Starters... I need a starter.

[bigknickersbigknockers]

We have invited BIL and his wife and SIL and her hubby over for supper on saturday night.
I dont have a lot of confidence when it comes to entertaining so have decided to cook spaghetti and meatballs as a main course and cheat when it comes to dessert and buy a nice cheesecake or torte.
I just dont know what to serve as a starter. any suggestions please as am desperate
Ps SIL is a chef which only adds to the stress

Grilled goats cheese rounds on thinly sliced muffins?

Prawns and melon?

cold cucumber soup? here

Whiz up some prawns & cream cheese together with a bit of paprika, serve with toast.
Flat mushrooms, remove stalks, mix with chopped peanuts & grated cheese. Cook in oven for approx 20mins.

Thats my full repertoire at your disposal!

A great simple starter is a caprese (spelling?) salad. Just slices of mozzarello and tomato with fresh basil. You can add a simple dressing (oil and vinegar) if you like. Important to get good plump ripe tomatoes not those pale watery ones. Hope this helps.

Really easy but lovely.

Put some nice olive oil into an attractive bowl. Add some balsamic vinegar - it will fall to bottom.

Serve with two or three different types of lovely yummy fresh bread. Sliced so that all can dip into the bowl of oil/balsmaic vinegar.

Hi bkbk, just asked dh who is also a chef, he suggested grilled marinated med veg salad topped with feta cheese, he will provide recipe if you like this idea, he said it is very easy to do, or garlic chicken salad...prawn skewers with a garlic citrus sauce

he is thinking of more, let me know what you think

fresh sweetcorn. Its just in season so should be really tasty now. Ponce it up dishes of melted butter and/or dressing made with olive oil and lemon juice

thanks everyone, they all sound lovely, I have thought about it and I need something that can be made ahead and either served cold or warmed up. I dont want to be in a pickle, want to be able to relax. anything except soup,because i am rubbish at making soup

if she is a chef then go for simple - but with excellent quality - possibly seasonal -ingredients. figs are in season so how about this (I steal from jamie oliver) cut figs with a cross - as if you're going to quarter them but don;t cut all the way through; squeeze the bottom so the inside is exposed, serve with a slice of parma ham , some slices of mozerella and torn up basil. drizzle with dressing: 6 tblspoons good quality olive oil with 3 tablespons lemon juice, I1tablespoon runny honey, sea salt and black pepper. my mouth is watering...and even a total idiot would struggle to get this wrong.

Jamie says Italian figs are best, Greek second best.

drop that into conversation and she'll think you're a closet chef yourself...

that's one tablespoon of honey - not 11!

buy some nice parma/serrano ham, olives, nuts and bread. Make up a green bean salad (can be done in advance) with green beans olive oil and lemon juice. Make some white bean and sun dried tomato dip (also can be done in advance) 1 tin white beans, few sun dried toms, few sun blush toms. Soften 1 clove of garlic in olive oil. Whizz everything together and season to taste. Either make up individual plattters with mixture of everything or place stuff on the table for people to help themselves

need to drain and rinse tin of beans of course

Boiled beetroot (you can get ready to eat in supormarkets), chopped walnuts, pieces of apple with deressing (olive oil and lemon juice), you can add some salad cream if you like.

Grated carrots woith chopped walnuts and salad cream.

Chopped cucumber, tomatoes, peppers with olive oil and lemon juice dressing.

lots of ideas, am hungry now.

parma ham and melon sounds ideal for your

'make ahead, cold, no fuss' wishes

maybe get 2 types of melon?

parma ham wrapped around mozarella is nice and simple..

Or arancini - risotto balls are lovely

Its not all that posh but a really easy and tasty starter that takes about 1 minute to prepare is - a block of philidelphia on a plate, cover it with a bottle of sweet chilli sauce.

Then give everyone a pack of biscotti toasts and you all dig in! We stole it from someone else and it has gone down really well with everyone we have done it for.

thanks for all the replies, have had to rearrange meal for a week on saturday but think I will go with the parma ham and mozzarella as it sounds simple, surely even i cant make a balls up of that

It's really simple and yummy, can I just suggest you lightly saute the wrapped up mozarrella in a pan with butter, to crisp the ham slightly and seal it all together. easy!!

sounds scrummy.

Ooh DP had the most delish starter the other night. Camembert baked in its box! Couldn't be a lot easier than that and was probably the nicest starter I've ever tasted!