dinner party for 14. easy puddings please

[thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat]

starter is a fish terrine, main course lamb tagine with green beans and cous cous....and pudding? I have a great recipe for a chocolate spongey/brownie type thing with raspberries but fear it might be too heavy. any other ideas - I will not be sober by the end of the main course so will only be up to bringing it in from the kitchen - no last minute fiddling. and while we're at it - anyone know a foolproof way of doing that much cous cous with it going stodgy? many thanks oh epicureans

AFAIK, couscous works pretty well if you pour the same volume of boiling water/stock onto it, cover it, and leave it for 5 mins or so.

Frankly I think you can't go wrong with chocolate brownies with raspberries and anyone who gives up at that fence is a Culinary Wimp. It all sounds utterly blissful. Go for something you know will be fab. Personally I am slavering at that menu.

Not culinary wimp, gastronomic wimp, sorry. I myself would eat that sort of pudding after 53 stodgy previous courses.

how about an easy lemon ice cream- no stirring just dollop out with a couple of fancy wafers. Easy to do when half cut! It's a Nigella recipe and goes down a storm.The flavour will be refreshing afer the tagine. Alternatively you could do a variation on trifle which means it can be left in the fridge, a quick tiramisu or something lighter?

fruit cocktail, or do the jamie oliver one, summer fruits set sparkly wine jelly in little dishes mmmmmmmmmm yum

One of my faves is an italian/anglo trifle by Nigella. You do it all before bar sprinkling the topw ith crushed Ameretti biscuits and nuts.

It is yummy and best prepared the day before anyway. It is Blackberry and lemon and almond flavour. Expensive though as you need 1/2 bottle of limoncello

tarte au citron form marks

posh ice cream

this is dead easy and works every time....
large shallowish dish, layer bottom with raspberries ( frozen are fine ) whip large carton of cream and stir in large carton of vanilla yoghurt, can be fat free or creamier muller variety. Layer on top of raspberries,then sieve/sprinkle on a fine/medium layer of dark brown soft sugar. Cover with cling film and put in fridge. Can be made the night before or the morning of party. The sugar kind of melts in to the cream etc. I always serve it with crushed up ammaretti (sp) biscuits for a bit of texture.

nigella has a gorgeous passion fruit pavlova which is really easy. A friend of mine dod it for 18 people so easy to 'enlarge'!

it is a variation on the chocolate one just posted btw

fruit salad - very healthy and not too filling

you can sing that wiggles song all night

How about - frozen grapes, fresh figs, fab cheeses and some desert wine?

and / or a friend told me that she made the fresh pinapple with fresh mint thing that Jamie Oliver does and it was the best desert she ever had, i can look it up for you if you like the sound of it.

what about succulent homemade apricot flapjacks ( Delia) with cream or ice cream? so easy even I can make them!

hate figs

jamie olivers lemon curdy whatsit with nice icecream?

Although all the other suggestions sound fab, I would stick with the brownie and raspberries. You could have some vream/ice cream as well, and then anyone who was too stuffed could just have the fruit. As for the cous cous, I find using a large bowl/pan ti keep the layer of cous cous shallow works best.

here's the easiest recipe i know that is also delish!

make a crumb base with digestives and melted butter, press it into the bottom of dish and put it in the fridge.
mix a tub of creme fraiche with a packet of VANILLA angel delight (asda sells it - it's an own brand) and add a tin off crushed pineapple. once the base is set put the vanilla mix on top and refridgerate.

that serves about 8 so double it for more.

it tasted like cheesecake by the way. very tasty!

chocolate mousse ( the delia recipe works fine) int he fridge and lemon mousse

then you can run aorund w ith antlers on

it has to be said that the hat-household is partial to a little Angel Delight every now and then. I am (half) contemplating serving it up as a home-made mousse to a) test my friend's palates and/or b) test their willngness to flatter. Personally I think you can spot the stuff a mile off but it would be an interesting experiment no?

aaargh apostrophe abuse. I wasn't planning on giving it to only one of them.

Delias - thick lemon tart!
Delias chocolate bread and butter pudding - make the day before so easy peasy.
Also Mary Berrys lemon pots!

a fruit salad, with a mixture of tinned and fresh fruit. You can make it the day before and keep it in the fridge.