Lunch for guests!

[Droflove]

I've to do lunch on Sunday for important business contact of hubby and his wife. I moved to a house with an aga just weeks ago so am still getting used to it! Was thinking for main sage and parmasan chicken wrapped in prosciutto with roasted vine tomatoes, lemon butter asparagus and crushed garlic and balsamic roast potatoes, all which are easy on the aga and leave me able to have drinks with the guests. No idea what to do for starter! Any fancy but easy ideas, preferably that I can prepare in advance? Also bread and butter pudding would be so easy but what do you think, is it generally loved?

I'm sure you're going to get loads of ideas here, but as a start...

Recently at a dinner party a friend did a cold starter of sliced pears with stilton and a rich balsamic glaze. It was delicious and despite being obviously simple was a huge hit because it was fairly novel and very tasty.

Otherwise, this time of year a homemade butternut squash soup should always go down well. You can fancy it up by making your own bread rolls to go with it.

Oh- I love bread and butter pudding - to make it just a little bit more scrumptious, I do it the Anton Mossiman way ( years ago on the telly!) - cut off crusts, cover it with foil and cook in a water bath. Just take the foil off for 10 mins at end to brown- its so light - I don't put raisins in, but have a red berry compote side.

With wanting a hot pudding, I usually do a cold starter - maybe little individual tartlets - can be cooked earlier and served at room temperature, and all ready plated up - i would normally do goats cheese, but with the parmesan in the main caramelised onion perhaps?

I'd forget about a starter and do drinks with nibbles - olives, crisps etc instead. Imo 3 courses is unnecessary, too much faffing around when you want to be sitting at the table with your guests. Bread and butter pudding is a winner. All sounds lovely.