Please critique my first ever bbq menu

[Liud]

Hosting my first bbq this weekend in my first home.
Sadly the weather looks a little iffy but we’ll have a laugh regardless.

This is my menu. We have a few vegetarians. I think it’s a very easy menu as I can give dh the skewers I’ve premarinated. And the rest can be prepared in advance.

The only thing that really requires effort is the focaccia (I don’t love making bread but I love the recipe).

Its probably a bit carb heavy but I’ve done it that way with the vegetarians in mind.

Pasta salad
Homemade focaccia
Greek salad
Bombay new potatoes (dishoom recipe)
Butter herb new potatoes (for ppl who don’t like coriander)
Halloumi skewers
Veg skewers
Tandoori style chicken skewers (tastes better than takeaways imo)
Mint lamb kofte
Corn on the cob

Homemade mint chutney
tamarind sauce
Mango chutney

Crisps and shop bought dips
Nuts

Key lime pie
Profiteroles

Wine
Beer

Your plan looks tasty.

I would add lots of red and yellow peppers, beans and celery to the pasta salad. (Make it vege rich.)
I would add leaves to your Greek Salad, or make a Garden Salad.

If making the Lamb Kofti is too labour intensive - have chops, or lamb sausages.

Your chutneys look delicious.
Offer also plain tomato sauce.

Swap the profiteroles for fruit and cheese.

I would include two mocktails, or a colourful iced non alcoholic punch and water with ice and mint..

Sack off the pasta salad. Get in some decent sausages...

What time should I head over??

Oh and some great ideas, I'll be stealing from pp's. Thank you

Sounds amazing! No such thing as too many carbs.

Any particular reason not to have burgers and sausages?

@Liud Re the coriander - I always make the dish without and have a bowl of chopped fresh coriander on the side for people to add themselves.

More importantly - are you cooking for the vegetarians on a separate barbecue? If not please cook the veggie items first. No vegetarian I know will eat anything that has been cooked on a barbecue that has just had meat cooked on it.

I am interested in an Indian coleslaw recipe please!!

There’s watermelon, avocado, cucumber, feta and mint salad? Usually goes down well. I’d also chuck some pineapple on the bbq.

I think it sounds lovely, I mean I know you’re doing 2 potato dishes but people will have one or the other not both, maybe switch the pasta out for a bean based salad or a couscous one ( bbc do a lovely lemon and pomegranate one which is really good made the day before and is lovely and light to go with the meats)

love the fact it’s not all burgers and sausages, my DH drives me mad that all bbqs must have sausages burgers and drum sticks and I don’t eat any of those .

I would be disappointed that there were no sausages or burgers. A humble chicken drumstick wouldn’t go amiss either.

Sounds great but i would also lose a potato dish, and would do flatbreads instead of focaccia.... char them on the BBQ and then people can use them to pull stuff off their skewers and top with chutney.

British Indian here and I don’t agree that it’s a mental block - those are clashing flavours. Olives and olive oil (in salad or bread) do taste odd with tandoori chicken. The oregano on a Greek salad and rosemary on focaccia clash with Indian flavours too - sorry! And a kachumber salad has the right blend of spices to enhance the favours of tandoori chicken and lamb kofte - it’s not right to suggest that it is the same but minus feta, olives and olive oil.

That said, it’s your bbq and your decision. I am sure all the dishes will be delicious. And people can pick and choose what they eat and how they eat it. So don’t worry.

It is very carb heavy imo. I would have more protein - marinated tofu, baked beans and an Easter BBQ means lamb chops in this household! Also vegan sausages and watermelon/fruit plate for dessert.
Swop the pasta salad for chickpea couscous with grilled veg.

It sounds lovely but my OH would absolutely be looking for (and looking forward to) sausages and burgers. Even if you just had sausages without any bun but none at all, nor burgers, you're obvs part of a much posher crowd than I am! 😁

I'm a fussy eater, i'd not eat of of that! I'd be disappointed if i turned up and didn't get decent beef burger!

But saying that, i don't cater for BBQ's, i send a group text saying "putting the BBQ on this afternoon, bring whatever you want to cook!!" then everyone turns up with their own food, not a salad in sight 😂

where are the alcohol free drinks?

Too many sides and not enough meat options.

There’s very little meat compared with the other things. I think most people expect to have burgers, sausages, and steak at a barbecue.

That looks overcomplicated. I do one carb (potato salad), one salad (simple green salad), one meat (something slow smoked that goes on at 6am and can then be ignored until 4pm - e.g. pork shoulder, beef brisket, beef short ribs - a remote temperature probe is really useful), and a bunch of halloumi and aubergine for the vegetarians, to be done when the meat comes off.

And cocktails, lots of cocktails.

Can I come? It sounds delicious to me. I’d probably add another salad for colour, something like coleslaw or a bean salad would be ideal.

That sounds absolutely delicious! I would be very happy to be served that at a barbecue instead of a tasteless, overcooked burger.

I’d probably ditch the pasta salad (the potatoes and bread sound nicer so I’d opt for them and then skip the pasta)

A bean salad instead is a good idea. Or a coleslaw.

And make sure you have enough of the veggie kebabs / halloumi kebabs so the meat eaters can have some too! I hate it when I can’t have the veggie food because I eat meat and there’s not enough for me.

Id skip the crisps and nuts and dips. And add in several salads.

And of course , sausages and burgers , like everyone else has said. Especially if you have lots of male guests, men are simple creatures* and like big bits of meat instead of faffing with skewers. It’s a lot less work for you to prepare as well.

• sweeping generalisation I know but there you are

If budget isn’t an issue you could do tandoori salmon kebabs (with pineapple added to a few) with the same marinade as the chicken to add another meat option.

And potentially turn the lamb kofas into
indian spiced lamb burgers to satisfy everyone who wants a burger.

Tabbouleh always goes down well. I make it with quinoa instead of burghul (healthier and tastier) and add a fair bit of it, as well as tomatoes, to make it more substantial.

NB: utterly amazed by people who would rather have burgers and sausages (shop bought???!!) than your Tandoori style chicken skewers and Mint lamb kofte...

Where's the meat ? Isn't this a BBQ? This reads as a picnic hamper.