Calling all good cooks or foodies: reasonably impressive but simple dinner party ideas please!

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I have some people coming to dinner next Friday and I want to cook something lovely. One is a good cook and a bit of a foodie, the others I don't really know about food wise, but one of them is my (lovely, female) boss. She doesn't eat red meat but apart from that I can do anything. I don't need to impress her, she's coming to talk over some business ideas we have, as are the other people coming. So, ideas, please for:

A starter, ideally something I can do in advance
ditto pudding, needs to be done night before
main course, again ideally something I don't have to faff around with a great deal on the night as I also have various children coming to tea that day (I don't work on Fridays atm) so I won't have tons of time.

I don't like pasta or stews so not that. Any suggestions gratefully recieved. I'm a competent cook so it doesn't have to be simple, it can use expensive/unusal ingredients, that's fine and I can get most things in local shops etc so the world's my oyster. Thanks in advance for ideas. I have lots of cookbooks so can do Nigel, Nigella, Jamie, Elizabeth, Ruth Watson (ooh, must look through Something for the Weekend mustn't I?)

I had a dinner party the other day.

Starter which worked well was just a couple of very nice meats and cheeses, and then things like grapes, tomatoes, butter and crackers that they helped themselves to while I was cooking.

It worked well as they all got chatting (and hadn't known each other before) and it was very relaxed.

River cafe-ish linguine with crab/chilli/parsley/lemon is always nice.

Sea bass it is then I reckon but we're a way from the sea, it'll have to be local Waitrose sea bass Gosh enid that's scarily organised but I am glad you did it!

the lemon creams in Nigella's "How to eat" (page 272) are easy, impressive particularly if you half coat them in grated chocolate and you're advised to make them 2-3 days in advance. They taste better. Then all you have to do is take them out of the fridge about 1 hour before you want them. Match them with decent shortbread. She does give a recipe but really, who's that organised! She matches it with sausages and mash which you could copy with veggie sausages if you wanted.

yes I have people to dinner a lot

Enid - I will too when dcs are a bit older....

www I have to as I have a list of reliable old faves - dinners and friends and try to make sure people don't get the same thing twice

Enid, do you make the salsa verde the day before? Or do I have to do it the same day?

How about a fondue. With my guests it is always a hit.

Right, I think I am going to do

quails eggs, celery salt, focaccia and olive oil/balsamic vinegar to pick at

followed by Jamie's sea bass, salsa verde, with a green salad and maybe barely cooked green beans

followed by Nigella's slut red raspberries in chardonnay

or ice cream (bought, no time, can't be arsed to make it)

then coffee, dark chocolate

If anyone thinks it sounds vile please speak up! I'll let you know how it goes.

it sounds delicious www. is there room at your table for one more [hopeful foody emoticon]

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To be absolutely honest, I would need some carbs with that meal or I'd be starving.

I'd also go with hte raspberries/chardonnay thing rather than ice-cream (but that's only because I think ice-cream is massively over-rated!)

Anyway, ignore me, I'm no dinner party thrower at all!

There are carbs with it, there are potatoes cooked with garlic and cooked underneath the sea bass!

We had quails eggs with celery salt and focaccia with balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping, which was great to start

Then the sea bass, which everyone said was fab (although I felt like I spent far too long cooking it once you added in the salsa verde too) then the slut red raspberries which I definitely won't be making again. One of my guests said "it looks like frogspawn" and I didn't much fancy it after that. I tasted it and it was fine but not fantastic. And given that it was a faff to make too, it just didn't live up to my expectations. Oh well, now I've tried it, which I've been meaning to for a while.