Ingredients

1 medium to large potato per person
1 tablespoon yoghurt per potato
Spices (eg, paprika or ground chilli) or fresh herbs (eg, thyme, parsley)

Method

1. Wash and scrub potatoes, leaving skin intact
2. Place potatoes in the microwave
3. Cook for 3 minutes for one medium sized potato and 5-6 minutes for 2-3 potatoes
4. Squeeze the sides gently to check if they are cooked.  If they feel soft all round then they are ready
5. Remember that the cooking time will depend on the size of the potatoes and the power of your microwave so you may need to check your times carefully with your own microwave
6. Remove from the microwave and place on a serving platter or individual plates
7. Cut a cross in the top of each potato and squeeze the sides until the potato pulp fluffs up through the opening
8. Spoon a dollop of yoghurt on the fluffed up potato and sprinkle with herbs or spices
9. Serve with a meat dish and cooked vegetables or salad
10. Alternatively you could serve these baked potatoes with a vegetable casserole such as ratatouille.

Mashed potatoes are quite versatile and can be service in different ways.  For example, you can pile them into a middle of the plate and ten flatten the pile ready to serve meat on top. You can use them to make pies that need a potato topping such as cottage pie or shepherds pie.  You can add grated cheese (always winner with children who maintain they don’t like potatoes!)

Here’s a recipe for plain mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

1-1 ½ potatoes per person
water for boiling
salt to taste (no more than 1 tsp per saucepan of potatoes)
1 tablespoon milk per potato

Method

Peel potatoes and slice into even-sized pieces no smaller than 5cm

Put the cut potato pieces into a saucepan and just cover the potatoes with water and bring to the boil.

Cook until tender – about 15 minutes. Prick with a fork to test for tenderness  (Don’t overcook or you’ll end up with a messy mushy bits of very soft potato).

Drain immediately and add milk to the saucepan

Using a potato masher (show picture), mash the potatoes until smooth

Notes:

If you steam potatoes they will absorb less water and keep their shape better.

Prepare the potatoes just as you are ready to cook them.  Don’t leave them sitting around soaking, because they will absorb water and los vitamins and minerals

All you need is a number of potatoes all much the same size so they will cook evenly.  Allow at least one potato per person.

1. Scrub the potatoes to remove any dirt, but leave the skin on.  Cut or tear the foil into squares  large enough to wrap each potato individually
2. Coat the inside of the foil with cooking oil and place each potato in the centre of the foil and roll up the foil around the potato.  You can season with herbs, salt and pepper before wrapping them up if you want to
3. Seal the edges by folding the excess foil over the potato
4. Place the potatoes on the barbecue grill and turn regularly until cooked.  Depending on the size of the potatoes, these can take from 15 – 30 minutes to cook.
5. Test with a metal skewer or thin bladed knife to check if the potatoes are cooked.  Alternatively, gently squeeze the potatoes – they will be soft when cooked
6. To serve, open the top of the foil and cut a cross in the top of the potato.  Squeeze the potato  to open it up and spoon a dollop of yoghurt, cream or butter into the fluffy cooked potato.
7. Garnish with parsley, basil leaves or sprinkle with paprika

If you put the prepared vegetable pieces on a platter, everyone can make up their own kebabs.

Great for the children as they get to choose which vegetebles they want to eat.

Ingredients

Take a selection of any of the following vegetables:

Cubed eggplant, zucchini
Button mushrooms
Cherry tomatoes or quartered larger tomatoes
Pieces of potato,  kumara (Sweet potato) – partially pre-cooked
Capsicum – any colour, red, green, yellow etc

Method

If you are using wooden or bamboo kebab sticks, soak them in cold water for 15 minutes before you load them with vegetables.  (The sticks won’t burn on the barbecue if they’re wet).

If you’re using metal kebab sticks, make sure you have a thick  dry cloth to handle them when the vegetables are cooked to save getting burnt fingers

Thread 3-5 pieces of different vegetables on each stick.  Vary the colours so you don’t have all the green ones and all the red ones together.

Coat lightly with cooking oil and pace on the barbecue grill.  Turn regularly and coat with more oil if they start to look a bit dry.  Eggplant especially needs plenty of oil.

Vegetable kebabs can take 15-20 minutes to cook.

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.

Children love putting together their own burger. Some will try vegetables they won’t normally eat and others will simply take the things they like and leave the rest.

Ingredients

4 hamburger buns
4 meat patties
Sliced tomatoes
Lettuce leaves
Sliced cucumber
Halved gherkins
Tomato sauce
Mayonnaise

Method

1. Cut the hamburger buns in half and toast under the grill or on the barbeque grill
2. Cook the meat patties as directed
3. Put all the ingredients (except the tomato sauce and mayonnaise) on separate plates or on a large platter
4. Ask everyone to come and make up their own hamburger from the selection of accompaniments

Serves 4

Ingredients

500 gms minced beef
1 onion
1 egg
1 tablespoon of fresh mixed herbs ( or 1 teaspoon of dried herbs)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Finely chop the onion
2. Put  all the ingredients together in a bowl and stir until well mixed
3. Form into patties 8-10 cm round and 1cm high
4. Fry on a lightly greased pan or on the barbeque grill until browned
5. Turn and cook the other side until both sides are brown and the meat is cooked right through.
6. Serve on a bed of rice with fresh sliced tomatoes or cooked peas

Alternatively, you can put the patties into a hamburger bun and make your own burger with sliced tomatoes, lettuce leaves and other sliced salad ingredients, and tomato sauce.

Serves 4

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/

You can brighten it with finely chopped capsicum and cubed tomatoes.

Ingredients

4 medium potatoes
½ cup mayonnaise
salt
fresh herbs

Method

1. Peel and cut potatoes into cubes
2. Put into a saucepan of boiling water, salted to taste
3. Lower the heat so the water is just simmering and cook the potatoes till just tender
4. Drain and put into a large serving dish
5. Mix the mayonnaise through the cooked potatoes, gently stirring with a fork
6. Sprinkle fresh herbs over the top and serve immediately.

Ingredients – base

50 gms margarine
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa
½ cup sugar

Ingredients – sauce

½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 ½ cups hot water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. On the stovetop or in the microwave, heat the margarine, milk and vanilla essence until the margarine has melted
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a baking dish and mix in the sugar
4. Pour the warm milk mixture over the flour mixture and stir well till smooth.
5. For the sauce, mix the brown sugar and cocoa together and spread over the batter
6. Pour the hot water over the batter. Do not stir
7. Put the dish in to the oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until the batter has risen to the top of the dish and is cooked through. 
8. To serve, cut the batter into pieces and place in a serving plate.  Spoon the sauce over the top.

Serve 4