Balsamic BBQ Pork Baguette

If you are using a charcoal barbecue, light it so that it has plenty of time to reach a good cooking temperature (see our handy guide, Getting the Most From Your BBQ). Score both sides of each pork steak with a sharp knife a few times, then season with salt and pepper and put the pork steaks into a shallow, heatproof dish. In a small jug or bowl, mix together the oil, vinegar and mustard, then crush in the garlic cloves and stir. Spoon the oil and vinegar mixture over the steaks, spreading it carefully over each of them, then cover the dish and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 10 minutes (now is a good time to prep any veg you want to serve). Slice four lengths from the baguette, each long enough to hold a steak, then halve each piece lengthwise (these will be the ‘burger buns’).

When the steaks have marinated, lift them out of the marinade, letting any excess drip back into the dish, and put them on the hot grill. Cook for 4-6 minutes on each side, until cooked through, cooking any veg alongside them on the grill. Put each cooked steak into a baguette ‘bun’, scattering the meat with the olives and basil, and serve straight away.

GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR BBQ

To get the best results from a charcoal barbecue, you need to get it up to a really good temperature well before you start cooking – if your barbecue get-together starts at 6pm, for example, light the barbecue at 5.30. It’s worth lightly oiling the grill, too, to avoid food sticking (use vegetable oil for this, not olive oil). To get the barbecue going, put the charcoal into it and pile it into a pyramid shape, inserting charcoal firelighters at the base. Light, then wait for about 30 minutes; after this time, the centre of your pyramid should be glowing, and the charcoal taking on a greyish tinge around the edges, but it’s not quite ready to cook on yet. Using a barbecue tool, gently rake the charcoal down from its pyramid, spreading it out (but not too thinly – if you leave a small area of the grate uncovered, you will have a cooler part of the grill to move food to, should you need to). Be patient and wait a little longer until the charcoal is grey, or covered in ash; as soon as it reaches this stage, you can start sizzling!