Easy celebration dinner recipes - no steak!

[TheElectricCity]

It's our 5 year wedding anniversary next weekend but we are in the midst of moving house so going to celebrate with a meal at home this evening. Any suggestions of something very straightforward but delicious? Steak and chips is always the go-to, but I fancy something else!

Buy it all ready cooked....
Pâté with toast
Salmon fillets (poached) served with Greek salad
Raspberries and cream

Have a lovely night! 🥂 🍾

Sounds delicious, hadn't thought of a starter, pate is a great idea! Thanks!

I tend to look for something a bit fancy from M&S for an easy but special meal.

I'd probably do prawn cocktails to start using a tub of prawns in cocktail sauce and adding salad.

An M&S main and sides.

Strawberries and cream for dessert.

Some fancy after dinner mint chocolates.

A bottle of Prosecco to wash it all down.

I do like an M&S meal deal but we have none nearby unfortunately, and I don't think Sainsbury's ready meals are quite as nice.

Linguine with fresh crab, garlic, chilli, parsley, cherry tomatoes.
Salad and garlic flatbread

Fajitas with fillings all laid out so you can make your own. We often have pulled chicken, onions and peppers, corn, rice. Then just a load of additional toppings, slaw, cheese, salsa etc.

Starter: tomato bruschetta
Main: pan fried sea bass or salmon fillet, roasted vegetables, roasted new potatoes
Pudding: cheesecake and raspberries or a lovely fruit salad with ice cream

Depends what you enjoy.

Consider how much effort the dish takes to make and how much last minute work, number of saucepans you need to use.
It is your special night too, so juggling stuff at the last minute, deep frying etc needs to be kept to a minimum, and ideally not too much clear up afterwards.

So a cook ahead meal- maybe a greek stifado, beef or lamb stew made in the slow cooker- served with crusty or flat bread, greek salad, olives, tzadziki.
A moussaka or lasagne, again with pre bought sides.
A large bowl of mussels for sharing.
Or a selection of mezze with some bubbly fizz.

Coq au vin is much easier than it sounds, as is beef bourguignon

.

Another vote for M&S, you can get it delivered via Ocado

Roast duck - we have a local shop that sells breasts and they are already marinated
with garlic potatoes

M and S do a gourmet range is nice.

If the weather is like today, I would be barbecuing seafood and fish steak (eg sea bream, salmon, squid, scallops, king prawns) and asparagus, mushrooms, and new potatoes, followed by fresh British strawberries and raspberries with ice cream. Actually, I would have mixed seafood and asparagus to start, then steak with mushrooms, tomatoes and new potatoes or homemade chips if I can be bothered to cook in the kitchen as well as on the barbecue. Maybe a nice frozen cocktail before dinner.

A bit late, but lamb shank slow cooked, with rosemary, red wine, stock, mint
Creamy mash
Your favourite veggies
Wine

My go to special atm is poached salmon ( skin off fillets) poached gently in a well flavoured stock made from chopped shallots, white wine and herbs ,) poaching takes 8 minutes. Remove fillets from the stock and leave in the fridge. When you are ready to eat boil some tiny new potatoes and cook something green, runner beans or sprouting broccoli spears.

to serve :

spoon some aioli over the cold salmon fillets and decorate with very thin slices of cucumber, toss the cooked warm potatoes in butter and finely chopped parsley or mint, butter the greens. Serve with lemon wedges.

pudding good vanilla icecream, or fresh summer fruit of choice.

Champagne risotto www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/crayfish-and-champagne-risotto

Salmon en croute

There are some fab suggestions here, going to bookmark the page and come back to them for new house celebration meals! DH asked very nicely if we could have steak as it's his fave, so I very nicely gave in. We're having pate for starters, steak, smashed potatoes, roasted broccoli and corn on the cob for mains, and a lovely Gu lemon cheesecake for pud. Dreamy!

That all sounds delicious @TheElectricCity !!

Here is an idea for a quick celebratory summer pudding...
Into a large glass (the type you might use for sylabub or knickerbocker glory) put a scoop of fruit sorbet, mango or lemon works well, but use what's available.
Top up the glass with Prosecco or champagne or crémant. Pour carefully as it will foam a bit.
Decorate with fruit if liked. Serve with little plain biscuits, shortbread hearts perhaps.
If you can chill the glass beforehand, so much the better.