Food challenge - I need BBQ recipes to feed the masses

[JoshandJamie]

We're holding a summer party at the end of July. We're expecting approximately 25 adults and 16 children, most of who are under 5. We are going to be BBQing, but am undecided as to what to make.

Do I try to theme it some way or do I just do loads of different meats and salads? And on the salad front, I need some inspiration. Anything too fancy and the kids won't touch it but don't want ye olde bog standard stuff either.

So pretend you're my caterer, what would you recommend?

PS - we have one vegetarian coming and I'm allergic to fish/seafood so that's out if being BBQd

Thanks

we always do veggie kebabs which are usually popular - peppers, mushrooms, cherry toms, courgettes and marinade them in something - we normally use a salad dressing.

Jamie Oliver has a recipe for a summer chickpea salad which always goes down very well here

Don't buy Quorn burgers or sausages for your veggie - they are horrible on the BBQ!

dont do too much meat
poeple dont eat as much as htye woudl in a sit donw meal imo

kdis will want suasages( not herby ones) and good qwuality hamburgers

do a couple of slamon steaks ( marinaded in terriyaki and ginger) for veggies who eat fish

adults cna have bbq chicken too maybe( get a breats nad whack it flat bwteeen paper) takes 5 mins to grill

ok salads

go onto delia online adn look at hers
id do a potato one iwht a vinagrette

a rice one

a pasta one and a green one

and some rolls fo the kids to haev hotdogs

don't bother theming it.
I wouldn't target kids with the salad tbh. Just make pasta salads , they might have some of that.
Loads of sausages, burgers, bread.
Kids will probably hardly eat a thing in all the excitement

lots of crisps and dips for all the hanging around while food is cooking too

the kdis at mine ate sausages in rolls
hamburgers
their parents gaev themsald that they left

i put out breadsticks plain srisps and ritz crackers
then they all had smarites ice creams

i've done BBQs for 40-60 and we've had:

sausages
burgers
kebabs with lots of veg and some chicken
BBQ drumsticks (done in oven)

rolls
french bread
crisps

lettuc/tom/cuc etc salas
carrot sticks for LOs
couscous/pasta salad

desserts - pavlova/trifle/meringues/fruit salad that kind of stuff

so nothing fancy, but always goes down v well and the kids eat heaps!

Peeled butternut squash, sliced thinly into rounds, brushed with oil; sweetcorn; veg kababs. Some vegetarians don't mind their food been cooked on the same BBQ as meat, many do tho so I'd check with your friend.
I prefer chicken thighs rather than drumsticks, marinated, but I always cook through in the oven and finish off on the bbq (to ensure cooked and to lighten load on bbq).
Kebabs allow the meat to go further for that many people. Are you allergic to preparing/cooking fish or just eating? We went to a BBQ where they made kebabs alternating cubes of salmon and thick slices of courgette - tastes far better than it sounds and looks pretty too.
Salads: i do one or two of: home made coleslaw; rice salad (current fave is rice with roasted veg and pesto sauce;) boiled new potatoes or potato salad (pots/spring onions/peas/sweetcorn/mayo); any variation on pasta salad; green salad
For the kids, just provide a bowl of cherry tomatoes and chopped up cucumber

dont do kebebas ofr htousands
youll eb ther all ngiht fgs

Some great suggestions here which I wil be suing but have to admit that a barbie ain't a barbie without some griddled haloumi....

Slice prior,(keep in fridge)drizzle with olive oil and sling on at the last minute.

Agree with Cod on the kebab thing.

I'd only do kebabs for the adults - 25 isn't that many!

Keep the meat choices simple - sausages and burgers + appropriate rolls.
Tabouleh, coleslaw, bowls of baby plum tomatoes and mixed leaves. (if you can't be bothered to make it the waitrose entertaining tabouleh is very nice)
Big tray of relishes, dressings, mustard etc.

Pudding: tubs of icecream, cornets, sprinkles and flakes to DIY

I always do lamb,chicken,burgers,sausages and some sort of fish to cover all bases.

To keep it simple with those sort of numbers,I wouldn't marinate anything-just as chippy says,have a large array of dressings/relishes.

How big is your barbecue?

Yuo need to keep it simple ime. Too many different cooking times gets confusing.

Sausages for kids, roll and ketchup. Get them done first

Chicken or burgers for adults

Make a space for a few veg kebabs. Olive oil, garlic, lemon adn a pinch of herbs is all you need for a marinade

Salads - do a mozarella, tomato and basil one - just drizzle a tiny bit of balsamic over it.

The above and one green salad, one potato salad and lots of decent bread/rolls for burgers

Jerk chicken is yummy btw!

remember once they haev had a drink hteir appetites shrink
puddings i did strawberries
posh ice crema adn bouthg apple tart

I always think that pre-cooking things and just finishing them off on the barbecue would be good, but am never organised enough to do it.

what a great idea littlelapin - so obvious, why hadn't I thought of that? A defo for our next BBQ!!

thanks for all the fab ideas. This has made it even harder now!!!

to be honest, I'd go with littlelapin's suggestion of a "kebab bar"; it's such a novelty (at least I've never seen it) you won't need to do much else. A few salads; some nice crusty bread/baguettes to go with it. Do hot dogs for the kids. A big bowl of strawberries with cream/icecream. Done.

And all those people milling around the barbie fussing over their creation? how does that work?

i dont wnat ot balrdy handle raw meat whne i am in whit linen