Dinner party with some restrictions in diets ideas needed.

[Frikadellen]

For my birthday party end of February I have decided to invite 3 friends and their dh's for dinner at my house.

It is rare we all manage time together and i thought this would be fun.

However there are some restrictions in diet

1 is celiac
1 eats no seafood and fish
1 is allergic to peas

So I need an - easy to sort out - prior to party- menu.

I do not want to do " nibbly help yourself things" it is just not my idea of a dinner menu (I know plenty who like it but not what I am aiming for)

Ideally I would like to do something where dessert and starter is done prior and can simply be taken out to serve. I have a slow cooker so may work for one of them.

Main course I would also like some stuff that could either be prepared before and then quickly heated or something that could cope with sitting in slow cooker or in oven for a bit longer than it necessarily needed (so I do not have to clock watch all the time)

Last time I had the celiac and no fish.seafood for lunch I served lamb steaks with tapanade and quinoa with herbs accompanied this, dessert was Eton mess (as my friend adores this so I HAD to make it)

I really want to avoid my friend who is celiac having to have separate food to the rest of us. Hence would prefer to keep the entire menu gluten free. (Will bend on the cheese at the end and get her gluten free biscuits there)

I am a competent cook but my oven is not the best and can take a bit longer than usual to cook stuff.

Usually I would do like a fish mousse to begin with or even fish for main course but obviously this is off the menu with the above I would also like to avoid repeating menu last time.

Any ideas?

My coeliac friend cooked for us recently, we had soup for starter, slow cooked lamb shanks for main, and chocolate mousse for dessert. Delicious!

Curry is always my fall back for these sort of things as i know i can cook vegetarian/vegan/gluten free/food allergies.

One of my favourite dishes is a lamb and cardamon curry which i normally serve with pilau rice.

Maybe something like this chicken tikka starter with salad. You may be able to get GF tortilla to serve with this and it can be made in advance. Just check the curry paste of ok for celiacs.

This is a very good Indian dinner party dessert.

Oh different on the cheese biscuits because I know she loves this one particular type (that I don't care for myself)

I cant do prawns due to no seafood. and I served melon and parma ham for starter last time (forgot to say sorry - I thought I had but just did main and dessert)

mm chocolate and almond torte is a nice idea...

I am tempted on lamb but not sure as I used it last time (but i do like it)

Melon and Parma ham or Parma ham and egg mayonnaise

Veal in orange sauce (in the slow cooker) served with rice and green salad or potatoes dauphinoise and green beans

Grown up jelly, eg Orange with Campari or Lime with gin.

i think that avoids gluten, fish and seafood, and peas

Oh just seen your comment about Parma ham, so possibly goats cheese and salad for starters, or if you are pushing the boat out a quail per person with watercress and endive salad?

To start, what about a chicken and bacon terrine?

For main course, game is in season so maybe a vension casserole with chestnuts, in a red wine and redcurrant jelly sauce? VV slow cooker or long slow oven friendly. Parmentier or gratin potatoes, plus a rocket or spinach salad, some glazed carrots or butternut squash.

Pudding pavlova perhaps, or a trifle made with gf cake, or a semi-freddo with ice-cream, crushed amaretti, booze and coffee.

How about :-
starter soup - something like roasted butternut squash
main ( one of my favourites ) Nigel Slaters Roast chicken with Cardoman- its the 2nd recipe on this link -

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/30/foodanddrink.shopping2
dessert - either pannacotta with red berry compote or creme brulee ( the big one thats in Nigella Lawson s book is brilliant )

I am non coeliac gluten intolerant and my DW does not eat fish so this type of dinner party is very common for us.

Basically all meat and veg (except peas) are fine but just avoid wheat flour thickeners. Use cornflour if necessary. Avoid all shop bought sauces as they often contain gluten as does soy sauce. Sausages contain gluten in the rusk. M&S sell gluten free susages with pea starch as a substitute so no good for this occassion.

Other than that I suggest:

Starter: Roast parsnip soup with a gluten free bread roll for the coeliac.

Main course. Coq au vin with rice or goulash with rice.

Pudding. Chocolate Mousse in glasses or trifle with GF cake. Try to avoid doing something with meringues because all coeliacs get given that for pudding at EVERY dinner party. I cook GF tarts and cakes but I think that is quite hard to do as a one off if you are not used to baking with GF flour.

Be aware the coeliac may also be lactose intolerant (milk sugar intolerant not allergic to dairy). You can buy lactofree milk and cream in all decent supermarkets.