Simple supper party meal, your best suggestions please!

[Gapants]

I am having friends round for a simple supper. I want to cook something in advance so I can just bring it out of the oven or whatever and present it all done.

Something not too expensive and something that will impress (a little bit).

my cook books are giving me no inspiration.

We like and eat anything everything. I would prefer not to make pasta as we eat a lot of that in the week.

Oh and thank you for your responses!

Beef Wellington, Shephards Pie, Steak and Kidney or Lasagne?

All can be prepared in advance and then just pop in the oven when guests are drinking

beef wellington!! that is tricky no?

Do not want to make a pie, as we eat that sort of stuff in the week as a family. Lasagne might be ok, could jazz it up with salad and stuff... thank you pink

still want to hear more!

How about some kind of stew or casserole (chicken stew with large field mushrooms, garlic, wine; beef stew cooked in Guiness; lamb cooked in red wine with black olives)? You can cook these way in advance and they taste nicer if cooked the day before and reheated as the flavours have had time to develop.
You can just serve them with really nice bread and some green salad.

Delia has a lovely Chicken in Sherry recipe, in her Summer Collection I think. May have it written down somewhere, can dig it out. It's simple, delicious, uses chicken thighs/legs so not too expensive. I'm sure you could get it part ready and then finish off later. Nice with some new pots and green beans. Quick and easy pud would be some posh shop bought meringues (the creamy coloured rustic looking ones rather than the bleached looking white ones), a bit of fruit sauce (made from frozen fruit, sugar, simmer, whiz, strain) and stir that through whipped cream and dollop onto meringues.

I always think Moroccan style Lamb with Apricots is a nice combination for a not-so-formal winter supper with friends. Not difficult to make but more interesting than the usual casserole combos.

Stew/casserole with dumplings. Make the stew/casserole a couple of days in advance if you like, slightly undercook it and once up to temperature add the dumplings. Uncover 10 mins before end of cooking time to slightly brown the dumplings/cobbler. Or a curry done in advance. Serve with Nan bread, yogurt, pickles etc. The only last minute thing to do is rice.
I agree with CogitoErgoSometimes re the lamb dish too. Slow cooked stewing lamb is delish, serve with couscous/chickpea combo perhaps? Let us know what you decide!

One of my best dishes is Chicken Piri Piri. Marinate chicken sections in lime juice, garlic and chilli. Brown chicken in frying pan, which has the additional purpose of removing the acidity of the lime juice. Put in oven proof dish add coconut milk (from a can) and chicken stock and bake until cooked. Serve with plain rice and steamed veg. It is easy peasy and never fails to impress.

Baked chicken & rice thai green curry, with steamed veg. Easy & tasty.
Jamie's oven baked salmon with cherry toms & green beans is good, easy to do & looks good. Easy pud....a couple of scoops of vanila ice cream, liqueur or your choice, topped with whipped cream & toasted flaked almonds.

Posh fish pie? With whole prawns on the top, sea food and a good mix of meaty fish and smoked fish.

The last casual dinner i had with friends, i made a lamb & baby vegetables curry with masala (spicy) mash. Just what was needed for a cold winter evening and even though i'd cooked loads we had no leftovers.

Followed it with a warm chocolate mousse.

You could do a lot worse than a nice shepherds pie:
foodful.co.uk/extra-tasty-cottage-pie-recipe/
or a beouf bourguignon , Delia's recipe is best:
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/meat/beef/boeuf-bourguignon.html
do use the one above, not her quick one, its not nearly so good. I generally use thick cut streaky bacon instead of the pancetta and button mushrooms, left whole and a few more than she suggests.
Both these dishes taste much better warmed up on the day after cooking.

Fish pie

Jambalaya - lots of chopping, do it in advance, do all the prep and then and add the stock and bung in the oven 20 minutes before you serve it.

Very impressive and tasty.

Nigella Lawson's blessed tome How To Eat has a whole section of cook in advance meals. My personal favourite and a fail-safe for dinner parties is her chicken and chickpea tagine.

Lots of lovely ideas here - teresa64863, do you have a link to your piri piri chicken recipe please?

And brightwell, would also love to see your baked chicken/green curry one if possible?

Oops, it is a family recipe so no actual written recipe. But say you are doing eight pieces of chicken then probably a couple of limes and 5 cloves of garlic and chili powder to taste. One and half cans of coconut milk and two stock cubes should do it. Sometimes if once cooked the sauce is not quite thick/tasty enough I extract it and boil it down adding additional seasoning if required. This is sometimes necessary, especially if the chicken sheds a lot of water. If you have the time marinating the chicken for a couple if hours or more adds to the overall effect but if not don't worry it is not essential.

Btw Rick Stein, in his book Far East Odyssey (available if you Google it), does a Thai Green Curry to die for. The paste can be made up up to two days in advance then it is a five minute job to cook it all up. I did not suggest it before because although very easy you require a large number of ingredients so unless you are big into Thai food it can be a waste.

Good luck!

That sounds great, thanks very much :)

Thai oven baked chicken
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 chopped onion
400g pack of mini chicken fillets
4 tsp green Thai curry paste (used Tesco?s)
250g/9oz basmati and wild rice mix (Tilda) - rinsed
2 red peppers cut in wedges
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
400g can of reduced fat coconut milk

Method
Heat oven to 200c - fan180c - gas6
Heat oil in a shallow ovenproof casserole dish
Soften onion for 5 mins, add chicken and curry paste
Cook for 3 mins stirring to coat
Tip in peppers and rice, stir in lime zest and juice
Add coconut milk and 250ml boiling water
Bring to boil, pop lid on and bake for 20mins until rice is fluffy
You can scatter with coriander before serving - optional
Serves 4

Ooh lovely, thanks brightwell :)

Rick Stein's Thai Mussanan Curry. Always impressive and tastes better if made a day or two before. Serve with jasmine rice and some Thai starters...m&s ones good.

Mine is from the same book Teresa suggests!