Absolute winning dinner party dishes

[Rocknrolllife]

My DH and I are hosting a dinner party for 4 friends (6 of us in total). Whenever we go to theirs for dinner, they cook the most amazing tasty food. When they’ve been to ours previously it hasn’t been the best and we had one complete disaster where the food was horrible and no one ate it. Please help. I’m used to cooking so not sure why it goes wrong. Need some winning dinner party recipes (preferably with meat) so we don’t have another embarrassing night.

Beef Wellington. Easy (although not cheap) and make ahead.

Kleftiko! Takes a long time to cook but never fails. Serve it with salad and pittas or roasted veg.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lamb-kleftiko

My go to is pomegranate molasses lamb shoulder with either couscous or Greek lemon potatoes.

then to start we have Greek dips and pitta, vine leaves, falafel, koftas whatever takes your fancy.

I had braised beef cheeks today in the works canteen. Amazing. Takes a while to prep… but cheaper than Kleftiko and Beef W!

Pork and apple creamy slow cooker stew - cooked with cider and then cream added at the end. Serve with mashed potato and greens.

or to be honest the above suggestions of slow cooker meat, flatbreads and all the dips sounds superb!

Whipped goats cheese and candied dates for nibbles - always gets cleared. Some times I use feta if I’m not sure if goats cheese will go down well! https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/goat-cheese-with-warm-candied-bacon/

this is good and again always goes down well but creamy so wouldn’t pair it with the starter above https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/one-skillet-creamy-sun-dried-tomato-chicken-and-orzo/

another good orzo is prawn and marinated feta orzo by Ottolenghi.

honey harissa shredded lamb (serve with flatbreads and yoghurt) . it’s a Sabrina Ghayour recipe but it’s not online.

slow cook a leg of lamb, let cool, pick off the meat and shred. Stir in honey, harissa and plenty of salt to taste. Serve scattered with pomegranates.

Slow cooker beef stroganoff, dead easy and delicious.

Use simple, exquisite ingredients and nothing can go wrong.

For example: smoked salmon, with caper and horseradish sauce (capers, a little chopped dil, two tsps horseradish, two tbs creme fraiche), serve with rye bread and lemon.

Followed by: rib eye steaks, roasted baby potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and rocket and tomato salad with good French dressing.

Pud: buy it

We bought a raclette and often bring this out when we have company - it has six little pans to melt the cheese in and a hot plate and a stone hot plate to cook bits on top. Basically you put it in the middle of your dining table and people cook and eat and chat all evening - it’s fun.

For six people we would serve two packs of raclette cheese (available in Waitrose), a bowl of pre-boiled mini potatoes, a couple of steaks sliced in strips, lots of sliced up mushrooms, onions and red pepper (you can cook these with the cheese or on top on the raclette hot plate). Then in addition some other meats (mini German sausages if you can find them or perhaps some strips of turkey breast).

And on the side you’ll need some pickles and salad and lots of good German wine 🇩🇪

Oh and two or three big crusty baguettes to mop up all the cheese!

Admittedly raclette is awful if your guests don’t like cheese as it is especially stinky but the flavour is so good!

Jamie Oliver's pork loin stuffed with peaches from one of his 1990s books has been a winner for me for years. Make sure the butcher chines the meat from the bone for you, so you can just carve it easily in slices with no stress! And crackling! 😋

I do several dishes that are just put on the table with a mixture of interesting salads. Really hearty stuff that can sit in the oven until being served

Im afraid the old Ottenlenghi chickpeas or a variant thereof always come out
Something like a parmigiana or a variant thereof, tian/briam/tumbet type of things
Baked feta or halloumi
Sizzling prawns which just need a dish in the oven, hot oil, pop the prawns in with garlic and chilli

Green salads, lots of nut salads, olives, cheeses, home made dips and bread

All sitting on the table, serve yourself. Big pot of rice or bulgar wheat

Everything is all prepared and covered in the fridge, nothing to do at all when people turn up

Job done.

Salmon en croute

Get a generous fillet
shop bought puff pastry
Smear salmon with butter and sprinkle some chopped tarragon, season
wrap and seal with puff, brush with egg wash, and score fish scales in it
cook c25mins at 180c fan

buy some hollandaise
Serve with nice green veg and something potato Dish

always impresses the hell out of everyone but is v easy and quick

Help yourself Cheese board to start with drinks before sitting down to supper. Make Parmesan shortbread to go with it.
Then-
Creamy Tarragon Chicken Breasts
Rice stirred through with Petits Pois.
Tenderstem broccoli.
Easy and delicious.
Then-
Home made individual meringues for pudding. Bowls of cream and fruits and maybe a coulis on the table to add yourself.

https://www.image.ie/living/diana-henrys-stuffed-greek-chicken-orzo-159058

This is easy and delicious.

This is delicious can be made in advance and not too tricky

slow cooked lamb shawarma is so lovely and falls off the bone. Shoulder of lamb, get shawarma seasoning from an arab/ asian shop, onions, garlic, saffron, tomato paste, a few dates for sweetness. Splash of water. Put it in the oven at 9am the day of the party. Let it cook all day, your house will smell amazing when they arrive. Serve with hot naan or pitta (buy naan from a restaurant), tzatziki, greek salad, couscous.
Yum yum yum.

Lots of good suggestions. I do stuff that can be prepped ahead as much as possible and doesn't take too long to cook.
Eg tray bake salmon or herb crusted cod. With new pots and green veg.

What was so inedible that nobody ate it?!

There’s some really good suggestions here thank you. Definitely going to use one of them.

The inedible dish was a Jamie Oliver shepherds pie recipe: it was made with slow cooked lamb so I thought it would be a bit more luxurious than standard shepherds pie and be ok for a dinner party, for some reason it was disgusting. Luckily I’d made a nice pudding.

Easy dishes that are quick that I’ve done include:

lamb leg steaks with potatoes dauphinois and green beans with a red current jus

(use good food potatoes dauphinois recipe, steam beans, pan fry the steaks with fresh chopped rosemary, take 5 minutes or so, remove from pan and deglaze the pan with a little water, add redcurrant jelly from a jar and bisto with lamb and boiling water, once smooth add steaks back for a minute then serve. )

Or

fish fillets with a butter sauce, herby potatoes and samphire
(boil new potatoes then toss in salted butter and chopped fresh herbs, pan fry samphire, last minute pan fry the fish, remove, melt butter, add chopped parsley capers and optional cooked prawns, serve over the fish

Any good veggie ideas?

I really need to invite some friends round. I like the salmon on croute from bbcfood posted above but need a veggie dish too that won look out of place.

Lamb shanks in Rosemary gravy, cooked long and slow with crispy roast potatoes and a selection of vegetables.

No bake chocolate cheesecake. It’s dead easy and everyone loves it.

Two really simple and delicious courses.

My post is all veggie stuff above. Do it in the oven, it can sit there until people arrive