Recipes for a barbecue Christmas

Christmas coincides with heat, and as much as we desire to pull off the spectacular extravaganza of a Christmas lunch, the motivation to do so on Christmas day is for most sorely lacking. With all those factors in mind the following recipes are simple seafood-based barbecue dishes with minimal prep but still have the wow factor. They are also light and fresh, the perfect foil for searing summer heat.

Brined and char-grilled whole chicken with cumin and lime

If you've never tried brining birds before roasting or grilling, you've been missing out. The resulting flesh is juicy and succulent, giving a greater tolerance to prevent the breasts drying out during cooking. The brine is flavoured with ginger and lime and doesn't need a sauce or dressing however a squirt of Sriracha and a fresh squeeze of lime doesn't go astray.

1.8kg free-range chicken, butterflied

50ml olive oil

1 tbsp cumin seeds, roughly ground in a mortar and pestle

3 limes, cut into wedges

Sriracha chilli sauce or similar, to serve

Brine

400g salt

100g brown sugar

10 kaffir lime leaves

40g piece ginger, roughly chopped

1. For brine, combine all ingredients with five litres water in a large pot and stir over high heat until salt has dissolved. Refrigerate brine until chilled.

2. Place chicken in the brine and refrigerate overnight. Remove chicken from brine, rinse and pat dry with paper towel, then return to the refrigerator uncovered for two hours to dry skin.

3. Preheat barbecue over medium-high heat. Brush chicken with oil and scatter with cumin seeds. Place skin-side down on barbecue and cook for five minutes, then turn and cook for another five minutes. Reduce heat to low and turn chicken again and cook for 15 minutes, then turn once more and cook for another 15 minutes or until skin is crisp and chicken is just cooked through.Test by piercing the thigh with a skewer, juices should run clear.

4. Remove chicken from grill and rest for 10 minutes. Cut chicken into pieces and serve with lime halves and chiili sauce.

Serves 6

Char-grilled whole prawns with watermelon and basil dressing

You can't get more celebratory than the cliched barbecued prawn. The watermelon dressing adds a fresh, sweet-sour element with the added bite of Sriracha chilli sauce.

24 (about 1kg) whole green king prawns, butterflied

2 tbsp olive oil

50g fried shallots

Watermelon and basil dressing

600g piece of watermelon

½ cup firmly packed basil leaves, finely chopped, plus extra small leaves to serve

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp finely grated palm sugar

2 tsp Sriracha chilli sauce or similar

2 red shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

1. For watermelon and basil dressing, using a sharp knife remove the watermelon skin, then cut the flesh into 5-millimetre cubes. Place in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and combine, then set aside.

2. Preheat barbecue or char-grill pan on high heat. Remove prawn intestines and discard, then brush prawn flesh with olive oil and season with sea salt.

3. Place prawn flesh side down onto grill and cook for one minute, the turn and cook for another 30 seconds or until prawns are almost cooked, they will be opaque on top with a little raw flesh on the sides. Remove prawns, as they will finish cooking by the time they are served.

4. Arrange prawns on a serving plate, spoon over watermelon and basil dressing, then scatter with fried shallots.

Serves 6

Grilled corn with cucumber, radish and coriander with smoked chilli and miso butter sauce

Corn is the taste of summer and grilling it on the barbie is a great way to cook it, a slight char is an excellent foil for its sweetness. The butter, chilli and miso sauce is simple to prepare and apart from making a killer dressing for the salad, also goes extremely well over barbecued meat, be it beef, lamb, chicken or seafood.

5 cobs of corn

1 tbsp olive oil

2 lebanese cucumbers, shaved lengthways on a mandolin

6 radish (about 180g), thinly shaved on a mandolin

1 cup loosely packed coriander leaves

6 spring onions, thinly sliced

Smoked chilli and miso butter sauce

150g unsalted butter

1 tbsp white miso paste

½ tsp finely ground smoked chilli or hot smoked paprika

2 tsp olive oil

1. Heat a char-grill or barbecue to a high heat. Brush corn cobs with oil then place on grill, cook, turning occasionally until corn kernels begin to blacken and turn deep golden, about four to five minutes.

2. Remove corn from the grill and set aside to cool slightly, then using a sharp knife, remove kernels.

3. For smoked chilli and miso butter sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan, add miso, chilli and olive oil and whisk to dissolve miso. Set aside and keep warm.

4. In a large bowl combine cucumber, radish, coriander and spring onion. Scatter over corn and drizzle with butter, serve immediately

Serves 6

Palm-sugar meringue and grilled pineapple with mango passionfruit granita

Palm sugar in a meringue makes it taste eerily like honeycomb. With the grilled pineapple, coconut flavoured cream and a granita of mango, passionfruit and lime, it's a tropical pavlova.

130g (about 5) egg whites

pinch of salt

200g palm sugar, grated

½ (about 700g) pineapple

vegetable oil, for brushing pineapple

250ml pouring cream

60ml coconut cream

Mango passionfruit granita

2 (420g) mangoes, peeled, flesh removed and coarsely chopped

40ml lime juice

200ml sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water, i.e. 1 cup sugar: 1 cup water)

80g passionfruit pulp (about 4 passionfruit)

1. For mango and passionfruit granita, combine mangoes, lime juice and sugar syrup in a blender and puree until smooth. Stir through passionfruit pulp and pour into a shallow freezer-proof tray. Freeze until firm then, using a fork, scrape ice into flakes. Return to the freezer until required.

2. Preheat oven to 150C. Whisk egg whites and a pinch of salt in an electric mixer to soft peaks, then, with motor running add grated palm sugar a little at a time, ensuring each addition is well combined before adding the next.

3. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 2-centimetre plain nozzle and pipe onto a baking paper-lined oven tray in six mounds. Place in the oven, reduce temperature to 110C. Bake for one hour, then switch off oven and leave to cool with door closed for two to three hours. Store meringues in an airtight container.

4. Preheat barbecue or char-grill on high heat. Remove skin from pineapple and discard, then cut pineapple lengthways into six wedges, discarding the core. Place lightly oiled pineapple on the grill and cook until char lines appear, about three to four minutes, turn and repeat on the opposite side. Remove from grill and allow to cool to room temperature.

5. Whisk together cream and coconut cream to soft peaks. Place a meringue on each plate, dollop over cream, top with grilled piece of pineapple and granita.

Serves 6