So what quick fab thing can I make for guests on a Friday after being out all day?

[ThomCat]

Having mates over to dinner Fri night but am out all day and they are coming straight from owrk.

She doesn't eat seafood and he doesn't eat sea cucumbers (darn it had a great sea cucumber receipe I was going to do as well!!!!! )

Don't want to do a bbq as can't trust this sodding weather.

Any ideas for quick, easy but stunning dishes?

is salmon seafood .. got a great salmon thing you can do in the morning/night before

it IS freshwater fish

takeaway, definitely takeaway, its the mates bit thats important

carbonara, sundried tomato mixed with olives, salad, some garlic bread.

wine!

vanilla ice cream with strawberries for desert.

quick and very easy to prepare most of it previous day.

If you want to make it the night before, can recommend Delia's Basque chicken. It's in the Summer book and tastes even better the next day.

If you don't have the book, post again & I'll go & get the recipe.

Otherwise, on the day you could make a quick stirfry using ready sliced chicken and one of those boxes of stirfry veg from Waitrose.

Or, Waitrose do yummy meals which just need cooking, like morrocan lamb with mint etc.

wtf is a sea cucumber?

alternatively.......

warm chicken, bacon and potato salad

cube potatoes (no need to peel) and microwave til tender
chop up chicken and bacon
chop up big bunch of spring onions
fry potatoes in hot oil so they go nice and crisp on the outside, add chicken and bacon, cook until cooked

While cooking, bung salad on everyone's plate (i like rocket salad as its got a goot strong flavour) and slice avocado over the top.

Add spring onions to pan.

When chicken is cooked, add whole baby plum or cherry tomatoes for 30 seconds. bung on top of salad.

dribble (or drizzle if you are posh) balsamic vinegar on top.

just came back to ask wtf is a sea cucumber but see that olive beat me

I know its salad but its tasty, hot, filling, easy and quick.

Buy a pud.

Yum, Frumpy, can I come to your house for tea? Can I can I??

euwwww you eat THIS?

a sea cucumber is exactly like a normal one but it has boden swim shorts on and sometimes a bit of poo on its head.

easy peasy lemon squeezy

Salmon isn't seafood but DP a bit ting about salmon sometimes and I might avoid the whole fish thing!

Takeaway too easy, I like cookign for friends.

Carbonara not a bad idea, DP makes a wicked one so it would mean him cooking. However bit unfair as once kids are in bed I'll have a whole hour to get cookign befoer he arrioves home. he makes the carbonara in our house, not me.

Delia's Basque chicken - sounding good. Not sure i HAVE THAT BOOK, WOULD YOU MIND POSTING RECEIPE?

Sorry hit caps by accident.

mumble, why yes you may! I make the same thing every night as I can't cook for toffee

do the pork chop one on my list

gordon ramsay did a fab pork chop one last night on the F word

do you like pork chops? will find link if yes

Twiglett - ewwww!

he just got back from travelling so must have tried one:

Sea cucumber is considered a delicacy in Far East countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. It is also highly valued for its supposed medicinal properties. The flesh of the animal is "cleaned" in a process that takes several days. The food item is often purchased dried, and then rehydrated before use. The product is used in soups, stews and braised dishes due to its gelatinous texture.

In Japanese cuisine, Konowata is made of sea cucumber entrails which are extracted, salted, and cured.

sounds lovely

I'm going to adopt "I don't eat sea cucumber". Sounds v impressive

I've never cooked apork chop in my l;ife tbh, just not really the sort of thing we eat round ours.

Think my mum used to make me eat tjhem with boiled potatoes as a kid, most definitley not GR style!

I would make pastry the day before, chop peppers, onions, mushrooms all flat. Grate loads of cheese. Get sausage meat out of freezer.

Next day roll pastry, line a square or round ceramic dish, put sausagemeat all over. Next layer peppers, mushrooms, onions all over sausagemeat. cut some fresh tomatoes and do a layer of that. Grate cheddar all over, parsley, thyme, black pepper. Mix up 2/3 eggs and pour it over, Gas mark 5 for about 40 mins.

It's lovely and served with salad goes down extremely well.

good god how rough does he look here?

bit faffy maybe? ignore courgette things

chicken? chicken one with couscous on my list

FEEDBACK!!

am putting off any work till I leave at 4pm

That salad sounds GOOD! I was going to suggest carbonara when I saw the thread title.
Also, would suggest poussins. They are on offer in tesco at the mo. Take 45 mins in the oven. We had them roasted with butter and herbs out the garden, tho you could buy some, served surrounded by rocket salad, sundried tomatoes. (We are trying to lose weight, I'd have served potato salad as well otherwise).
I think buying pudding is acceptable. Or some good ice cream and homemade chocolate or raspberry sauce (recipes if you like?)

asparagus risotto (recipe on bbc website) with herb bread and ice cream with strawberries. delicious.

Thanks UCM.

OO - that pork thing actually looks alright. Buit I just know that my bloody, i mean darling DP will say 'ohhh no, don't fancy pork chops', I just know it.

Don't know about cous cous, i do it for lunch but not dinner really, hmmmm

Sorry I typed that ages ago then ddi a work thing and forgot to press post.

poissons sound like a good idea actually with potato salad etc,ummmmmmm.