Dinner Party advice

[Sugarmagnolia]

I'm planning a dinner party for 10. One thing I definitely wan to serve is this lovely salad I discovered in the states last year with lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, cranberries & red onion. So originally the menu was going to be something like this:

Starter:
soup (had it narrowed down to 2 choices)

Main:
a fish dish
mashed potato
3-bean salad
green salad (as above)

Sweet:
Gordon Ramsey's chocolate mousse cups

My MIL (who has done a lot of dinner parties and entertaining over the years) suggested serving the salad and some nice crusty bread as the starter and then a hot veg with the main course instead and skip the soup all together. DH says you can't just have salad for a starter - "it's wierd".

Any thoughts? TIA

oh and strawberry & pineapple kebabs with the dessert as well

I think mashed potato and veg is better than salad tbh and a nice salad with nice bread would make a good starter.

I think my main rule for dinner parties is make sure you choose things that can be semi or completely prepared in advance otherwise when your guests arrive you are stuck in the kitchen!

Just one other comment - do you know that all your guests can eat fish, I avoid fish as a main as DH doesn't like it (although if I had my way we would eat it all the time!)

Have a great dinner party!

Yes, I'm pretty sure they all eat fish - we tend to do fish a lot at dinner parties as some don't eat meat.

And I totally agree about preparing in advance - I don't think there's anything I have to really do last minute. Soup, if I do it, can be made a week or two before and kept in the freezer. Bean salad done the day before and kept in the fridge. Mousse cups say do the day before and keep in the fridge. Mash I can do earlier in the day and reheat. And the fish I can prepare that afternoon, put it in the fridge and then pop in the oven to bake when everyone arrives.

Would still like a few more opinions re the salad please.

Sounds like you have it sorted then!

Have to say, hot mash with cold salad sounds a bit odd to me. Why not go with McDreamy's suggestion?

How about the salad as the starter and carrots with the main? I'm not normally a big fan of cooked carrots but I saw Heston Blumenthal cook them just in a pan with some butter, salt & pepper (no water) and they were yummy. Even yummier with a tiny bit of honey.

?

hot mash with salad delicious!

but salad absolutely fine as starter. plenty of protein in walnuts if that's what he's worried about. i often have salad as a starter in restaurants anyway (don't do dinner parties as a rule).

i personally don't think you need another veg as well, although the carrots sound amazing.

i think this is a really well organised and lovely meal and would be chuffed beyond belief if someone served it to me (hint hint)

i agree with choosy i love mash with salad, especially with grilled chicken or fish finger.

Thanks choosy - you can come if you like but you'll have to bring your own chair!

The carrots sound lovely!!