To spend �20 on a dinner party?

[startrek90]

Just that really. We have 2 friends coming for dinner tomorrow night and its the last time I see one of them before she returns to the US. There are 4 of us total. We don't drink. I think thats reasonable for a main and desert for the 4 of us but DH thinks I am stingy and we should do something fancier. What do you think?

There are lots of recipes and I tend to wing it but this one looks good. If you don't have the spices already you can buy ras el hanout which combines morrocan flavours. I'd add dried apricots about half way through. You can also chuck some chickpeas in to make it go further. If doing the almond biscuits, you could use some of the flaked almonds on top with some greek yoghurt and fresh coriander (added right at the end).

OP go onto Hugh Fernley-whatsit's channel 4 thing - his programme three good things was really good for this kinda thing even though he irritates me (i also have the book). I would feel no problem with spending 20 quid on a meal for 4, since that could easily be something like pork belly, roast spuds and then pudding.

I understand what you're saying about worrying about earning. My mum is the same. Drives my dad mad. He really sees and appreciates that she gave up her career (this was the best option at the time and discussed) to allow him to continue his, which allowed us to work as a family, and that she then basically raised 2 kids and they lost the cost of the childcare as a paid out expense (other MN people will put this more eloquently). You MADE A PERSON, that's hardly scrounging.

I might raise my eye brows at a couple of frozen pizzas but if what you're cooking tastes nice (and it sounds lovely) and there's plenty of it why would anyone care how much the ingredients cost?

Do people deliberately choose expensive dishes when they're entertaining their friends?

OP another easy way to up your veg intake is cauli rice. Sorry, I know this is a bit ff topic.

It wouldn't worry me what it cost although I wouldn't have Strawberry on the pavlova because any Strawberries I've bought recently have had the texture of turnip and tasted of nothing.

It does sound lovely...but light! I'd need a bag of chips on the way home after that. Cous cous is jumped up air.

We have a '£20 dish' but designed for flavour. It does not include the drinks though, but rest assured nobody will be hungry afterwards.
Nibbles: French bread cut into round slices, with cream cheese and then those sound dried tomatoes in oil from the deli counter. £4.
Main: Four chicken breasts, smothered in wholegrain mustard, wrapped in bacon and roasted, green beans, carrots julienne and potatoes (dauphinoise works well). £10 (to include the dauphinoise).
Pudding: Hunsa apricots (those hard dried round ones) soaked in orange juice in the fridge overnight with a bit of fresh ginger and then served with plain vanilla ice cream or clotted cream. £6.
Good company: Priceless.

Sun dried not sound dried

(or sun druid as auto spell tried to type)...!

Aroom, that sounds like a lovely menu.

We had friends over last night. I did curried squash soup with naan bread. Flank steak (not sure what it is called in uk - very thin cut), marinaded and cooked rare and sliced - not a lot of meat. Then I did a whole platter of veg which was a huge hit. Roast potatoes, carrots, roast baby tomatoes, roast golden beets, roast broccoli with parmesan, green beans and red peppers - the colours looked lovely.

Afterwards I made a bakewell tart (for first time - ok but am looking for a better recipe if anyone has one).

The thing that made it nice was I set the table nicely, put on lamps, loads of candles, lit the fire. You can do that for nothing much.

Wow I am salivating at these delicious low cost recipes and wondering wtf I spend so much money when people come to dinner! I am taking notes...

Absolutely canyouforgiveher it is not the cost its the effort that you put in. I have a friend who is a professional caterer, think weddings, corporate dinner parties etc. The cost of the ingredients is about 10-20% of the cost of the meal, and her costs are very reasonable and she is always busy. I am not sure about the 'flank' but friend did do tail end steak fillet kebabs once - the meat was £1. Tail end fillet is the thin bit at the very end that no body buys from the butcher - like fillet effs . The recipe I posted is the one she does for a hungry dinner party, and if you buy the raw ingredients it is very cheap. Again butcher for the chicken breasts - you might get them bigger than the supermarket.

Sounds lovely Aroom
I wish I was coming

This is a favourite recipe of mine - delicious, and classy enough for a dinner party, I'd say.

Thai spiced coconut squash soup.

It's quite cheap to make, assuming you have the Thai curry paste in already and can get the butternut squash and coconut milk from eg Aldi (squash was about 80p last time, tin of coconut milk 69p and actually, they do a very acceptable Thai curry paste too).

I once threw in some fresh lemongrass as I had it hanging around, and it lifted the flavour even further.

That link not working Sober and I was excited too! I love Thai type food...it's just going to Tesco's homepage!

Rats! Why is it doing that...

Ok, the actual link is m.tesco.com/mt/legacy.realfood.tesco.com/recipes/thai-spiced-coconut-squash-soup.html?un_jtt_redirect=sc

I'm going to bet it's something to do with the stupid source redirect bit at the end, so let's try it without that...

m.tesco.com/mt/legacy.realfood.tesco.com/recipes/thai-spiced-coconut-squash-soup.html

Ok, that last clicky version is working for me - hope it does for you too MrsT - if not, you may have to try removing the Mobile bit (m.) from the beginning of the url too.

It does sound nice OP, perhaps not overly filling?

but then maybe you don't like to stuff yourselves silly?

What does your husband suggest if he doesn't think that it's enough?

I agree that it shouldn't be about the money though!

It's not about how much a meal costs, it's about the thought and effort that's gone into preparing it. Your meal sounds lovely, OP.

You meal sounds nice - is it a veggie or meaty filling? Most people, unless they are vegetarian, do prefer a meat element to their meals. You may be trying to cut down your meat consumption, and nothing wrong with that, but a dinner party isn't the time to do it. Add a few more side dishes/veg as well as stuffed aub plus just cous cous is a bit on the light side?.

Home made pavlova sounds great but I'm with the poster who thinks the strawberries are a poor choice this time of year. They'll be those imported ones that look lovely but have horrible texture and no flavour. Have a different fruit (or mix of fruits?).

How about adding a couple of good cheeses with biscuits afterwards? I'd rather have that than a starter.

If there's no need for a budget as such, I'd just think about what I'd like to cook (what's easy, doesn't mean I have to spend all evening in the kitchen and what has a reasonable chance of being popular) and then buy what I need.

If that happened to cost £20, I wouldn't even think about it not being enough and I have never, ever considered the cost of ingredients a friend has fed me.

Your menu sounds lovely. Does your DH really mean he'd like some meat on the menu though? That's what my DH would be saying!

I have a sort of rotation of dishes I make for friends and I love trying out new recipes too.

I like having things made ahead so I have very little left to do on the evening other than heat up, serve and enjoy the company. I have regularly made the following:

Starters / nibbles: one or more of these:

thai crab cakes with green salad
mini tomato & olive tart tatins
prunes wrapped with bacon and roasted
mixed marinaded olives
chilli, coconut, butternut squash soup
smoked salmon with horseradish and pickled red cabbage on soda bread
whole baked camembert with things to dip - veg, bread etc
bruschettas with various toppings
bowls of tortillas / crisps with home made dips
homemade parmesan crisps
spiced almonds

Main courses:

homemade meatballs in fresh cherry tomato sauce with pasta / cous cous always with salad & homemade garlic bread

Beef bourguignon with very creamy mash and steamed tenderstem broccoli

Proper fish pie (I also make Jamie Oliver's quick one for midweek) with green veg

Thai coconut pork with jasmine rice

whole baked salmon with new potato salad and pickled cucumber (summer dish)

Chinese roasted pork with homemade egg fried rice and stirfry

Slow roasted pulled pork with crackling

creamy mushroom and proscuitto pasta with green salad and homemade garlic bread

Sea bass with braised puy lentils

Prawn and pea risotto

Desserts:

hazlenut pavlova with mixed fruit
proper tiramisu
cake - lots of types
portuguese mini custard tarts
lemon tart
chocolate mousse in individual tea cups with saucers

tea / coffee

cheese board with at least 3 cheeses, often more, crackers, apple / pear / grapes and chutneys

Good god peop[le it ;s JUST dinner.

I don't spend £20 a meal at home, with 4 kids to feed!

So saying that to feed four on £20 sounds impossible, is just bloody crazy

In hugh whatsits book everyday veg, there is a gorgeous recipe for cambodian wedding dip. Base of mushrooms, peanut butter, coconut milk. I could live on it, and I'm not a fan of mushrooms tbf.

I would make this, with either a steak or roast chicken and rice, and a salad or winter veg (your aubergines on the side) if you prefer. You can put the dip on the meat, or honestly, I eat it just with rice. It's Delicious!

Oh did a fab turkey curry and rice that fed 6 adults and 2 children.

Then there was three pizzas that fed other four kids and the adults looking for more.

There was hummus, crisps, loads of fancy cakes, 2 decent sized chocolate cakes with cream , soft cheese and a sour cream dip.

Leaving out the booze £30 fed 12 of us and there were still some cakes left, hummus etc for the next day.

As it sounds like there isn't a strict budget, I'd make what you want, but buy nice ingredients. So if you're making pavlova (my fav and very cheap to do) maybe buy fresh fruit instead of frozen (I agree with avoiding strawberries especially this time of year, we like blackberries).

The main meal does sound light but if that's the sort of thing you do with your friends, then fair enough. I would probably be hungry after, but only you know what your friends are like.

Definitely splash out on nice drinks though, it won't add much to your budget to get a selection in. If my friend was moving away and it was our last meal, I'd definitely want to ensure there was plenty of choice and no-one was hungry and if it cost more, then so be it (obviously unless you really do have a very strict budget to follow)