Gluten free dinner party menu

[mrsm43s]

I'm having a couple of friends round for dinner and one of the guests is gluten intolerant.

No other food issues, not fussy eaters. We all eat meat/ fish/ seafood/ spicy food/ dairy etc. It's literally just gluten that I need to avoid.

I'd prefer to avoid buying too many gluten free substitutes if possible, preferring something that's naturally gluten free. That said I have chosen something that uses some GF flour in my proposed menu and I'm OK with that.

This is my current proposed menu, but I'm not sure. I wonder if it will be a bit dull? I keep finding that there's a big overlap between gluten free recipes and vegan/ vegetarian/ dairy free etc, and whilst I don't have a problem with that per se, I did feel that a lot of the recipes seemed a bit dull and everyday, and a bit like veggies were just being substituted for the tastly bits!

Ideally I'd like something that is as "prepare in advance" as possible.

So I'm proposing this for a starter, served cold with rocket and sliced plum tomatoes on the side with a balsamic glaze.

Followed by this
I do worry this has the potential to be super bland though.

Finally this for pud. I'm happy with this, and can't wait to try it out!

So what do you reckon?

Would you mind being served an all veggie menu when no-one is a veggie? Do you think its a bit dull?

I'd be particularly interested in anyone's suggestions for a different main, and possibly starter too!

I don't have any experience of GF cooking, so am sticking to recipes that specifically state GF.

Looks amazing. Can I come?! You could do a lasagne instead. Ive substited the lasagne sheets for courgette and aubergine before, but you can get cheep gluten free lasagne sheets from Morrisons now.

What would you make if your guest wasn't GF? I'm GF, and would never serve anyone else gf pastry as it is almost always either rock hard, or has no structural integrity. Or both.
I'd do a starter of charcuterie with the salad and tomatoes etc.
And maybe something like Nigellas almond and clementine cake for pudding, which is more interesting than a pavlova (its always meringue, fruit or brownies if you are GF) .

I was watching Jamie Oliver last night and he did a lovely steak with red chimichurri which would be GF - you could do everything except the actual steak cooking ahead of time

Do you not think the first two courses, particularly the main are touch dull?

I did think about lasagne, but I normally make my lasagne sheets from scratch, and I'd say that's what makes my lasagne stand out! I'm not sure that you can get a gluten free pasta flour, so I'd probably have to go ready made sheets. This makes me feel it would be a less good version of something that we eat quite often.

I also thought of doing some kind of version of a roast - maybe Poussin or game to make it a bit different. But then I fell down the rabbit hole of worrying about gravy browning and seasonings and inadvertently using something that I didn't realise had gluten in it, so decided to stick to following a recipe that's specifically gluten free to be sure.

I'm coeliac and there's no reason to go all veggie . I've done Vietnamese pork lettuce cups as a starter before & they always go down amazingly well. You just need to check the sauces are GF.
If you've not baked a tart with GF flour before I'd have a trial run- pastry doesn't always behave normally!
Main - depends on your budget , I'm keen on casserole type dishes which are yummy & not stressy on the night to reheat. Like :
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-squash-cacciatore/
You could get your guest some GF bread to go with.
Pavlova looks great.

Before I realised it needed to be gluten free, I was thinking about Japanese.

So a selection of homemade sushi to start, followed by Katsu curry.

Initially I thought I might be able to adapt this, but not really possible once I realised that sushi rice, soy sauce, panko etc all contain gluten!

@wishfull888

Thanks, that does look nice! I'd probably have to double the recipe though as 2 rashers of bacon and 4 chicken thighs seems very tight for 4 people! Maybe we're just greedy, but I can't imagine serving a dinner party guest a single chicken thigh!

Random question, can you get nice GF bread at supermarket bakery counters? Like a gluten free version of a freshly baked sourdough or granary cob etc?

I am wondering about steering away from the GF pastry in the starter bearing in mind peoples comments on it!

The quiche looks lovely- I've not tried GF pastry, but CMOT has obviously had bad experiences- maybe do a trial run and see how well it works.

The main.. I'm afraid I do think it sounds a bit bland. If you all eat meat and fish, you could do something like a beef stroganoff or coq au vin or monkfish wrapped in Parma ham.

Roast could be fine if your gravy is juices wine and cornflour.

Or what about something rice based for a main?
Or rice noodles? Thai maybe?

@mrsm43s
Yes I doubled it for 6 people. 2 packs of pancetta. 2 thighs each , need a big la cruset !!!!!
you can get warburtons sourdough cob / tiger loaf in the big supermarkets . I get mine in Sainsbury's, quite expensive ( £3+ ) in the free from aisle. I've never been able to buy fresh baked GF in 25 years :-(

You can get GF soy sauce & sticky rice....

My GF friend moans a lot about only being able to have the veggie/vegan/fairly free options so I would consider some meat.

What about a venison or game casserole, it's getting to be the time of year for it. If you use stock make sure you buy GF (knor usually ok) and use cornflour to thicken

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/succulent-braised-venison/amp

Just an example.

Gf bread in supermarkets is usually pretty rubbish. See if you have a gf bakery nearby instead. Or just leave bread out entirely.

Another vote for not bothering with making pastry. It's not great usually. If you do the ready roll gluten free just-rol is the best I've tried and better than any I've managed to make myself.

Sushi would be perfect - sushi rice is gluten free as is mirin and rice wine vinegar. You can get GF tamari very easily from Tesco/Asda/Waitrose/ CoOp etc, and GF panko breadcrumbs online.
That would be super special.
A roast would be great. If you look on the label for seasonings etc that you would use, gluten has to be explicitly labelled, so you can't go wrong.

Bread is awful. The best current one that is widely available and edible untoasted is the Warburtons GF tiger bloomer

@CMOTDibbler I’ve just discovered that tiger loaf! It’s incredible for gf bread! I’ve managed to incorporate it into most meals this week 😬 such a novelty to have bread

You sound very lovely to be putting so much thought into this, but I think you are overthinking. My son recently became GF and it is really easy to adapt most of our normal meals to work for him, but a lot of pastry based/baked things are quite hit and miss. I really wouldn’t go with a quiche, I think it will be very stressful.

I’m sure you are a more creative cook than me but just in case it’s helpful these are some of the meals we’ve eaten lately:

Pulled pork with homemade spice rub, with boiled potatoes,
Tray bake chicken thighs with miso and roast veg
Beef stew, used GF flour to thicken instead of normal flour.
Lentil soup
Grain bowls with quinoa or rice.

As pp have said, you can buy GF soy sauce (tastes exactly like normal soy sauce) and rice vinegar for the sushi rice. My experience of GF panko has not been great.

If you went with the Japanese menu, mochi balls are fun to make and GF. Ds and I make them a lot, and you can get the right rice flours on Amazon

Thanks everyone.

I've shelved the Japanese plan, as I don't want to buy a ton of different gluten free substitutes that we'll never use again.

I'm gathering that anything with GF pastry or GF bread is probably a bad idea.

I'm going to do a bit more googling and see what I come up with.

I think I am overthinking, but I'm unfamiliar with what is GF and what isn't so really want to find a recipe that I can follow that is definitely 100% GF.

My mum's is coeliac and hates it when people only serve veggie 😂
Her faves are a posh steak with juices etc. with dauphinoise and lovely greens. Can't go wrong!
Or she loves proper Mexican tacos.
Authentic tacos are gf (you can buy the gf ones if you're not sure) filled with shredded beef (nice cut from the butchers) , mexican slaw, cheese, homemade guacamole and sour cream. Might not 'go' with your other courses though.

Actually, I keep going back to the Jamie Oliver link that @wishfull888 posted. I does look really nice. Wondering if it would be good served with buttery garlic mashed potatoes and some steamed green veg (purple sprouting maybe?). Would be very heavy and filling, but I think quite lovely wintery comfort food. Would go well with several glasses of full bodied red wine too!

Not sure I'd even need a starter with such a heavy main, and I think that the pineapple and ginger meringue would be very refreshing after.

It's a bit more of a farmhouse kitchen than a formal dinner party vibe, but that's not a bad thing - these are good friends of ours that we've not seen in person since before lockdown in March, so its more about catching up than it is about the food!

The other option I've come across is Moussaka, which does look nice.

I'd do lamb shanks cooked slowly ina North African inspired mix of tinned tomatoes, cinnamon, cumin, chickpeas, onion. Serve with rice instead of couscous.

Or an Indian feast: if you make sauces instead of buying them everything will be gf. Use gram flour and cornflour for flatbreads, rice and raita, lots of different dishes to pass round.

The pav looks delicious!

Can vouch that it's lovely & very easy.
I did it with rice & tenderstem brocolli but with the sweet potato in the actual dish you don't need much of a side. Hence his bread suggestion.
You could just do some canapés with drinks "to start" ... mango chilli prawns, goats cheese fig bites . I'm getting hungry !!

What about tartiflette you can prepare in advance. With with a green salad and balsamic dressing it is yummy.

I was diagnosed coeliac a couple of years ago, so remember non-gf food, if that makes sense. From experience:

I've yet to find gf bread I'd choose to eat.

If you need to substitute an ingredient or use a gf alternative, you really want to try it first. For example, I find that fusili is much more palatable than penne (possibly because of the way it picks up the sauce) and I like Sainsbury's own brand best.

Main meals shouldn't be too difficult, as you can use potatoes or rice as the carbohydrate.

As you've spotted, a lot of gf food is also dairy free, and sometimes vegan too. If it's a substitute for something that usually has meat/dairy/gluten in, then I've rarely found it's an improvement!

Your plan to do a pavlova for dessert is a great idea. I bake a fair bit (with gf flour) and most of the results are pretty good, but there have been some disasters along the way - thankfully not when I've been feeding others.

I'm sure your friend will really appreciate the effort - I've got one friend who always bakes something I can eat (they can eat gluten), and it's really nice to feel inculded.

I'd make this because it's AMAZING (you can leave out the cauli and boost the squash if you like) and you can bring the whole thing to the table like a fragrant domestic goddess:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-coconut-chicken-coriander-lime

Then on the side you can have raita, chutney and pickles! My cousin is proper coeliac and loved this - just check your stock cube to make sure it's GF, or use home-made stock or just water. Make sure you use full-fat coconut milk or even add a few Tbsp of coconut cream to boost.

For dessert a pavlova or sorbet would be great.

Your pudding looks great. For a starter I’d do warm salad of rocket with Garlic and chilli-roasted squash, Parma ham and shaved Parmesan and a balsamic dressing.
For main maybe mackerel dauphinoise with green beans, or perhaps steak (there is a really nice recipe in the Ottolenghi Simple book) with seasonal greens and perhaps his recipe oven chips.

For gf gravy, I throw a few root veggies into the pan and then put juices and cooked veggies through the blender. Too many carrots makes it rather orange. Then add a little something for sweetness like apple sauce, raspberry jam, a squeeze of lemon etc. just a little. Usually it’s yummy.