Low stress dinner party for 12?

[Medea]

I'm the most nervous host in the world and yet I offered to have a dinner for a friend in the US, so I could introduce him around to some people I know here, and he could introduce me to some of his friends here. So I won't even know some of the guests.

I did a similar party last year, with a lot of the same guests, and did a sort of Morrocan-Spanish tapas-y thing, which suited the fact that a lot of the guests were vegetarian.

What on earth do I do this time around? What are dishes I can make ahead of time, i.e. a day or two in advance. I can't afford to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while the guests are here. Can anyone point me in a direction, even. . .like a good book with dinner party recipes? Or can you tell me about some yummy/impressive but simple things you've made for a large group of people?

The dinner is a little more than a week away!

Medea x

[spacedonkey]

In Nigella Bites there is a menu for 12 which she claims is pretty stress-free. Haven't got the book to hand to tell you more though, sorry!

[crunchie]

Do you want a sit down party or a stand up help yourself buffet?

Let me know and I will put my thinking cap on

[Medea]

Spacedonkey, I have Nigella Bites. . .I'll take a look!

Crunchie, what do you think: I have a largish dining table that can seat 12 in a pinch. Some of the guests are in their 60's and 70's and might probably prefer to sit at a table, instead of balancing a plate on their lap. So I thought to do a sit-down dinner with a casual feel. (All the guests will be quite laid-back sort of people.) Does a sit-down dinner sound OK to you? (I meant to ask that, too, in my original post.)

[Medea]

Anyway, I'm off the computer now for the rest of the day--I'll check in later. Knowing mumset, the whole menu will be planned!

[zippitippitoads]

I would sit down but not present "courses" so have a couple of hot dishes, some salds and extras and bread cheese and a couple of puddings

[anorak]

Make antipasti for starters - big platters of cooked/cured meats, smoked salmon, prawns, cherry toms, radishes, pickled mushrooms, veg sticks, olives, cheese, roasted cooled peppers, etc etc. Can all be laid out in advance, covered and put into the fridge.

[soapbox]

Does it have to be posh food???

If not the best food I have found for catering for largish numbers is Mexican.

I do a huge bowl of nachos covered in cheese with japeleno peppers on the side.

Then do millions of tortilla wraps, and a wide variety of fillings, grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, chilli beef, spicy chicken, grilled peppers, fried onion rings, freshly made salsa etc etc. Put all of it out on the table and let people dive in to help themselves.

Its very sociable too!

You can make all of the food in advance - store in the metal food containers like you get from the chinese and then reheat them all in the oven while you serve Margharitas and Dhaquaries!!

Then straight out onto serving plates and you are away!

For pud something like Key Lime pie works well!

[gossifer]

oooooooooh soapbox, you are making my tummy rumble!

[crunchie]

If the guests are a littel older then yes, sit down is better. Nigella would be my cookbook of choice as well!!

I love the idea of anti-pasti all on a big dish - BUT if the table is a squash with that many people passing round loads of food off one big platter maybe tricky. Smaller disches at each end would be a little easier - if there is room. Alos this is a good way to get people talking. Can be pricey though to get good quality ingrediants (if you serve it so simply the quality MUST be top) IMHO

What about canape type snacks with drinks while standing up to start with, this means you can forgo a starter. Lots can be preprepared in advance and heated up/left in a warm oven. Loads of cold ones work too. M&S often work well for these Ideas are
Nice sausages with mustard dip (pre-cook or whack into oevn 35 - 40 mins before)
Mini chicken goujons/fish goujons (can be made or out of packet)
Mini Falafal and dips
My personal fave is a fiddle but I LOVE it mini popadoms, dollop of NICe Tzatzki and a huge king prawn, scatter with black pepper and chopped corriander (MMMMM)

The you could sit down to a simple main course/pudding. Pudding could be an amazing cheese board (easy peezy) with celery/grapes/biscuits. Pudding could be a fab chocolate cake (Nigella does a great rich chocolate raspberry one served with creme fraiche)

Main course - hmmm. I would be tempted to do a cassorole of sorts (you could do a chicken one and a veggie one) something like Coq au Vin, or Chickken Chiacotore (SP?) one with wine and mushrooms, one with tomato and peppers!
Serve with jkt spuds for ease, rice if you have rice cooker (keeps it hot and ready when done in advance) Lovely baby veggies in big bowls on table.
Nigella does a fab mushroom ragout that would keep veggies happy, again precooked in loads of wine if I remember.

Pretty much everything can be done at least one day before, only leaving veggies, rice, etc to go on at last min. Cassoroles are always better next day anyway

[crunchie]

Also teh guy is american, so how about british food - steak and ale casserole, apple crumble!! Love your idea soapy, but the guy is american and they know mexican food better than we do IYKWIM and oldies in thier 60/70's MAY have an issue with too spicey food or food that needs rolling at the table!!

[3PRINCESSES]

If you're not catering for vegetarians, the slow roast pork in nigella bites (based on a recipe in the green River Cafe book) is wonderful. Basically you get a big shoulder of pork, rub it with 5 spice and roast at a v. low temp for 24 hours. Comes out meltingly tender and tastes like Peking duck. With it I do green salad and potato dauphinoise/gratin type thing. Everything can be done well in advance.

[stitch]

for lots of people, i always cook curries. you can do them all the day before. except maybe rice, which you can do in the afternoon. and if you do it with fried onions and some veg, then it goes further.
i love the idea of mexican. might try something like that next time.
let us know how you get on.

[crunchie]

Nigellas pork is the b**ks it was the first thing I thought of, but I usually do it for bigger parties in a more 'Buffet' style It is so good and easy that dh does it now Also it is GREAT value, but find a real butcher, get the biggest joint you can, pre-order it and get them to score it for you.

[Medea]

You all have been a godsend.

I wonder:

1. Could I do the slow-cooked pork for the meat-eaters and ALSO the mushroom ragout for the veggies? Or would those two dishes clash? They both sound so yummy!
   
   
2. Also: as for the pork. . .I've never cooked it that way. Is it really, truly fail safe??? I won't be able to do an experiement before the dinner party; I don't think dh and I can manage a whole joint between the two of us!
   
   
3. I LOVE the idea of having passed-around starters with cocktails and then foregoing a proper starter. Any other favorites besides those yummy popadom ones?
   
   
4. I'm terribly drawn to anorak's antipasto idea, but perhaps that would clash with the "English" nature of the rest of the menu? Are there English equivalents to what anorak suggested, little nibbles I can put around the table that would go with the pork and the mushroom ragout? Or better not to?
   
   
5. And just by way of explantion, I can't do Mexican. Guest of honor is from California AND lived in Mexico for a long while. I'd have to do some pretty amazing Mexican food to be up to what he knows. . .In addition: the oldies wouldn't drink the margaritas etc. . .they'd just want wine. The Mexican idea would work for a younger group, but thanks so much, Soapbox.
   
   Thanks everyone else, too.

[Medea]

ps

6. 3princesses: do you have a good potato dauphinoise/gratin sort of thing? And how far in advance can teh preparation be done?

7. Is that chocolate cake Crunchie recommended EASY? I am a disaster of a baker, but I can do simple things mostly.

[popmum]

in the latest issue of bbc good food mag there is a recipe set by oh god, mind gone blank - the one who advertsed sugar?? tall with spikey hair ??? you know? - anyway a 'prepare ahead' menu which looked excellent for dinner parties - not too much to do on the day - it had 3 or 4 courses i think. looked good

[Medea]

Will look, popmum, thanks for the tip. I guess it's best to have as many ideas as possible.

[popmum]

i checked - it is gary rhodes
artichoke soup with parmesan sticks
beef bourguignon cottage pie
icced lemon curd and blueberry pots

yummy!

[3PRINCESSES]

just got back from work and thought I'd check progress! There is a great, very rich and luxurious potato dauphinoise recipe in Nigella Bites too, and you can do most of the cooking in advance. Just checking my book, and in fact both recipes come under the heading 'Sunday lunch for 12'!

I reckon the pork is failsafe-- I made it the first time for a re-union of my University friends and definitely didn't want to spend the day flapping in the kitchen (and so live up to my old reputation for being utterly chaotic and disorganised). Was thrilled to produce this fragrant dish of gorgeousness with seemingly no effort!

[crunchie]

The pork is TOTALLY failsafe, provided you get the joint from a BUTCHERS They will score it properly for you. DON'T go to a supermarket for this (also it is much much cheaper as the bone is left in - I paid about £15 for a joint that fed 20 with leftovers!!) Even dh who can't cook a sausage can cook this

Can't rember who's potato Dauphinoise precooks it in a saucepan and then dumps it in a dish (I am guessing also Nigella) Again failsafe as you can do the main cook the day before and then cook it in the oven on the day, have you a double oven, make the two things cook better alongside each other.


The Mushroom Ragout goes better with rice than Pototo Dauphinoise. I would choose a different veggie dish (I'll have a think for you as I am veggie, so don't even eat the pork we are talking about!)

The cake isn't hard - but then I do a lot of cooking. I will dig out the recipe this week. I have heard her chocolate cloud cake is heaven, but I have never made it. I loved the one with raspberries (I used frozen) as it was really rich and sexy IYKWIM

If you are going 'English' then do make some apple sauce to go with the Pork.

Startery nibbles

1. Prawns on popadoms (Make sure prawns are the BIG king ones and the Tzatzki is Total - it tastes better)
   
2. new potatoes roasted and split, fill with a small blob of sour cream or philidelphia
   
3. Posh Chicken 'Nuggets' - strips of chicken breast, dipped into beaten egg and then crushed cornflakes. Dip into ketchup or sourcream type dip
   
4. Parma ham rolls, wrap a slice around a small slice of melon
   
5. M&S party food
   
6. Nigella nuts bar nuts

[Medea]

Thanks for returning to the thread, crunchie & 3princesses. Crunchie, I was thinking. . .since I'll have a whole contingent of vegetarians, maybe I could do the mushroom dish, with basmati rice, and a whole bunch of grilled vegetables as little side dishes, likes courgettes & red peppers, and also the spinach/lemon salad Nigella recommends with the mushroom stew in Feast. Then I thought I could do the pork too, for those who eat meat, and surely the grilled veggies are sort of neutral enough to go OK with the pork? And then I might do potatoes just for the meat eaters, since it seems to go with the pork?

I guess the mushroom dish seems a good idea because it can be prepared a little in advance, and I can make a huge, huge pot of it. But if you can think of something better, something that doesn't require too much faffing like lasagne does, I am all ears!

[yoyo]

Which Nigella is the mushroom dish in and the sexy choc and raspberry pud? Got to do a veggie supper next week although they will eat fish. Have already done fish pie, spinach and tomato lasagne, salmon with pecorino crust and need inspiration! Great suggestions for the nibbles instead of starters.

[Medea]

The mushroom ragout is from feast, yoyo. Haven't found the pudding yet.

[crunchie]

I tend to do the mushroom ragout from Nigella's How to Eat - simply as it can mostly be preprepared. The Chocolate raspberry Pudding cake is also How to Eat. I am still trying to think of a good veggie main that will go with Dauphinoise potatos.

Or think of a meaty thing that will go wih teh rice and bits lie a good old beef stoganoff ( then you have one of each) which can be made the day before and reheated in the oven.

Nigella bits has the pork and potatoes (it also has loads of my other faves )

Good luck

[Medea]

Reporting back that dinner party was a success

Shredded lamb salad with pomogranate
mushroom ragout (with rice)
couscous with chickpeas and dried cherries (Nigella)
roated peppers with feta
roasted aubergine with pesto, parsley and pomegranate
roasted jerusalem artichokes with peppers
AND chocolate raspberry pudding cake (big crowd pleaser!)

Only bad thing was that lamb salad had gone a bit too cold. . .but most people were vegetarians, so that was OK.

As you can see, about 80% of the menu was devised by mumsnetters so THANK YOU.