Crowd pleasing but easy NYE meal for eight adults

[NetflixandWill]

Hello,

We're hosting eight adults for NYE - drinks and food at ours.

I'd love to make something delicious and crowd-pleasing but easy - ideally prepped beforehand.

Any tried and tested recipes to share, please?

No dietary requirements - happy with meat or veggie as long as it's tasty.

Thanks

Tartiflette with a green salad, Germaine and prosciutto, salami etc.

Chilli with proper chunks of beef. Served with sour cream and guacamole. Easy to reheat. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chunky-chilli%3famp

Gherkins, not Germaine, and that's the small cornichons, as opposed to the massive ones. A beef carbonnade is good and develops if left for a day before eating.

@peachypetite beat me too it!

That or really dirty lasagne with garlic bread and salad?

I really wouldn't go too overboard as long as it's tasty people will be very happy!

I need to do this too for a similar number, although some of mine are a bit fussy, so watching carefully. I have been saying over Christmas that I'm amazed I've never made a lasagne, so that might be Option 1!

Watching for Option 2 (and pudding suggestions ...).

I was just about to suggest chilli done with beef chunks, add some expensive dark chocolate at the end, and provide loads of sour cream so people can tone it down if needs be.

I'd do Beef Bourginon with mashed potatoes and celeriac. Nigella has a lovely bourginon.

If you need a starter I'd do pea soup. Jamie Oliver has a lovely one.

For pudding I'd maybe cheat and go to a pattiserie and get a chocolate or fruit flan and ice cream.

Lasagne is a lot of work, double cooking if you ask me, I only do it when I have loads of time to spare, or I already have the components in the freezer.

Or a beef bourginon cooked the day before would work, do not skimp on the red wine and do not use cheap red wine.

I’d do a chorizo stew and double the quantities as this serves 4:
1 chorizo
2 tins tomatoes
400g butter beans
1 pot fresh pesto

Fry off chorizo in a little oil
Add the butter beans and cook for 1-2 mins
Add the tomatoes and simmer for 20 mins
Stir in pesto before serving.

Serve with fresh crusty bread and lashings of butter - I buy part baked sourdough baguettes.

Easiest recipe I make and an absolute favourite now.

I was going to say lasagne too!

Or how about something mexican? Fajitas, enchiladas?

I'd do a salad of some sort as a starter followed by slow cooked beef brisket pot roast. You put the beef on a couple of halved sticks of celery, an onion and a couple of carrots and blend the veg and resulting stock once the meat is cooked, sieve out any bits and it's a beautiful gravy.

Another vote for chilli. It improves by being made in advance which is a win win.

I made chilli for friends the other day and i was surprised at how well it went down. I made a meat one and also a veggie one with pea-based mince. I didn't bother with rice as it's not easy for a large crowd and not easy to keep warm so I'd do jackets spuds, bowls of nachos, tortillas and maybe crusty bread? You could make it quite mild and then put a bowl of chopped fresh chillis, some dried chilli flakes and a bottle of Tabasco out for people to adapt as they wish?

Another vote for 'posh' chilli. We also use the taco boats as well as rice as an alternative accompaniment + coriander, lime and sour cream to garnish.

Yep, make it the day before and it’s perfect!

Tradition in Scotland would be stovies. Onion, potatoes and some form of meat (traditionally left over roast but now commonly made with square/lorne sausage, link sausage or corned beef.

Cut onions chunky and sweat off, add in whatever meat and brown (unless it's a tin of corned beef) add in chopped potatoes (i do mine in various sizes as you want some lumps and some to go to mush). Add in stock to just below the level of the ingredients plus seasoning (plenty of pepper and salt to taste) and bring to the boil then simmer stirring occasionally until the potatoes are cooked through and the texture is somewhere between dryish and sloppy. If you are using corned beef, chop it up and stir through just before the end, you want it melted and warm (use less salt if doing this as the cb is quite salty itself). Serve with oatcakes or plenty bread and butter (and a swirl of hp sauce in our house).

This is an absolute banker.
realfood.tesco.com/recipes/annas-magnifique-coq-au-vin.html
I make it with boned skinless thigh portions and add a heaped tablespoon of cornflour to the stock mixture to produce a nice thick gravy.
It benefits from longer cooking than the recipe suggests but it's impossible to overcook.
I've served it to dinner guests who turned up 2 hours later than expected and it was delicious

I also like this chicken and chorizo jambalaya:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1167651/chicken-and-chorizo-jambalaya

or the hairy bikes Spanish chicken tray bake:

www.hairybikers.com/recipes/view/spanish-style-chicken-bake

@Smashtastick what is a dirty lasagne?

Paella, this Jamie Oliver recipe is soo easy and delicious www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/rice-recipes/chicken-chorizo-paella/

Or fish pie, can be prepped ahead and just popped in the oven.

watching since i need ideas too, i like the sound of the chilli. for pudding, I'm making a trifle, some chocolate cupcakes and a cheesecake

Yum.... wow these are great. Thanks for so many ideas so quickly! Will read and come back, didn't want to post and run.

Do you have indian sweet shops nearby? (I’m orginally from the midlands) big homemade curry prepped early then lots of samosas (bought from the sweet shop) and rice! Yum

Such great ideas, thank you all.

Nearly there: I'm veering towards posh chilli and rice. That's also made me think of looking up a nice beef ragu with tagliatelle. And I haven't quite shaken my original thought of coq au vin - we have a great recipe but I'm never sure others like meat from the bone. The suggestion about skinless boneless thighs helps with that one.

I won't do a starter and I also have a failsafe pud that I make the day before, so just need to make a decision about the main, make it and chill on the night!

Thanks