MTT: A Really Easy BBQ

It’s somewhat of a tradition in our house that Friday is a bit of a fun day. Being a stay-and-work-at-home mum means the days can get rather repetitive and all blend into one if there is no weekend fun to look forward to (especially because my husband works lots of weekends) so it’s great to plan mini parties to get excited about. Everyone loves a party!

If I’m lucky on a Friday afternoon I get to drop Elfie with my lovely Mother-in-Law for a few hours and whilst they’re having fun at the library or PlayDoh-ing I take a bottle of wine round to Kaisa‘s shop for a gossip and a drink. Elfie usually comes home at about 6pm and my parents arrive shortly after (sometimes pit-stopping at the pub on the way home for a play on the big slide – Elfie, not my parents) and if Will isn’t working from home he gets back at 8. We order an Indian from our local, which is so great that Snoop Dogg once ordered from there, and drink one too many glasses of red wine. It’s an open invitation so we’re often joined by sister-in-laws or aunties and it’s always lots of fun.

A couple of weeks ago we’d had such delightful weather that I decided to throw the rule book out the window and have a BBQ instead of a takeaway. I know, I know… we’re wild, right? It was while I was putting together that particular BBQ that I realised how finely honed my menu is; we always cook exactly the same things, and they always taste brilliant (if I may say so myself). I have a pretty failsafe BBQ formula that never fails to satisfy.

It comprises of: 2 salads, corn on the cob, chicken and sausages or burgers. It’s enough for 4 or 5 and can be put together in under an hour (including a homemade marinade). It’s even more perfect for me because I prepare it during afternoon naptime and then hand the food over to Will to cook at dinner, as in our house the BBQ is strictly man territory only. I enjoy a sit down and a drink while the food cooks. Blissful!

Here’s how to throw a really really easy BBQ:

The basics:
Pack of sausages or burgers with bread rolls
Optional: one batch of caramelised onions for burgers/hotdogs
Pack of chicken thighs/drumsticks
Pack of 4 corn on the cobs
2 peppers
1 onion
Half a punnet of mushrooms
Kebab sticks, soaked in water

2 types of salad – I like to use one ready-bought bag as well as a beetroot and orange salad (see here for more salad ideas).

Pimms, Prosecco and/or wine (essential)

Marinade:
4 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp ketchup
Salt and pepper
Any more of the above ingredients to suit your taste (it’s a bit of a slapdash recipe)
1. At least 2 hours before you want to eat, mix all ingredients of the marinade together well.
2. Put all the chicken in a tuppaware container and pour the marinade over, reserving a little bit to paint on the corn and veggies. Put the chicken in the fridge.
3. Chop the peppers, onion and mushrooms into large pieces and thread on the pre-soaked kebab sticks.
4. Make up the salads and caramelised onions.
5. Right before you are ready to eat pre-cook the chicken in the oven for 15-20 mins at about 180 degrees.
6. Bang everything on the pre-heated BBQ, painting marinade on the veggies before they go on. Cook until lovely and blackened.
7. Enjoy and marvel at the easiest BBQ ever.