OK FOODIES DINNER PARTY MENUS NEEDED - DH's 40th, 16 guests (inc veggie)

[crunchie]

So I have agreed to do a Dinner party on the Sat night - 16 guests, then a family lunch party on the Sunday (17 guests inc children aged 2 - 13). So far ideas are

Sat eve
Starter - Spinach, bacon, avocado salad (quails eggs for veggies). Can be plated up quick and easy, with home-made bread.

Main - Slow roast lemon chicken and rice, with french beans and broccoli. However may have to do chicken on Sunday as better for kids.
No idea on veggie option (and I am the veggie!!)

Pud - Chocolate pots (easy to pre-do) and cheese board

Sunday Lunch
Was going to be 24Hr roast pork, but that has been vetoed as 'doesn't agree' with SIL. So has to be chicken I think, plus a veggie option.
Potato gratin and veggies on teh side

Pud - Sticky toffee pudding and ice cream and a fruit brulee I think.

So I need inspiration for Sat night main course to feed 16, and some great veggie ideas.

Thanks

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ok used to be in catering so am having a think.

have a great Moroccan meatball thing( you can do a veggie ball version with the same sauce) and it goes with noodles rice or baby boiled spuds. can all be prepared in advance and reheated successfully.
let me know if it sounds of interest

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How about a beef stroganoff? Waitrose has a nice recipe for this, served with a puff pastry topping on each plate. Easy to do a mushroom version.

Or what about a pasta dish?

Dop they like fish? How about Nigella's 3 fish medley with a herb salsa? That is very quick to cook, and salsa can be made in advance and chilled.

Jamie Oliver's chicken and sweet leek pie is nice - possibly for the Sunday.

For desserts - Nigella's chilled lemin rice pudding is yummy. Again, make in advance and keep chilled.

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Bloody hell Crunchie. I'm afraid I don;t have much to offer in the recipe area but can I just say I bask in your domestic goddess glory
Saturday night AND Sunday??? Respect due.

Ta cod!

The diets I have to worry about are
1 x fussy 13 year old who eats fillet steak, scrambled eggs and not much else!!
1 x 4 year old who is allergic to wheat, gluten, eggs (but now can have dairy and soya!!)
2 x demi veggies who eat veggie, but sometimes fish I think
1 x veggie (Me)
1 x Dad who is allergic to shellfish
1 x SIL who won't eat lamb and pork
1 x Brother who won't eat lamb and pork in sacrifice to his wife (yuk)

I don't eat meat (do eat fish though) so I am very used to always cooking two meals for each sitting.

Fish I always think is a nightmare as it needs cooking at the last min, so I don't get to sit down and eat

Stroganoff on Sat night could be a possibility

As it's 16 I personally think a big casserole type thing would work well. People can just ladle up themselves a bowl of food and you can make loads so there's 2nds and serve with bread.

If you did a sausage style casserole you could do one that's veggies sausage, or just leave them out altogether in one of them and it's somethng the kids could eat too???

Or how about a few different pasta dishes? Veggies pastas are always good and pasta works well with kids too? Then you could do nice Italian nibbles and bits on the side as well.

All the above can be prepared far in advance as well.

Sat night needs to be quite 'gourmet' IYKWIM, and I always find pasta for 16 too much hassle

You could do a beef strog and a mushroom one - Nigella's mushroom one is nice, lots of chopping though. And baby jacket potatoes. And green salad/green beans.

indian spiced chicken- its chicken legs wings etc in a spicy marinade served with basmati rice and avocado salsa/mango chutney- could do plain chicken wings for the kids

chickpea and sweet potato curry ( nigel Slaters recipe for the veggies

The most successful veggie dinner party dish I've ever done - in that it had the omnivores abandoning their meat dishes to get at it - is a pumpkin fondue. Starter or main course. One pumpkin per four people, cut the tops off, scoop out the seeds and part-bake. Then make a cheese fondue sauce - gruyere/emmental, white wine, cream, herbs - pour into the hollowed-out pumpkin and back into the oven for a final 15-minutes bubbling. Use an oven-to-table dish for the pumpkins because they'll be soft when they come out and you don't want them disintegrating. We usually use bread cubes to dip into the cheese sauce to eat - your allergic-to-wheat eater would need something else to dip.

Once the sauce is gone, you can scoop out the pumpkin flesh with a spoon - it'll be all soft and cheesy and creamy.

if it needs to be cheffy what about serving little individual pies ( can get the tinfoil moulds Sainsbury) then each pie can easily be designed for the individual concerned-
fillet steak and wild mushrrom
aubergine wild mushroom and mozzarella
chicken and leek with gruyere
pastry tops

or mash topped shepherds pie for the kids

the novelty factor i'm thinking here

Forgot to say - you could do the part-baking and sauce-making in advance then assemble for the final 15 minutes baking just before you eat.

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Yes, also done Nigella's stroganoff (as well as the Waitrose recipe) - also lovely.

What about a mexican night - chill, spppicy veg, salsas, dips, tortillas, etc.

What about a venison casserole for Sat night. Gourmet, but easy to do and won't spoil. Served with rice and greens??

Then I could do a mushroom thing for me.

Sunday lunch could be slow roast chicken pieces (again time doesn't matter)

BTW themed nights are out (no offence) but the people invited on Sat night are quite 'stuffy' in a lot of ways. Trad food that they could have shot that day might do the trick

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my dh makes the most fabulous nut roast - he coudl give youthe recipe

I think Nigella's got a good venison casserole in 'how to eat'.