Impress me with your most sophisticated starters please

[thereistheball]

I have some foodie friends coming for dinner. I want to do something impressive, delicious, seasonal, easy / prepped in advance, and if possible, the sort of thing you could only do if you have access to a wonderful French market and food shops (which I do). I do not have an oven, but I do have a hob and a microwave. The main course will be duck breasts in blackberry sauce, with green beans and little tians of potato bought from the local traiteur. Pudding will be something from the patisserie. There will also be cheese. What can I do to start with?

A little salad, smoked chicken, bacon, blue cheese and croutons oh and walnuts with a little dressing. could be made in advance and would be wonderful with some bread.

or poss a fish pate.

Well to be truly foody french you should pop along to your french market on the day and select the best and freshest items on offer. However, a little preplanning might be in order and the rest of the meal will be quite rich so something light and fresh and sharp. Are you by the sea? maybe some fab langoustine or even oysters? i do think something salady is a good idea too - maybe salad and local ham/salami/whatever and cornishons? can I come?

A few of my favs are:

Roasted Butternut Squash soup with parsley pesto/puree (AWT recipe - found this which is his again and similar but his earlier version that I do he calls it a pesto and keeps the roasted squash more chunky and a bit more rustic). www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roastedbutternutsqua_65608

Double baked roquefort souffle - from Delia sitting on a few dressed rocket leaves. Very yum. Simple and as its double baked there's no last minute stress about rising or anything. www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roastedbutternutsqua_65608

I also do a yummy Good Food one which is stilton, onion and walnut tart - fry off onions with a bit of balsalmic for a good while (20mins) on low - til they're coloured and caramelised. Get some ready rolled puff pastry - cut into individual rounds or squares or just one whole one - onto greased tin. Put the onions in the middle up to 1cm from the edge (best to run a knife along the 1cm border not quite down to the bottom so it rises eveniy). Crumble over stilton and chopped walnuts. Drizzle bit of olive oil. Bake until puff pastry cooked - 180C maybe 15-20min?

And this one - Nigel Slater's baked goats cheese tart. Just looking at this now...so recipe is -

Makes 6.

375g ready-rolled puff pastry
3 soft, barrel-shaped goats cheeses, or 2 goat cheese logs
1 egg beaten (I never bother)
sprigs of thyme
drizzle of honey (my addition)

Cut pastry into 6 equal pieces, rolling each into 13cm sq.

Cut each cheese in half, or into 3 5cm pieces if you are using logs. Bung each piece of cheese on a sq of pastry. Brush edges with egg. Draw sides of pastry up to form a pyramid (open at top though). Press pastry edges together half-way up the sides, leaving centre open. Add small sprig of herb and drizzle of honey to centre of cheese. Bake 220C 15min. Can be preped ahead and left in fridge, just bunged into oven when you're guests are there.

Delia's thingy....

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/souffle/twice-baked-roquefort-souffles.html

Something our friends loved as a starter is some ripened brie (the more ripe, the more gooey it is), wrapped in parma ham and fastened with a cocktail stick.

Didn't really need the cocktail stick, but it made eating them easier. I have a bit of a thing about St Endellion brie (avail' at most Waitrose deli's). Alternatively, I'd use Somerset brie, purely as I find most French bries have a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Thanks, these are all great. I love a good salad as a starter too. The tarts/souffles sound delicious but are going to be tricky without an oven. I am thinking I might do a sort of French bruschetta, made with toasted walnut Poilane bread, rocket, roquefort, and some slivers of fig if they're still around. Or maybe poached quince with foie gras? We could have them with drinks before dinner instead of as a starter, which would be a bit less formal. What do you think?

Do you have a grill? We made goats cheese salad with beetroot last night - really really lovely, and seasonal too.

Pear, walnut, pancetta salad with honey mustard dressing on rocket leaves.
It's elegant but really easy so leaves you lots of time to do the main and pud!

Had a lovely Roquefort salad in a restaurant once and it was so simple.

Cut thin rounds of baguette and toast. Half or quarter to make the croutons. Mash Roquefort with a fork and mix with fromage frais. Make a bed of salad leaves on plates and, just before serving, dunk the croutons in the cheese mix so they are complete covered and arrange on salad. Could also add walnuts/pear/avocado etc if required.

If you do it just before serving the croutons stay crunchy, otherwise they go soggy.

Thanks very much! These are all lovely.