My strategy is to never attempt anything new and to stick to favourites. I test them out on family first then incorporate them. Avoid dinky portioned meals- serve food family style-one pot or serving vessel, puddings not in individual little pots etc. A great big cake, pie or tart always gets a wow for pudding and may leave you with delicious leftovers too-cook's perks.
I also try to prepare food the day before- stews and meals such as chile are actually better tasting if made and kept overnight in the fridge. I serve my chile (made with chuck steak not minced beef which is not a real chile) with tortilla chips, home made cornbread (really easy-can post recipe), guacamole, refried beans, salsa and sour cream. It is colourful, fun to eat food and informal.
Meat such as quail, beef and lamb are great roasted with an Asian style marinade (pomegranate, lime juice, lemongrass, sumach powder, garlic) then sliced thinly and served over a large plate of green salad, couscous or bulghur wheat with a dressing. Serve with pita. The trick is to make it look abundant and colourful. I pour pomegranate seeds over the meat too-it looks great.
Winter beef stews are easy to make then you heat it up and serve with a potato gratin or cauliflower cheese-again both can be made earlier in the day or the night before. For some reason, potato gratin seems to really go well with beef. A bowl of bread and some green beans are all you need to add.
A spring/summer starter for an informal meal that I use often is roasted peppers and mozzarella on toasted ciabatta or baguette. Slice red peppers ( not green- they're not so ripe tasting), drizzle with olive oil and roast until the skins blister. Store in the fridge complete with any olive oil from the pan. When ready to eat, lightly toast the bread slices, layer them with the peppers and drizzle olive oil over, then lay slices of Mozzarella on top. Toast until the cheese starts to bubble and run. Serve. This suits rustic type mains best.
I have a fabulous crab, parmesan and asparagus tart that is very spring/summery and despite the richness of the ingredients, is light. It uses store bought pastry if you prefer that and of the many many times i have made this, It has never gone wrong. I can post this for anybody who would like it. It can be made in advance and suits a green salad and any type of potato accompaniment. It can also be served by itself for a lunch. The tart is so adaptable-I have added all kinds of other vegetables and substituted other fish/meat too.
For pudding I often bake a big pound cake (sponge) and serve it with a cooked down fresh fruit sauce/compote, cream, creme fraiche or icecream. I have an easy recipe for a Sicilian style Cassatta cake filled with a rum sultana, vanilla and icing sugar flavoured ricotta. It's easy and keeps for days. Nearly Everyone loves cake. Bread and Butter pudding in the winter is good-make with Brioche or Challah for lightness and summer is meringue/fruit or a boozy alcoholic grown up jelly with fruit and creme fraiche. I rarely make chocolate puddings-often too heavy.
A simple sheet of puff pastry (shop bought) brushed with egg yolk then piled with any fruit mixture, edges folded slightly inwards to prevent oozing then baked gives you a fruit crostata-rustic and gorgeous. Sprinkle a redcurrant and raspberry crostata with crushed hazelnuts and maybe soak the fruit in a hazelnut liqueur called Frangelico or another liqueur makes it more sophisticated. Adding crushed almonds to it thickens any juices.
The crostata can be made savoury by filling it with vegetables and maybe cheese- dried tomatoes, garlic, asparagus, green beans, butter beans, crumbled feta, herbs etc. Just follow the instructions for baking the shop bought pastry and cover the vegetable topping at the end if it starts to brown too fast.