ILs coming for dinner and need to know what to do for appetiser and desert

[madmarchscare]

and could do with keeping it fairly simple time wise.

Moussaka for main.

dessert

melon and parma ham or a goats cheese salad for starter
pavlova or eton mess for pudding

seriosuly htough do you need to giev a starter?
i find delia smith mushrooms in garlic butter work well

They are more pudding people when we go out so I thought Id skip starter. Like a starter meself.

second eton mess. tis a doddle

you could just have olives and bread and oil (in a greeky stylee type way to go with moussaka) to nibble at instead of proper starter and then go for yummy pudding.

any good secret recipes for it?

Bag of frozen berries, whipped cream and crumbled meringue.. simple but delish

DH doesnt eat olives

or just drizzle some balsamic or sweet chilli sauce into some olive oil and serve with warm bread. i know its a massive cheat, but those bread making packets int supermarket are v easy, and makes one look terribly clever!

Open big bag kettle chips, tub hoummus.....

eton mess:
break up some meringues( to make: 3 egg whites, 6oz caster sugar - fast whisk egg whites till in peaks, gently whisk in sugar, bake in hottish oven for an hour and leave in there till oven goes cold. shop bought jsut as acceptable)
whip some double cream
mix up with some fresh berries (strawbs if any nice ones left, raspberries, blueberries, plain strawberries is traditional but mixed berries just as nice)

If you're doing moussaka I would do a goats cheese/feta salad to start, then do greek yoghurt with fresh fruit? berries? drizzled with runny honey, I had that every day in Greece, it is yummy and very simple.

would avoid too much cheese in starter and acreamy dessert as mousakka has that cheese sauce over the top which might make it all too rich..

I would do a very simple and sharp salad to start -- something citus-y and maybe with prawns... and then for desert some really nice fruit or a sorbet or a plain ice cream with an expresso poured over it with some nice biscuits..

I would go with the others and do picky Greek style starter - think of the mezze plate you get in a restaurant. Deas easy and let everyone help themselves. If you have a decent deli or good supermarket nearby this would be a doddle, I'd do hoummus (adding a drizzle of oil and maybe coriander on top a la Nigella, bowl of olives, warm tomato bread wsith good olive oil to dip it in, taramasalata (bought), stuffed vine leaves (bought), cubes of marinated feta (bought)!!!!

Like the meringue themed desserts or maybe something tangy like a lemon tart

Am definitely a starter girl rather than pud

oh and those little filo triangle thingies filled with melted cheese and something else? What else goes into this - does anyone know? Am quite inspired to have a Girly Greek night now!!!

Yes, Im liking the picky greek bits idea. Should be easy so thats definately in the running

Filo triangles - tiropittes. I've a recipe I use over and over. Filling is a mix of feta cheese, cottage cheese, chopped mint and eggs to bind together.

arsenic and weed killer

(sorry - have w/end with ILs ahead and am a bit nervy)

thanks Weredog! Will try that tomorrow!!

Breadsticks or dough balls (do you have a bread maker for the dough? impresses people no end but v v easy) and olive oil and dukkah

key lime pie - ruddy easy, totally delicious

garlic mushrooms/soup - this heston choc cake,torte thingy .. easy to make but tastes fab (I just replace the weight in popping candy for digestive) - leave the glaze off too if time an issue.

pointyfangedweredog, more detail on the tiropittes please.

I think I am going with the key lime pie.