Dinner ideas for very traditional guest

[SheWoreYellow]

DH’s aunt is coming to stay. She’s lovely but is limited in what she’ll eat. I think she eats a pretty classic ‘fussy’ diet, so won’t eat anything too challenging.
I’d like to look after her though. I can do a roast one evening. What else can I cook that’s still ‘nice’. All my trying to be fancy meals are too weird.

How long is she staying?

Shepherds pie? chicken pie & veg? Sausage & mash?

Lancashire Hotpot?

Shepherds Pie
Lasagne
Fish pie
Fish and chips with peas or salad
Quiche and salad
Chicken pie with mash and veg

Gammon, potato salad/jacket potatoes/salad (of the very basic kind)

Cauliflower Cheese with Gammon?

Shepherds pie, fish pie, mince and dumplings, hot pot, steak pie with mash and veg, fish and chips, beef stew, toad in the hole, bangers and mash, roast chicken with new potatoes and veg, salmon with new potatoes and veg..

Fish pie - my granny would have found this luxurious, particularly if it had prawns and bits of egg in.

Beef stroganoff - also seen as a total luxury.

Pork schnitzel with rice - exotic (lemon wedges to squeeze over) but still bland.

Poached salmon and new potatoes

Otherwise do cottage pie, or maybe a park chop/lamb chops (grilled plain) and mash?

Some sort of casserole - chicken, white wine and tarragon might be nice. Or a really nice beef stew!

Pork chop, potatoes, green veg and gravy

I'd go with traditional fish&chips from a local chippy.
A traditional older lady is likely to see this as a real treat.

Sausage and mash
Corned beef hash
Casserole
Fish pie
Faggots and peas

Extra points if it's fish&chips on a Friday!

Sounds like my FIL. Strictly a meat and two veg man but also fussy beyond belief!
Try:
lamb chops, dauphinois (or new) potatoes and red cabbage
fish/cottage/shepherd’s pie with glazed carrots, and French beans or peas
coq au vin
beef bourginon

Basically anything that’s classic French cookery but without being what he calls ‘posh’.

Oh, and liver 🤢

I’d do a variety of protein, potatoes and 2 veg - ideally with a “classic” sauce to compliment the protein.

eg. Salmon fillet, jacket potatoes, green beans and carrots and a white sauce with dill

steak, sautéed potatoes, peas and spinach with blue cheese or mushroom sauce.

grilled lamb chops, mash, carrots, peas and mint sauce (possibly gravy too)

then a pie night (again, add potatoes in some form and a couple of veg).

I don't know what a classic fussy eater is but love these ideas.

Pork loin stuffed with stuffing
Chicken breast with roasted vegetables
Salmon with watercress

Make anything but 'rename' it, worked a treat with my late grandmother who refused to eat 'forrin muck'.

Pizza = cheese and tomato on crispy bread
Curry = spicy Lancashire hotpot

She used to scoff these offerings and ask for seconds although would look slightly surprised the following morning when she was a bit windy 😂

Corned beef hash
Pie and peas
Roast dinner
Half a roast chicken and chips
Fish in parsley sauce with new potatoes
Egg and chips
Sausage and mash in a big Yorkshire
Soup and a sandwich

Pork chops, mashed potato, gravy and veg
Lamb chops, boiled potatoes and veg with mint sauce
Shepherds Pie or Cottage Pie
Chicken and sweetcorn pie (chicken in a white sauce, pastry on top to make a pie)
Gammon steak with a pineapple ring served with chips and peas
Toad in the hole
Fish Pie
Cheese soufflé

Steak and mash
grill (sausage bacon and egg)
rosy chicken or beef
cod and chips

Chicken fricasse
fish with parsley sauce and new potatoes
Shepherds pie
fish pie
scallops?
soufflé
quiche
soup with a bread basket

Shepherds Pie

OP, please document her reaction when offered these dishes re-named.

I am aunt age and I would think you had lost your marbles or were auditioning for Bad Chefs.

Thanks everyone. I think I will definitely do fish and chips on the first (Friday!) night.

I’m not even sure what she eats or doesn’t - definitely nothing spicy, nothing challenging like olives or seafood, I think fish is out (presuming she’ll have sausage from the fish and chips places), no salad.

I think then a roast dinner and then I’ll have a look through all your other ideas for the third night and then I’m covered.

Why not just ask her? Fish is pretty standard so if she can't eat that you might struggle to guess her preferences.

The point of fish and chips on a Friday isn't to have a sausage 🙈🤣