vote -which starter shall I do ?

[ggirl]

dinner for 8
dh doing some fish dish for main
strawberry cheesecake for dessert

starter up to me ( not great in kitchen but can manage something that can be done ahead of time)

1. prawn cocktail -go retro ???

1. anti pasta/mezzo platters

3.your suggestions

I would go antipasti as otherwise it is two fish courses and two courses with a creamy content (Marie Rose sauce and cheesecake)

Antipasta gets my vote.

2

Serve them in middle of table and let people help themselves, I find this gets people talking and starts a good atmosphere "please pass the X...have you tried that Y its really good...do you want some z..." Its basic but it breaks the ice and the silence and people feel more comfortable

I would go prawn cocktail but only because it's one of my favourite starters

not really sure how to do a good antipasto starter either
need to do some googling

I got some ideas for an antipasto starter on pinterest. The most popular dish on mine was the roast asparagus wrapped in parma ham.

thanks nbee

I'm obsessed with a mango, chilli, crabmeat concoction, wrapped in lettuce, which I've posted on here about before. Drizzled with chilli sauce.
Can be made ahead of time, low carb. Yummy.

Another vote for Antipasti, served as Smurfy suggests.

Antipasto, not some campaign against Italian/Cornish pastry comestibles!

Make it simple. Parma ham and melon (on offer at tesco at the mo) and tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with vinagrette. Loads of crusty bread.

I'd do the antipasto platter too. you could serve while having a drink before sitting at the table too. What I do usually is:

Slice a french loaf, brush each slice with olive oil and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt. Put in a low oven until golden and crisp. (can do this a day ahead - store in airtight container)

Slice a ciabatta loaf so have one basket of the crisp bread and one of fresh

Bowls of olives/jarred roasted peppers/tapanade

Sliced prosciutto/parma ham/salami

Small sliced baby tomatoes and mozzarella in a bowl

White bean dip (canned cannelloni beans mashed up with garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and a few red pepper flakes)

most of this requires no actual cooking and can be prepped and ready to go.

Some tasty and not too difficult ideas here

Dontlaugh- can you link to your crabmeat concoction or post it; sounds amazing!

Fawn -great link thanks
I'm doing the asparagus as well as anti pasto platter
thanks