Come Dine With Me - ideas to feed 8

[WittyAndCleverUsername]

My friends and I have been doing a couples come dine with me type of thing over the last few months and the next evening is to be held at mine and DH's. It's not until July so I have plenty of time to prepare but I'm stuck for ideas.

I was thinking along the lines of an Italian theme with antipasti to start but that's as far as I've got!

We've already had a Mexican evening, traditional English and an Indian night.

We'll hopefully be dining Al fresco but I don't think a bbq would be up to standard so I'm looking for ideas that are easy to do, but look and taste
impressive and fit with a theme that we've not already had.

I was toying with the idea of Spanish tapas but thought it might be too much to do for 8 people without stressing out which is why the Italian idea is more appealing

Help!!

No!

You must have things with names the other contestants can't pronounce.
Things the other contestants can't/won't eat.
Things everybody thinks they can do better!

Otherwise where is the fun?

Chicken stuffed with gorgenzola, wrapped in parma ham - can be made ahead a few hours then into the oven. Serve with a green veg and potatoes or if warm an Italian salad with pasta salad or potato salad.

I completely agree OtillaVonBCup. The poncier sounding the better!

Gorgonzola chicken sounds yum but I'd need to give it a clever name

Pollo Gorgonzole

For the full CDWM experience there will need to be:

A simmering tension between 2 guests, that will explode over dessert (which will be named "wittyandcleverusername's fancy piece", or something similar.

Some culinary disaster such as your cat chowing down the main course, or being unable to find hand-picked samphire in your local co-op

Guests that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in common, resulting in point 1 above

Extreme time pressures on you, meaning that you will be chucking together your starter as your guests walk (singly) up your drive

Hope you've lined up the camera and sound people to clutter up your kitchen!

Seriously, tapas sounds great but is a heck of a lot of work! I think your al fresco italian theme sounds good - for starters I like to do big platters of salad (rocket, parma ham, peach and mozarella with sun blush toms and parmesan shavings is good) and bread & olives. Mains - the gorgonzola chicken sounds good, and a lovely tiramasiu for puds - it's prettier served in individual glasses.

cdtaylornats - Pollo Gorgonzole is a winner, thank you. Sounds great and I can do some nice side dishes with that.

Marlin - love it! no cats to worry about but there is always the danger of my dog puking up by my guests feet after he has eaten too much guinea pig poop!!

LOVE the sound of the peach / parma ham salad.

I hate coffee though so may have to think of an alternative dessert or maybe go for a twist on the tiramisu

Is one of your guests a vegan/picky eater? They always seem to have one of those on Come Dine With Me.

How about panna cotta for dessert? This one is suitable poncy!

No OldBeanbagz we are sadly lacking in the vegan department, we do have one picky eater (my DH!) and one who won't eat fish of any variety but other than that quite an easy bunch to please - I guess its less Come Dine With Me more "dinner-with-mates-with-a-slight-competitive-edge!"

Basil panna cotta sounds great - I had forgotten I had tried that a few years ago and loved it, thanks for refreshing my memory!! That website sounds beautifully poncy - loving the name Francois La Prune that is a contender for a new username if ever I heard one!