super quick, knock-it-together starter for a friend's gathering

[walkingonthemoon]

Am devoid of inspiration - please help? Was thinking maybe smoked slamon but open to anything....

Taa

Make some dips at home(or decant shop ones into nice dishes) and take sliced up pitta/tortilla chips/crudites to dip?

Tomato/mozzarella/basil/vinagrette for a quick salad? With french stick

my easy peasy (lazy!) starter is hummus, nice crisps and bottle of cava - never had a complaint

How many are you cooking for?

I tend to do smoked mackerel pate - whizz up some mackerel fillets in the processor, add creme fraiche & lemon juice until it is the right consistency. Add black pepper. Serve with french toasts out of a packet. Voila.

4!

Pate sounds good, can make night before?

There was a good recipe on here, I think on the Valentine's dinner thread, for what looks like a good chicken liver pate.

Guess it depends what's for main course, but another nice starter is a few different meats (parma ham, chorizo, salami) some nice olives and cheese such as mini mozzarella or manchego, plus a crusty loaf of bread.

walking yes, the pate keeps perfectly well in the fridge for days - cling film is our friend!

Chicken and sweetcorn soup - mega easy and quick but tastes like it's taken hours, the chicken is optional so leave it out if anyone is veggie or if it clashes with the main course.

Ingredients

• 500g bag of frozen sweetcorn
• a medium chicken breast, cooked (you could even buy it ready cooked)
• vegetable stock powder or cubes
• 1 clove of garlic
• salt/pepper to taste

Method

• pour a litre of boiling water in a pan and add the stock powder/cubes (the box will tell you how many, I use a powder that four teaspoons to a litre)
• pour in the bag of sweetcorn
• tear the chicken into bits and chuck that in
• add the garlic (I use ready minced garlic so it's about half a teaspoon but a chopped up clove is around the same amount)
• if you want to you can add salt and pepper to taste, usually the stock is salty enough for me so just a pinch of pepper does but everyone is different

• bring it all to the boil and then simmer for 20mins on medium heat
• if you've got a hand-blender then you can blend it down or just leave it lumpy, whichever you prefer
• serve with crusty bread

I've fed four with those quantities but they're easy to increase/decrease as needed. It keeps in the freezer too for up to three months. My son loves it too, he's 18 months old, but when I'm making it for him I use low salt vegetable stock.

smoked mackerel pate - piss easy made with philadelphia and chopped capers.

Spread soft cheese and the salmon, maybe some lemon and black pepper, onto a wrap, roll up and slice like a Swiss roll, pretty and yummy,

oops - Avenging's sounds much nicer than mine.