Party / meal with 8 people

[stilllovingmysleep]

Hi, soon I have a celebration meal / party with around 8 people coming to my home. We don't have loads of space so won't be a sitting down meal but rather a lingering around a buffet kind of evening.

Ideas about the menu so that it can also be affordable? no expensive massive pieces of meat please. No particular food restrictions.

Substantial nibbles? How stylish are you trying to be? I'm not stylish, I'd do home made cheese straws, rustic bread with cream cheese/houmos, gherkins, peppadews, pate, home made sausage rolls look fantastic and are easy to make. If you want to be posh put chunks of apple and chorizo in the sausage meat as well.

I make bread and a home made onion loaf baked in a round tin with circles of onion slices in the crust is a thing of beauty, and lovely with cream cheese.

Another thing that looks great is a ring made out of two packs of jusrol croissants. You set the triangles out in a ring, fill it with something like diced chicken, celery, Mayo, Apple, cranberries, fold the points over and bake. Serve in slices.

Pickle me thanks for some great ideas. I do love cooking so I was thinking 1-2 substantial big dishes that won't cost the earth and then various nibbles (some home made some bought), like what you suggested. Plus 1-2 desserts

By the way pickleme your onion loaf sounds great, could I have the recipe?

I would so cold meats, Salad and dessert. I do this quite often and only spend between £40 and £45 pounds.

A big cheese board is often popular with crackers or French bread, pickles, pate
Or a baked Camembert
Crudités, breadsticks and some good dips
Marinated chicken on skewers
Cocktail sausages cooked in honey and mustard (always disappear no matter the occasion)
I like fishy things like smoked salmon blinis

I'm a bit lazy about recipes! It's a bog standard white bread dough with some soften onions rolled into it after kneading the dough. Oil a large cake tin or loaf tin, line it with onion rounds, push the dough in trying not to mess up your shapes.

When it's ready (sounds hollow), tip it out. When it's cool and you cut it, there will be ribbons of onion inside it and and the nice caramelised onion rings in the crust.

If you haven't made bread often, do a trial run just in case. Focaccia is easy too.

Oh, sausage casserole is a standby for me too.
Three kinds of sausages (ordinary, chorizo and smoked mattesons ring or frankfurters).
Tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, butter beans sweetcorn.
Onions, peppers.
Herbs, garlic, smoked paprika.

Brown off the sausages, soften the onions, cut the sausages into chunks, add everything in.
Let it sit in the slow cooker or on the back of the hob for a long while. It's quite think and chunky, like a cassoulet. Great in a bowl, with rustic bread.

Oh, sausage casserole is a standby for me too.
Three kinds of sausages (ordinary, chorizo and smoked Mattesons ring or frankfurters).
Tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, butter beans sweetcorn.
Onions, peppers.
Herbs, garlic, smoked paprika.

Brown off the sausages, soften the onions, cut the sausages into chunks, add everything in.
Let it sit in the slow cooker or on the back of the hob for a long while. It's quite think and chunky, like a cassoulet. Great in a bowl, with rustic bread.

Like I said, I'm not much of a one for recipes... I'm a chuck it all in cook!

I second the cheeseboard suggestion. Add some French stick, grapes and Philadelphia and you're done!

For this type of evening I would do a large cheese board with a platter of cooked meats including salami, ham etc. I would add in pate such as chicken liver or perhaps a salmon one. I may add in some smoked salmon.
I would serve a nice bread, oatcakes, crackers and would put out chutney and relish.
A few bowls of nice crisps and perhaps some cashews and peanuts.
I would have sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, pickled onions etc and some grapes and figs and just let everyone help themselves over the evening.

You could do baked spuds with something like sausage casserole - inexpensive, filling and yummy!