Cooking Christmas Lunch for 14 Work Colleagues: what should I cook?!

[redgecko]

No budget for a staff Christmas party this year so I have instead invited my team to my place for a Christmas lunch as a thank you for their hard work over the past year. Now starting to panic slightly at the thought of cooking for 14! Any ideas on what I could do? It's going to be a sit-down lunch, and I want to keep it fairly simple / prepare as much as possible in advance. Don't want to veer too much into proper Christmas Lunch territory, as I'm saving that for the 25th!

Was thinking along the lines of some sort of soup or salad to start, the Jamie Oliver red wine risotto for a main, and trifle or sticky toffee pudding (cooked in advance) to finish. Any other ideas?

What a nice idea!

I think that soup is too tricky for 14, and the risotto is too tricky to make well for that many and needs too much stirring, but I think your pudding sounds lovely!

How about the salad to start, then a couple of trays of lasagne for main - you could do them in advance. You can have bowls of salad and fresh bread/garlic bread with the main too and it keeps it sociable.

Plenty of cava/prosecco too.

Take them ot a restaurant and everyone pays for themselves?

I'd like something with smoked salmon for a starter. Risotto sounds lovely and sticky pudding is lush. If I was served that I would be very happy.

Pie & peas? Both could be done in advance & warmed through.
Agree with sticky toffee - I make mine in advance & then just do the toffee sauce at the point of serving. Always goes down a storm.

Risotto for 14 sounds a bit of a nightmare.

How about a non-cook starter;
casserole and new potatoes for main (with a veggie option) - if you have vege in the casserole you'd only need maybe a salad alongside;
OR beef stronganoff/mushroom stroganoff with rice and salad
Yum to trifle or sticky toffee pudding.

Thanks for the suggestions!

overmydeadbody - unfortunately some of my colleagues are pretty strapped for cash at the moment, so I'd feel a bit bad about people feeling obligated to pay for themselves at a restaurant (or feeling as though they couldn't afford to go).

Think we will stick to a salad for the starter, or something with smoked salmon. Any ideas for what I could do for this?

There will be plenty of prosecco!

salmon on pumpernickel squares with lemon squeezed on? And a leefy salad?

wish you were my boss

You can make a nice salmon pate/mousse by just blitzing the salmon (offcuts work nicely for this too so nice and cheap) with some cream cheese, lemon juice and pepper.

Personally in this weather I would go for the soup - dead easy, and can be prepared in advance and just heat up to serve. The easiest I know which my family love is just chop up some sweet potato and onion and sweat until soft, add chicken stock (homemade is best) and tinned tomatoes and cook for a couple of hours then blitz in a blender or use a stick blender in the pot (if you do this let it cool first). Serve garnished with a dollop of cream.