Catered anniversary dinner at home - need help!

[AalyaSecura]

Hi, my parents' 50th anniversary is rapidly approaching, and we have plans for immediate family to get together (10 of us) - but my mum is currently housebound with her health, which rules out going out to a restaurant for a celebration dinner. She's downplaying it, suggesting a normal takeaway, but I'm thinking of ways we could make the event more special.

I'd wondered about hiring a private chef (though their kitchen is basic, so a lot would need to be done in advance), or if we could buy pre-prepared stuff (not ready meals, more fine dining than that!) that we finish off. My SiL and I could cook something from scratch, but mum wants to see us rather than us being stuck in the kitchen. They are ruralish in the north east, so don't have a lot of options around us.

Any suggestions of what we could do / what kind of service we could use?

[ waves to SiL if she sees and recognises this situation, as I know she uses MN - will call you this weekend to discuss!!]

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

'Cook' is really good.

[1frenchfoodie]

Oooh, I second the 'Cook' idea. I tend to cook from scatch but had a nosy round my local one the other day. The dishes look interesting and I tried a sample of their green chicken curry and was really impressed.

[Icequeen01]

Do you have any 'Cook ' shops near you? They provide very good quality frozen meals which are perfect for this kind of occasion. I had a dinner party for 16 people for my 50th and as my husband cannot cook to save his life, and I didn't want the bother of cooking, I bought the Chicken Alexander and just did the veggies to go with it. The food is not cheap but really good quality and delicious - certainly not what you would think when you mention frozen meals). I was even asked for the recipe by one of my guests! The website for cook is www.cookfood.net. They have lots of gorgeous dishes, including veggies if you wish and some fab desserts.

At Christmas you can actually buy your complete Christmas Day dinner!

[1frenchfoodie]

If you are only put off catering yourself by wanting to spend time with family there are some dishes that would need minimal work on thn night of the party - confit duck for e.g only needs 10 or so minutes reheating/crisping and could be served with lyonnaise potatoes cooked on the day or even the day before and just popped in the oven to heat through and dressed rocket. Homemate pate or fish mousse is easy make ahead starter and there are plenty of portable puds. Sounds like the private chef may be more what you have in mind but just an idea.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

How about getting dishes from waitrose entertaining? Depends a bit on what you fancy but they will supply dinner party style dishes that a completely ready just to be put in the oven and in sizes to feed a crowd, eg beef Wellington, joints of meat, sides of salmon, lasagne or whatever and the sides to go with them. Not the same as being waited on by a chef but very low input.

[AalyaSecura]

Thank you for the suggestions! Will start getting in touch with a few to see what might be feasible.

[bombayflambe]

an example :
www.jacobtoricaterers.co.uk/private-catering-functions/

[bombayflambe]

There will be caterers in the area who can do this for you. Keep ringing round until you find one (it's not always obvious from the websites etc).

[Missgraeme]

My son is a chef and I keep telling him there is a market for going to clients houses and cooking a family meal!! We are in the north east also! Maybe a gumtree ad to find someone to do just that?