dinner for 25 (ish). 40th birthday. any suggestions?

[hatwoman]

minimum last minute faffing but needs to be quite special - for foodie dh...any ideas?

[hatwoman]

.

[brightwell]

Are you going to sit at a table or balance plates on your laps? I know you want something special but wouldn't it be easiest to do a huge pot of chilli or curry and a veggie alternative with rice, jacket potato's, salad & bread. and then some nice puddings.

[Thomcat]

Is it a sit down dinner? How many courses etc?

[hatwoman]

hopefully sit down. but slightly dependent on not getting any more acceptances! 3 courses - though could have starters as snacky standing up type things (corry, can;t bear the word canape...). other option I'm contemplating for starter is ceviche (sp?) - marinated fish.

[Overmydeadbody]

hatwoman do you want traditional meal suggestions or more fancy suff?

Traditional:

Coq au Vin

Beef Wellington

Luxury Fish Pie

individual toad in the holes with onion gravy

Beef Bourguignon

Whole baked Salmon

Not so traditional:

Moroccan roast lamb with couscous

Iranian chicken with sweet pine nut rice

Cheese stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in parma ham

Pan fried salmon with roasted root vegetables and basil oil

Lemon chicken with rice and stir fried veg

[hatwoman]

some nice ideas there. though I sure as hell ain't pan-frying anything for 25 people...

moroccan lamb is an old favourite of mine, to the extent that it's a bit overdone in the hat house.

what's the iranian chilken like? - can't do anything taht requires late faffing. I need to be drinking cocktails