What would you make for a quick lunch with a friend?

[birminghamgirls]

I have a friend coming over for lunch next week. I'm not overly used to hosting, so this is a bit out of my comfort zone. What should I make for lunch? It's only the two of us and it'll be a reasonably quick catch up as we both have to go back to work afterwards. I'm not sure a "big" dish like a lasagne is appropriate and I don't want anything too complicated. What would you make in this scenario?

I'd be the same with cheese. Hate the stuff. Very popular with a lot of people bizarrely.

I would do a salad with burrata, cherry tomatoes, basil, avocado and a balsamic vinaigrette and would serve that with a charcuterie board with olive tapenade and sourdough toast.

A quiche and salad would also be good but in that case I'd make the quiche. I wouldn't serve store-bought to a guest nor would I eat it myself (DH does but I don't like it).

Spanish omelette and some crusty brown bread!

Is probably do an omelette with salad, or a frittata. Maybe courgette fritters and chilli jam (make fritter mixture the night before). And cake or ice cream.

I would buy a mixed salad from M&S, add cherry tomatoes, baby cucumbers, avocado and a pack of cooked prawns (not king size ones), squeeze of lemon, olive oil, some seasonings. Plus nice bread. I would have a choice of non alcoholic beer, herbal teas and black tea.
I know for sure that my friend would like that lunch 🙂

One of my favourite quick but substantial lunches is a flatbread topped with hummus, plenty of salad leaves and topped with chicken or halloumi and a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce. You could do a DIY so just put out the hummus, salad, protein and dressing and see what she wants

Quesedillas.

Some nice lunches friends have made for me:
salmon, new pots, veg
Tuna nicoise salad
Ploughmans
Omelette & salad

i would prob do a layered grilled courgette thing with mint, olive oil & lemon marinade and Parmesan topping, serve with burrata and ripped basil, maybe some of those big beefy tomato slices & crusty bread

or

Turkish kofte with yoghurt sauce & salad and flatbreads

Some version of a salad nicoise would be good- boiled potatoes, tuna, green beans, lettuce, tomato, soft boiled eggs
I sometimes do rice or pasta instead of potatoes, and basically any salad bits.
if you don’t like tuna you could put salmon instead or mackerel. Dressing.

Some great ideas here OP, but the most important thing is to check upfront whether your friend has any allergies or specific dislikes. Make sure you know whether there’s anything that’s a no-go before planning and shopping.

I was going to say this. Just ask her what she'd like. I'd hate a lot of the stuff mentioned on here.

Caprese salad
Crusty bread

Have some crisps and olives in bowls

Although chicken skewers also would be lovely

Agreed. I’d eat out of politeness only.

Quiches are revolting.

I had a friend around for lunch on Thursday. Tomato tart, green salad, rhubarb fool. It’s too hot for anything more.

Posh sandwich and crisps. I'm up North, but ham and pease pudding on a decent bread roll, is lovely.

I went to a friend recently where she served a tray of small bowls (cereal bowl size).
One had rice, one had a crushed cucumber salad (like the Din Tai Fung one, and finally a bowl of marinated Korean style avocado called Mayak avocado. Apparently, it was cubed avocado with soy sauce, a little sesame oil, grated garlic. It was ADDICTIVE and I am usually not an avocado fan. She also had a plate of salmon sashimi.
It was AMAZING. Also easy to prepare (no cooking while I was there - she just had the rice in a rice cooker) as she had it all ready before so we could chat. And so light and fresh on a hot day but, as there was steamed rice, just out of the rice cooker, it was still enough for a hungry person.

Ask her what she wants or likes? Esp if going back to work afterwards and it’s hot

Quiche and salad. If you don’t want to make one M & S ones are lovely.

Bloody hell, some people really don’t like quiche! I love a quiche. I make a variety, mushroom, bacon, smoked salmon. Just slightly warm from the oven, yum.

Sandwich
Crisps
Houmous and cucumber
Pork pie
A fruit option
A sweet option - a nice cookie or slice of cake

It’s the slightly wobbly egg ‘custard’. 😱

I’d love to come to lunch with you.

That sashimi meal sounds delicious @Ruthietuthie but if a friend served that at home I'd need to know that she had bought the salmon from a reputable fishmonger and been assured it had been commercially frozen and was suitable for raw consumption. If she just bought regular salmon from a supermarket that's not safe as there's a real risk of parasites.

I’d go a cold roast chicken and salad

Me and my freind used to pop home some lunchtimes for a fish finger sandwich in some nice crusty bread. Food of the gods.