Dinner party fail safe menu please!

[User1053051066]

I'm planning a dinner party where there will be 6 adults. Please help!
I'd like most things ready so I can have it all prepped and therefore not much cooking to do while they are here although our kitchen diner is open that's not really an issue.
One guest has histamine allergy so I need to avoid most processed items, including sauces I.e. I need to make from scratch but these can be overcome dont let that put you off giving me your best plans!!!

TIA

How about a theme - take them back to the teen years. For me

Prawn Cocktail
Duck a L'orange
Black Forest Gateau
Cheeseboard - Cheddar, Stilton, Brie with oatcakes, crackers, Melba toast and grapes.

Percolated coffee
Brandy or Port

Served with Babycham and Harveys Bristol Cream with the cheeseboard

For pudding this can be made a couple of weeks before and kept frozen till an hour before.

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/frozen-lemon-souffle-in-a-chocolate-shell/

Or make summer pudding - again you can just freeze it, so long as you remember to thaw it in plenty of time.

How processed is processed?

I'd probably do a roast butternut squash salad with Parma ham, balsamic, pine nuts and parmesan to start (or with loads of crusty bread as a main).

Maybe roast chicken thighs with lemon, dill and feta as a main, which I roast with onions and garlic and potatoes in the roasting dish so easy to ignore, just add some other veggies.

Can the person eat chocolate? If so my go to would be Nigella's "molten chocolate baby cakes" aka melt in the middle chocolate puddings. Easy to make and you can prepare ahead and just pop in the oven in a gap between the main and pudding. Plus everyone thinks they're harder than they are which is a bonus.

If you want simple go Mexican. Chips and dips to start, huge chilli and some spicy chicken with rice, wraps and all the bits. Finish with churros or a cheesecake (there is a name for them but I can't remember).
This is easy, all pre prepared and you can enjoy the evening.

My go to when I used to do dinner parties was a baked Brie or Camembert starter with bread/crudités etc, followed by a chicken dish (coq au van or tarragon chicken) with new potatoes and green beans, followed by tarte tatin

Smoked salmon for a starter with brown bread
Harissa chicken with couscous for a main course
Summer pudding with cream and a stack of chocolate brownies for dessert

Starter, mozzarella cheese with tomatoes and avocado. Sliced.
Main. Bakes salmon, broccoli and red peppers. All on same tray.
Dessert. VIENETTA.

I like to serve tagine as a main course because they are best made the day before as the flavour improves over time. This is my favourite www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_vegetable_tagine_32956 but this one serves 6 and includes the recipe for couscous www.valleyliving.co.uk/blog/aromatic-lamb-tagine/

When I last served tagine, I did this creamy feta dip with toasted pitta for starter recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/starters/creamy-feta-dip

I like soup first. Can't go far wrong and just needs reheated at the time. Ime not many people make their own soup.
Then some pre cooked goulash/casserole/stew and for pud a pre prepared tiramasu, trifle, fruit filled sponge etc
Not fancy but hard to mess up. Minimal preparation at the time is best.

@Ricekrispie22 that tagine looks lovely! Will give it a go for sure.

Starters wise here some successful ideas have been:
French onion soup. Takes a while to caramelise the onions but so so worth it. Chrissy teigen makes one with croissants as the croutons and it’s lovely. I have her book but this looks like it’s the same as they’re crediting her recipe studiosheppard.com/french-onion-soup/

Warm prawn and bacon salad
Goats cheese with warm red onion tart

Main courses like a homemade lasagna would work well as the prep will have been done before your guests arrive and given that it’s better a half hour out of the oven before eating that’s bags of time to have a starter too and means you are dashing up to sort something out.
Roast lamb always a winner too. Something like a shoulder cooks low and slow and again you can leave alone while you eat your starter and then just dish up. We do ours with potatoes garlic carrots underneath and wine wrapped up in foil and cooked for hours. Served with green beans and roast potatoes. Yes that’s two types of potatoes. It’s a hill I’ll die on

Dessert here is always Eton mess because I adore meringue! But can’t make my own it’s a disaster every time hence the mess and never pavlova. The nigella chocolate bombs sound amazing

My go to when I used to do dinner parties was a baked Brie or Camembert starter with bread/crudités etc.

Surely not in Covid times.
You want individual things not communal food surely

Have you got a rice cooker? If your main is a tagine or chilli that you've prepared earlier it becomes even easier with a rice cooker! :)

For a starter there are lovely summery salads you could do. Watermelon, Parma ham and tomatoes, or satsuma and rocket leaves with good dressings that you can make ahead.

I like a meze style meal.
Lots of pita and dips to start with olives, halluoumi and dolma.
Then a beef stifado with orzo rice for a main.
I just really enjoy the laid back sharing starter, most people will enjoy something on there and if you make your own dips they won’t be too processed hopefully.

Ooooh, I had a baked Camembert last night.
It was so bloody good.

Oh bugger, I forgot about Covid for a moment while fantasising about food.
You could always do a sharing style platter for people of the same house hold. That way it’s only their food that they’re sharing.

A cold starter like an apple, goat cheese and walnut salad or a squash and harissa salad with avocado

A main course that can be cooking in the oven or slow cooked and served as a 'one pot' meal

My fail safe dessert is always panna cotta. Look up Nigella's recipe from her book Nigellissima. I make an easy fruit compote to go with it too, just from frozen berries.