Sunday lunch menu for foodie and his pg wife - please help!

[bossykate]

OK what about this?

to start:
apple, bacon and celeriac salad with toasted hazelnuts on a bed of frisee (pg alert - hazelnuts, bagged salad???)

main:
roast duck with baked apples & apple sauce, roast potatoes, herb & parmesan stuffed portabellini mushrooms (too much? too rich?), steamed tenderstem brocolli.

pudding:
poached pears in vanilla syrup, vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate sauce.

is this good enough for a foodie? will it be ok for a pg woman?

normally confident (if simple) cook, bk cravenly seeks reassurance from mn cooks! tia

sounds gorgeous -- would just wash the salad to make sure it is OK .... and maybe have nuts separate to sprinkle ....

would love this!!

Message withdrawn

bossykate, do you know how pregnant she is and if she has MS or not? Might be an idea to check, lovely though it sounds at the moment I would go green at the thought of all the flavours (14+4 pg!). But it is a lovely menu and ordinarily I would be drooling, especially at the duck!

thanks for all the tips - very useful. i would do roast lamb but don't want to serve it pink and chicken is a little dull for our foodie guest

ggggl - i think you're right will try a diff fruit with the roast duck - needs something tart...

anniediv - sorry don't understand your ref to MS? she is about 14wks.

thanks all

I think she means morning sickness. Have a packet of digestives handy just in case

Yep, 'morning sickness'

aaah! well i will be happy to serve up crackers toast etc if she is still feeling sick - but am not planning whole lunch menu around potential nausea - sorry! would not have expected anyone to do this for me. i am, however, more than happy to accommodate all the latest guidance on what pg women should and shouldn't eat - hence consulting mn gurus!

Message withdrawn

Sorry, you did ask!!

gggl - if i were serving magret i might well do it pink. however, i am following a crispy roast duck recipe from good food magazine which calls for four hours roasting... hard to believe it will be pink after that! good food have a good rep for well tested recipes so i think it will be fine despite not being pink.

Bossykate - please please please may I come too?

duxk too rich ime
will give her indigestion

anniediv - yes i did, but honestly if she said all she could eat was crackers, what could i do??? they have invited themselves!

Ah, well that's different then. I wouldn't accept an invite at the moment because I would just miserably push the food around and try and eat a bit, then have to go and be sick! (And I did say that the menu sounded great, just not for me at the moment!)

the other person we have to accommodate is finicky ds...

rejected options:

sausages and mash - too dull
fish pie - heavy, richer and heavier than roast duck i feel
sausage casserole - again heavy...

i want something seasonal if possible... that suits everyone!

This is why i tend to go out wiht frineds
al thsi agonising for a emal that last a few minutes

any roast that should be served pink - rejected
chicken - too dull as i said
risotto - ds won't eat it
some kind of pasta bake - too "family supper" but ds and dh would like it...

some kind of poached fish might work though...

is that you cod?

actually i quite enjoy the planning usually - it's the pg/health aspects that are making it a bit trickier than usual...

sounds delicious. although i also really like the idea of fish pie have only managed to make it twice whilst pregnant but it went down really easily when I did (too tired to chew anything else). I'd suggest putting dishes in the middle of the table and allowing her to help herself if you don't do this already. When feeling crappy someone putting an overloaded plate in front of me did not help.

thanks very much for all the tips so far. grateful for any more... dh is going to make a tactful phone call this am and try and find out the ms status...

jesus

is completely over the top for a sunday lunch IMO

I would ditch the starter and just have nibbles personally

but if you really want to cook it it sounds lovely and delicious

a roast is over the top for sunday lunch???

seriously, main course and pudding couldn't be easier, really, i will post the recipes if you like - they are simple, simple, simple. the pears you can do a couple of days in advance even.

agree the salad is a bit more fiddly but it's just a salad! am doing it because dh really likes the sound of it.

not roast OTT obv

I think just the starter and stuffed mushrooms although I can see it wold be easy to do

the peras thing sounds lovely I have done before

i don't normally do a starter for lunch - agree with you 2 courses plenty. but am feeling rather under pressure - dh's friend is an extreme foodie and as i said dh is really keen on trying this salad - it's very unusual for dh to express a strong food preference, espec for salad i feel i must humour it!

stuffed mushrooms - i already have a load of herby breadcrumbs in the freezer which need using up so think they will be quite easy to do - i did wonder if they are too rich to accompany the main course though and should i switch them with the salad...

i do actually enjoy planning meals and am not normally so indecisive over what to cook!