BBQ Menu

Kebabs are always a winner, cubes of chicken/onion/pepper/cherry toms - yum.

I love fish done on the BBQ. Wrap it in tin foil with white wine, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mmm lush!

Didn't think of kebabs - thank-you!

I did a BBQ for my mum and uncle's joint birthday party just the other week. I provided all the salads and breads and stuff, and then got people to bring the meat/fish they wanted.

This was the side stuff we had; Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, potato salad, carrot, celery & pepper sticks with houmus and other dips, coleslaw, spring onions, french bread.

Also, instead of cocktails, I did jugs of Pimms which went down very well.

We had a BBQ on Saturday and had BBQ (took the lazy way out and bought an extra special bottle of marinade from Asda) pork ribs, HM sun dried tomato burgers, HM lamb koftas, HM coleslaw, HM potato salad and salad.

https://www.webtender.com/

https://www.cocktail.uk.com/

I think you've got the basics already but some special touches could be:

salmon fillets (basics are fine), diced, marinated in soy & honey then onto skewers

cooked prawns marinated in olive oil, lemon juice & crushed garlic

chicken wings marinated in chinese chicken kind of stuff, oven cook then finish on barbie

pasta salad - tuna, sweetcorn, mayo always a hit

Don't forget rolls, maybe garlic bread, cheese slices, sauces

For cocktails maybe offer a couple but focused on some key ingredients to avoid buying loads of bits you'll never use again! Maybe some different fruit juices with bubbly or vodka based drinks like sex on the beach, cosmopolitan and moscow mule.

Grilled halloumi

Grilled asparagus

Grilled corn on the cob (usually boiled for a bit first)

I usually do a Greek feta salad, and a big tub of houmous or tzatziki with breadsticks or slices of pitta bread.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm barbecues

Potato salad

I love BBQed asparagus, I coat it in a little olive oil and salt first. I've just realised the corn on the cobs are still in the fridge as I forgot to do them on Saturday. ?

I also had some red pepper mezze and HM tzatziki with lightly grilled pitta bread, cut into slices.

I especially like Halloumi and pepper kebabs - chunks of peppers in all colours (red, orange and yellow) interspeded with halloumi makes a very colourful dish. Another one of my favourites is tomato and mozarrella cheese with fresh basil leaves & a drizzle of good olive oil.

Cocktails, I always like cold pimms & lemonade with either cucumber garnish or chopped fruits & ice cubes (which being lazy, I buy in bags from the supermarket!)

This is always a pasta favourite at ours for parties as it can be eaten hot or cold and most of the measurements are by whole tubs or packets so you can't really go wrong!

500g Penne

2 med red onions

2 pkts pepperoni

1 tub/punnet/box (whatever they put them in) cherry toms

1 med pot single cream

1 jar green pesto (or homemade if you fancy...)

Some chives.

Put the pasta on to cook. Chop onions, toms and pepperoni, and pop in large pan/wok and gently heat. You shouldn't need much oil as the pepperoni releases quite a bit. Stir 3/4 tsps of pesto into the cream. Drain pasta and and add to the wok, pour sauce over it all, mix in and chop some chives on the top. Its gawjus and really simple!

I've recently discovered lamb neck as an alternative for kebabs, marinade in OO, garlic & chilli then add red onion and peppers.

I also love fish on a BBQ, sardines especially but they are so fiddly with the bones.

When we have a big party BBQ rather than the daily occurence we seem to be having I love a butterflied leg of lamb ?

Ooh that sounds fab Hay, might nick that recipe myself! What kind of pepperoni do you buy and from where? Not Pepperami I presume? ?

I did a BBQ on sunday, the winner was Sweet chilli King Prawn and med veg kebabs.

(marinade made from honey, finely chopped red chilli , brown sugar, garlic and balsamic vinegar)

Little tip though - soak the kebab sticks in water first, this stops them burning and put the prawns on the skewers first and the chunks of veg at the end. You can put the veg over the heat for longer and keep the prawns away from the edge so they don't burn.

Have to agree about the kebabs, very popular and easy to cook. For chicken, I prefer making kebabs using fillets (and marinating them) over chicken drumsticks as it's far easier to cook and not having to worry about it being cooked all the way through.

I had my birthday bbq last week and by far the most popular item I had were kebabs made with king prawns (garlicy ones) combined with scallops wrapped in streaky bacon. I just bought a big bag of frozen scallops, which wasn't even that expensive (£13 or so for kilo) and it really impressed the guests.

? No, not pepperami! Just the pepperoni that you can get either from the deli counter or the prepacked ready-to-eat meats shelf (where you'd find the hams etc.) I tend to cut the pepperoni into smaller pieces than they sell it so that everything is easy to eat with just a fork.

Vodka, archers, cranberry and a squeeze of lime is very drinkable ?