The main thing is to get the heat going under the grill plate so it doesn’t burn everything in sight but neither does it take hours to cook and test everyone’s patience.

You will need to follow the instructions that come with your barbecue and practise till you work out what works best on your barbecue.

So what to cook on your barbecue?

Barbecued meats

Some people say that it’s not a barbeque without sausages – and tomato sauce.  Basic barbecue sausages are sold precooked by butchers and supermarkets.  These are probably a good starting point as you only need to heat them through and you can be assured  that no-one will end up eating raw sausage meat.

Once you have had some practice you can experiment with the wide range of sausages on the market if you want to try different flavours.

Meat patties are good on the barbecue and can be sandwiched in a hamburger bun with sliced raw tomatoes, lettuce leaves and other salad ingredients.

Steak is another staple barbecue meat. You can often buy steaks that have been marinaded to tenderise them.

Or you can use pieces of rump steak or porterhouse steak. Either of these will be tender enough and won’t need much cooking.

Lamb chops work well too.

Chicken is very tasty when cooked on the barbecue but you do need to be especially careful to make sure its well cooked to avoid any risk of food poisoning.  Its worth doing a quick pre-cook of chicken pieces in the microwave or on a frying pan on the stovetop.

Clearly it’s important to time your cooking well.  Raw sausages and chicken need longer cooking so put them on first.  You can cook them through and keep them warm while you cook the meat patties, steaks or chops.

A barbecue can be made with just sausages or steaks or you can use several different meats.  Don’t be tempted to cook more than 2-3 different types of meat.

Of course you can always freeze it and bring it out at another time.  But having bought it all at this time, you may prefer to use it now.

So here are some ideas for using up the leftover Christmas meats – some for hot days, some that will work for cooler days.

Leftover beef, lamb or pork can be turned into a cottage pie.

For leftover ham, make it into a pasta dish.  Chop the ham into 1-2 cm cubes, cook your choice of pasta according to the instructions of the packet, make a cheese sauce and mix all together.  Serve with a green salad and fresh crusty bread.

Cold turkey or chicken can get the same treatment as ham.

A cold platter of meats and salad greens can be made to look most attractive if you add other bits and pieces from your fridge. Sliced tomatoes and cucumber are an obvious choice.

Olives, gherkins, sundried tomatoes, sprigs of basil cubes of fetta or camembert cheese can be scattered over the top of the platter to give it a festive air and your family or friends won’t even know they are eating ‘leftovers.’

The cold platter can be served as a light meal with bread rolls or crusty European bread or as a main meal with a bowl of hot cooked potatoes, such as baked rosemary potatoes, potato salad, served hot or cold,or simply boil a panful of small new potatoes in their skins and serve.

http://www.askmumnow.com/in-the-kitchen/recipes/dinner/cold-meat-platter

http://www.askmumnow.com/in-the-kitchen/recipes/extras/mayonnaise/

The traditional Christmas dinner hasn’t  lost its popularity even though today there are lots of ways to serve festive food at Christmas, including barbecues and cold meals for outdoor eating. 

For those who want to try a traditional Christmas dinner though, here’s a main menu to try.  Its really not too hard to do.

Firstly decide what meat you’ll have.  Roast lamb has been a traditional Christmas roast but now is rather expensive.  Pork, chicken or turkey roasts are more popular.  A whole roast chicken is very manageable for your first attempt at Christmas dinner for a small group.  If you are cooking for more than six people you can cook two chickens.  Chicken is economical but at the same time looks festive. 

Even if you have roast chicken often, it is unlikely you will fill the cavity with stuffing on a regular basis. But if you make a stuffing for your Christmas roast chicken it will seem quite special.

Follow the instructions for how to cook a roast dinner with your chosen meat.

1. You will need some stale bread and a hand grater or a food liquidiser
2. To use a grater, simply rub the bread over the coarse part of the grater until the bread is broken into crumbs.
3. To use the liquidizer, cut the stale bread into 5-7 cm squares and use the pulse button so the bread doesn’t get clogged in the blade.
4. You can freeze soft breadcrumbs  and use as you need them.

Ingredients

6 drumsticks or chicken thighs
½ cup dried apricots
1 medium onion
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 cups water
2 tablespoons flour

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C
2. Remove skin from the drumsticks by cutting through to the bone at the narrow end and pulling the skin off starting from the larger end where the skin is usually loose
3. Slice the onion into rings or smaller pieces
4. Put the skinned drumsticks, onion slices and dried apricots into a casserole dish with a lid
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste (take it easy with the salt for health reasons)
6. Cover with water and add the soy sauce
7. Cover the dish and bake for 1 hour then remove from the oven
8. Mix the flour with a little cold water to make a paste
9. Pour the flour and water paste into the casserole and stir to mix through.
10. Return the dish to the oven – without the lid – until the sauce has heated through again
11. Serve immediately with baked or boiled potatoes and hot cooked broccoli, beans or peas or a green salad

Serves 3-4

Note This casserole will develop more flavour is stored for 24 hours before eating so is a good dish to make at the weekend or during an evening to be eaten the next day

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cooking oil
500 gm chicken pieces
1 medium onion
2 sticks celery
1 cup chicken stock or water
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon chilli powder (optional)
2 cups rice
2 medium tomatoes

Method

1. Heat the cooking oil in a heavy saucepan
2. Chop the onions and celery into 1cm pieces
3. Add the chicken pieces and brown lightly – stirring all the time
4. Remove chicken and add onions and celery to the oil
5. Cook until the onion is transparent
6. Add the chicken stock and seasonings (salt, pepper, chilli powder and herbs)
7. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, uncovered, until chicken is cooked and most of the liquid has evaporated – about 30 minutes
8. Meanwhile cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet
9. When the rice is cooked, add it to the chicken and mix through
10. Dice the tomatoes into small pieces and sprinkle over the top of each plate
11. Serve immediately

Serves 3-4 adults

Lamb, beef, chicken or pork are favourite choices.  There is a wide range of ‘cuts’ or ‘joints’ of each of these.

Once you have decided what meat you are going to roast, heat the oven to 150-160°C.

Pour a small amount (probably about ¼ cup) of cooking oil into a large metal pan and place the meat in the pan.  It’s best to use a light flavoured oil such as canola or sunflower. (The solid ‘dripping’ or ‘lard’ that we used to use is out of fashion nowadays due to bad press about cholesterol).

Put the pan into the hot oven.

The cooking time depends on the cut of the meat, how well you want it cooked.  Beef and lamb have more flavour when cooked ‘rare’ or pink in the middle when served. Chicken and pork must be well cooked right through.

Cooking times are roughly:

You may need to experiment a bit with your own oven to get the times right for you and your household.  Beef is particularly personal as cooking times also depend on how rare you like your beef.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the vegetables for roasting.

Roast vegetables

Choose a selection of 2-3 root vegetables – potato, kumara, pumpkin, parsnip are the most common.

All these vegetables really need to be peeled, though if the pumpkin skin is tough you may want to leave it on during cooking and let people peel it off when it is on their plate and much softer.

When you have peeled the vegetables, cut them into evenly sized pieces so they will be cooked at roughly the same time.

Place the vegetables in the roasting pan around the meat and make sure each piece has a light coating of fat or oil.

Alternatively if you don’t want too much fat in your meal, coat the vegetables with a light covering of oil and place them on a wire rack on a separate dish in the oven.

The roast vegetables will need up to 45 minutes depending on the size of each piece.  After about 20 minutes, take the vegetables out of the oven and use a spatula or tongs to turn each piece in the pan so they are evenly browned all over.

When the time is up, take the meat from the oven and put on to a warm plate or dish and cover with aluminium foil and leave for 15 minutes to ‘rest”.  If you do this the meat will be more tender and tastier.  It also gives you time to cook any vegetables that need 10-15 mins on the stovetop.

You can also turn the oven temperature up a few notches to give the roasted vegetables a crispy boost for 10 – 15 mins.

Timing is one of the problem areas with a roast dinner.

Here’s a tip.

If your meat will take 2 hours to cook then it will need 15 minutes to rest.  SO you put your roast vegetables on 30 minutes before you plan to take the meat out of the oven.

At the same time as you take the meat out of the oven, start to cook the vegetables (such as broccoli, peas or beans) on the stove top.

The ‘greens’ will take less than 15 minutes so time these carefully so you don’t get overcooked soggy greens.

You can also make the gravy at this time.

Slice the meat into portions and serve with roasted and steamed vegetables and pan gravy.