full year of cooking outdoors on your patio fireplace. Don’t have one yet? We can help! Call us any time with questions about outdoor fireplaces and we can get you cooking in no time.
