Help! Need an impressive but simple dinner menu

[sunshinelover69]

We are cooking for friends this weekend...whenever we go to them they completely push the boat out with 3 courses....cheese...everything cooked from scratch etc etc.

We can cook but we're more of a one pot wonder type of household so I need some ideas for simple but lovely menus for a Saturday dinner party. What are your 'go-to' menus for this type of thing?

If you like one pot what about carnitas? Very slow cooked pork with lots of flavourings and spices etc. Recipes online. I've done this for a dinner party and it went down well. I made a pineapple salsa, chilli sauce and pickles from scratch etc. Served with mini tortillas and sour cream. Also make guacamole, and I think I did Mexican corn on cob with lime and chilli. Other bits. So while the main dish was chuck in oven I made all the side bits.

Pavlova to finish - after the above main meal I did this with strawberries, rosewater and pink peppercorn (might have been an ottolenghi dish??).

I wouldn't bother with starters. Maybe nibbles? Mexican tortilla chips and home made salsa?

Cocktails!!

-something on crostini for starters - pate, chopped tomato + basil, etc
-boeuf bourguignon with green beans tossed in garlic butter, and mashed potatoes for the main
-buy a nice lemon tart or fruit tart for pudding, with creme fraiche
Lovely!

Nigella slow cooked lamb and pomegranate - slide in a low oven at the beginning of the day, will fall off the bone and you can shred with 2 forks by the time it comes to eat. Delicious: www.nigella.com/recipes/warm-shredded-lamb-salad-with-mint-and-pomegranate

Goes really well with dauphinoise potatoes - you could do early. Again, Nigella has a pretty easy recipe:
www.nigella.com/recipes/creamy-potato-gratin

Serve with nice greens.

Then pudding - everyone likes a crumble, right? Easy peasy. You may not be able to move much afterwards though lol!

Carnitas recipe www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/gizzi-erskines-carnitas-with-pineapple-salsa-and-pickled-onions/

Pavlova was nigella www.nigella.com/recipes/rose-and-pepper-pavlova-with-passionfruit-and-strawberries

Cold starter - alternatively nice nibbles and no starter
One-pot/slow cooker dish with vegetables
Cheese board (optional) with bread and crackers
Shop-bought dessert, nicely presented

Middle Eastern sharing platter for starters
Chickpea and Lemon Chicken for Mains with Cous Cous and Roast Veg or Cauliflower and Pommegranate
Baklava sweets for endings.

Go for really good ingredients simply done, and tell them you’re not great cooks, sure they are coming for the company not the food!

Nibbles: melt teaspoon of honey in microwave, add chilli and paprika and coat salted almonds. Roast in hot oven for 10 mins, serve warm with drinks.

Starter: Tomato, mozzarella salad drizzled with fresh pesto (Tesco finest do a good one). Proscutto and salami and gorgeous freshly baked bread with balsamic and oil.

Main - slow roasted lamb with Greek salad, yoghurt and warm pitta bread. Do Greek style potatos if you want to or a cous cous with loads of herbs and flavour.

Pudding - Eton mess with whipped cream and crushed raspberries.

Buy the most expensive ingredients you can afford and let the flavours speak for themselves.

Simple but yummy dessert. Buy meringues, strawberries ( quarter them), cherries, halved
and stoned.
Crush the meringues, mix in the strawberries and cherries, top with double cream.
It might be called Eton Mess, I'm not sure.
The guests will hate you if they're on a diet.

All of this can be made ahead so you can relax when they arrive.

Delia Basque chicken?
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/spanish/chicken-basque%3Famp&ved=2ahUKEwjRtd-Bj4n0AhUkJcUKHehNARYQFnoECAUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw34lPoip45MoGh-6oEd0xmX&ampcf=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/spanish/chicken-basque%3Famp&ved=2ahUKEwjRtd-Bj4n0AhUkJcUKHehNARYQFnoECAUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw34lPoip45MoGh-6oEd0xmX&ampcf=1

Could you order a Guosto box. They always turn out so well.Better than when I just follow a recipe

Ooh thankyou, so many fab ideas. I like the idea of slow cooked lamb. And I had thought of Eton Mess or Pavlova for dessert as it's easy but effective.

Starter: get some ready rolled puff pastry and do small tarts with some dressed leaves. Here’s a recipe: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/onion-goats-cheese-tarts-0 or Google for variations. Just tomato is also good.

Main: chicken with garlic and lemon. This is super easy and delicious busywifebusylife.com/recipe/garlic-chicken-lemon-anchovy-sauce/. (NB I first found the recipe in the New York Times, behind a paywall, but this blogger seems to have nicked it.) I serve it with sauté potatoes and green veg.

Pudding. For ease I’d probably buy a lemon tart etc.

Delia's chocolate torte is great for dessert if you want to make one. It is easy, can be made ahead and tastes amazing. (I'm vegan and the cream can easily be subbed for vegan cream if required)

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/christmas/christmas-desserts/the-famous-chocolate-truffle-torte

Yes good idea re the vegan thing, definitely worth checking for any special requirements!

Definitely not vegans/veggies.

Middle Eastern theme eg platter of pastries, dips, salads (but if you don't want to cook) with breads, slow cooked lamb with couscous, mixed Mediterranean vegetables. For dessert baklava, so simple if you buy the filo. Seems impressive though it's more assembly really

Easy but nice dessert. Chocolate & raspberry torte.

Base crushed oatie biscuits (Hobnob type), mix with 70g melted butter. Press into loose bottomed flan dish which is lined at the base & buttered around the sides. Bake at 180 for 8 minutes. Leave to cool.

Make dark chocolate ganache. Heat 300ml double cream with 2 tablespoons brown sugar until just "glooping". Remove from heat & stir in 280g dark chocolate (Bourneville is fine) until fully melted.
Leave to cool & then pour into the base. Put in fridge to set. Top with fresh raspberries before serving with ice cream.

So I think I'm going to do a lamb tagine with couscous, and eton mess for dessert. Do you think bread/olives/dips/nibbly bits of cheese would be ok for starters?

I would try and make the starter more middle Eastern than Mediterranean. So Baba ganoush, humous, olives, fallafel, flatbread, dates, pomegranate, tapenade.

But yes sounds good! Eton mess doesn't really 'go' but who cares!

Starters, not sure. Tear and share bread, baked camembert.
Definitely slow cooked lamb, always looks impressive all roasted so little effort.
Pudding, if you want something warm. I've made a brownie in advance before, in a cake tin rather than a tray. Slightly underdone and left, then warmed in the oven while serving the rest. With a Mascarpone cream which feels lighter than cream.

Camembert, lamb AND a hot dessert is a really heavy meal.

Mezze style starter works better with tagine.

(But I would do Pavlova rather than Eton mess)

Either way, OP, make sure you're comfortable with whatever you're doing and if it's a one pot meal, try not to feel inferior. My SIL always cooks two main courses and three desserts, as well as starters and cheeses afterwards. I just can't keep up with that, so to be honest I don't. I spoke to her about it once and she stressed they look forward to having whatever at ours, enjoy it as well our as company and she was then worried we wouldn't invite them again!

I was going to suggest tagine! Great plan. And yes, olives, cheese, bread to start is great. Maybe some fruit and nuts.

one of my favourites is Ox Cheek stew...melts in the mouth

My food friend says it is her favourite-

www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/slow-cooked-ox-cheeks-recipe