I come to your house mid week for a dinner party

[JuliaPargetter]

What do you cook?

Looking for ideas! No chilli hot food and not too meaty, please!

Sausage and leek pasta, green salad

Traybake of salmon, leek and potato with dill

Baked feta with tomatoes, olives, capers and peppers with garlic bread

Maybe shawarma on flatbread with salad

Lamb kleftiko (takes a good 2 - 3 hours in oven, but can mostly be left in its own) with salad and crusty bread. Might be too meaty though, and may mot have enough time.
Chicken layered with aubergine (can't remember the name of the dish).
Curry with sides (can buy some pre made bits, and can make veg only or veg heavy).
Veg lasagne.
Any one pan tray bake that can be prepped in advance if required, then just bunged in the oven.

How many courses? Any allergies? By too meaty, do you mean not a roasted piece of meat? I often host and many things can be made a day ahead to save time on the day.

Entree ideas:
Salmon terrine for with crispy toasts
https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/individual-smoked-salmon-terrines-for-christmas/

Bruschetta https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tomato-bruschetta

Chicken liver parfait with chutney and crispy toasts https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-liver-parfait

Old school prawn cocktail https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-prawn-cocktail

Mains:
Cannelloni, lasagne, pasta bake https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spinach-ricotta-cannelloni with a salad

Chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto with veg https://laughingspatula.com/prosciutto-wrapped-chicken-chicken-breasts/

Fajitas? Plonk everything on the table and everyone helps themselves.

Noddle.

You’d probably get a risotto done in the pressure cooker. Some pre-bought nibbles as a starter and cheese to finish. I’ve got a busy job, so I’d need something easy!

You are handed a shaker of Huel.

Take out

Vegetable and goats cheese lasagne.
Bulgur wheat salad
Tarte au citron from m and s for pudding

Cheese if you want to be more fancy

Risotto, curry, traybake, tagine

I want friends that invite me for dinner.

You’re having chickpea curry with rice and possibly home made flatbreads.

Sausage Chinese curry. A crazy favourite in our house.

Lemon posset for dessert - can make in advance and super easy

(I always start with dessert and work backwards planning)

Chilli, rice and salad. Or cassoulet.

Surprise visitors get spaghetti putanesca because I always have the ingredients in the cupboard.

Something that takes as little effort as possible. I seldom invite people mid-week. 😊

you’d get a quizzical look and steering towards the weekend 😅. Honestly, mid week I would want whoever turning up at 6pm and leaving no later than 9pm. Anything else would be too much. On that basis it would be pasta, delivery, or mezze stuff I can put out on the dining table.

Mushroom soup
Prawn and pea risotto
Cheese and pears

Lasagne & salad

Roast chicken marylands with capsicum, leeks and olives served with saffron orzotto - both Nigella Lawson recipes.

You'd get some sort of casserole - probably boeuf bourguignon because I always get that right (though not correctly French) - because I can make it a couple of days beforehand and casseroles are improved by re-heating. Same for Bolognese sauce, actually. I might not choose a pasta dish due to the need for precision timing.

There'll be a giant bowl of salad composed from a mix of salads in bags, a few bits I've chopped up (tomatoes, maybe avocado, onions, celeriac perhaps) and fresh herbs. Olive oil and vinaigrette on the table. French bread from the shop.

You don't get a starter unless I had time to knock out some bruschetta. You can start on the bread if you're hungry. I'm an absolute sucker for retro puddings and am definitely not making one! We may have a selection of Viennetta, apple strudel and chocolate mousse, no doubt from my personal épicier, Aldi.

I'll want you to hang around for an hour or more of wine-eased chat, so there'll be cheese & biscuits with coffee to make you feel you're still at dinner. Rush off straight after pudding and you're never getting invited again; I'm not a free café.

Well, if you’re my friends who are coming tonight, you’re having that butter bean curry you like so much with puri and coriander chutney. And lemon sorbet with shortbread which is very nice but not as nice as my usual shortbread because it’s vegan.

Chicken liver paté with bread

Smoked salmon and cream cheese filo parcels

Duck leg with cherry and red wine sauce, new potatoes, green veg

Lemon cheese cake with cream or ice cream

Cheese and biscuits

It sounds fancy but is really simple.

The pate is basically chicken livers, onions, a tot of brandy and loads of butter in a frying pan and then put through a blender and then left in the fridge overnight either in a loaf tin or individual ramekins.

Filo pastry, cream cheese, smoked salmon trimmings salt and pepper. Mix the cream cheese, salmon and seasonings together. Get a sheet of filo, cut in four, put a dollop of the mix in the middle and form into a parcel. 10 mins in the oven. Again this can be prepped the day before.

The duck legs go in the oven, veg in a pan. Half a jar of cherry jam and the same amount of red wine in a pan and simmer until thickened.

Cheesecake - a refrigerator version so no baking.

Lasagne and a green salad.

Maybe apricot tart with vanilla ice cream for pudding if I can be bothered. If not, just the ice cream.

Mary Berry Thai-style salmon traybake, rice

I added sweet potato chunks when I made it recently. Baby mushrooms too, I think. Very easy and you can adjust the level of spiciness to taste.

Nothing! I would rather flick my eyes out with spoons than have a midweek dinner party😆
If my sister rocks up at some point around evening meal time then I tend to make home made spag bol and garlic bread, the ingredients are cheap so I can make enough for three adults and 4 teenagers relatively easily.
Sorry, I am clearly not the target audience for this post!

Probably a variety of Indian dishes. Something like cauliflower biryani, saag aloo and dal with naans and chutneys, followed by cherry sorbet. All home made apart from the chutneys if I've had time (most can be done in advance).

Shop bought naans and dessert if I'm in a rush or knackered.

Or melon with a raspberry coulis to start followed by mushroom bourgingon with new potatoes and tenderstem broccoli.

Or bruschetta and then red wine roasted vegetable risotto.