BBQ rules part 2

The star of the show has to be that beautiful, flaming grill and the rich, smokey flavours (and that cute guy with the tongs and apron).
But to take the pressure off, and to allow for inclement weather, it’s good to have one main dish out of the oven.
Here is a BBQ chicken roast which makes the most of the BBQ occasion, while giving you some breathing space to spread your awesome cuteness around.

Recipe: Barbecue chicken roast with rice

Ingredients

1 chicken cut into 8 pieces (see this post for method)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, diced
Chopped herbs: parsley, oregano, thyme, basil
1 bay leaf
2 cups long-grain rice
1.5 cup all purpose tomato salsa
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Method

Preheat BBQ grill. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place chicken skin down on the grill and cook for 2 minutes each side, or until skin is golden and grill marks show. Pre
Transfer to bowl, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.

In a casserole dish heated to medium, add olive oil and onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add juices from the covered chicken pieces. Add chopped herbs. Add tomato salsa, bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

Stir in rice. Stir in stock. Place chicken pieces with the nicest looking side facing up. Season with salt and pepper. Roast, uncovered for 30 minutes, or until rice is soft.

A slightly different version, on a bed of silver beet and rice, tomato salsa on top

Comments

You can either do this several hours before your guests arrive, or pop the chicken on with the haloumi starters and, while your guests are enjoying their entrée nibbles, your chicken is underway and about ready by the time the snags and steaks go on.
This is also a very good stand-alone Sunday evening meal, with lots of left-over school lunch potential.
This week, I made a very pleasant solo laksa with the shredded chicken from my Sunday BBQ roast.

BBQ rules

It’s BBQ season! My very first major purchase in my bachelor mk 2 life - even before a decent bed, which I took delivery of last week - was a good, four-burner, wok-burner on-the-side, barbecue.

Last weekend was a children and parents BBQ. Tomorrow is school buddies only (and not a child in sight).

With any luck my blue tongue lizard will make a reappearance in the garden bed tomorrow, as it was such a hit with the kids last Sunday.

Here are the respective menus.

BBQ menu 1 - adults and kids

Nibbles

• Eggplant and yogurt dip (from the local Turkish place)
• Queso blanco cheese
• Turkish bread

Mains

• Chicken and rice casserole
• Marinated pork ribs
• BBQ veggies

Afters

• Smoothies (banana and strawberry)

BBQ menu 2 - adults

Nibbles

• BBQ Haloumi
• Dips
• Turkish bread

Mains

• Lamb skewers - paprika and yogurt marinade
• Cajun chicken and rice
• Veggies

Afters

• Scorched fruit and ice cream

BBQ rules?

What’s that black stuff?

Firstly, the idea that it’s ok for barbecues to be filthy is just plain wrong. A wire brush and a vegetable oil cloth rubdown is essential before and after each use.

For cleaning implements, you can pay extra for BBQ style wire brushes and poly scrubbers - but you pay half for the same (or better) thing if you go to a decent harware shop. It’s basically painting and tiling cleaning tools you want.

Hood up or down?

Down! If your bbq has a hood, it must be down (closed) during most of the cooking, to take advantage of the full, smoky flavours that the bbq is all about.

Preheat!

For any bbq, the temperature needs to be at optimal cooking level before the food goes on. I preheat my gas bbq for 20 minutes before a single slice is sizzled.

Handling meat?

The basic rules are1. Flip the steaks once2. Don’t poke the sausages

For a steak, medium rare, follow the two-minute rule. Place steak on the grill for 2 minutes, turn 90 degrees, leave for two minutes. Flip. Two minutes later, turn 90 degrees. Two minutes later, remove to a covered dish and let rest for at least two minutes. The juices in the dish are now the ultimate BBQ sauce.

For sausages, the important thing to realise is that they aren’t steaks - full on heat will create problems. Get to know you BBQs hot and cooler spots (the all have them, despite the advertising claims) and your steaks go hot and your sausages go medium. Don’t poke. Flip once.

Where your steaks don’t want to go, your sausages do. It’s a beautiful thing.

What about veggies?

Barbecued vegetables (and fruit) is delicious. I use the grill for meat and seafood, and the plate exclusively for non-meat - haloumi cheese, vegetables and fruit. I think it is good manners to vegetarian friends for them to know that their meal is genuinely meat free. It just keep things simple.

Guilty secret? You can’t do eggs on the slotted grill. I use the plate for this. Sorry…