If you were going to cook for 20 people

[BroccoliSpears]

What would you cook?

What kind of cooking are you thinking of?

What sort of occasion?

Hmm. posh curry buffet. or big venision stew and roast mixed veg. have done both recently. can give more details if you want.

Yes, sorry, more details might be helpful.

Evening thing. Probably mostly vegetarian, though I don't object to meat as a side dish for those who want it. My birthday, so don't want to be stuck in the kitchen all night.

Great chicken a la king recipe on Sainsburys site. Nice but simple may be not glam enuf tho

You are very brave! [impressed emoticon]

Could not even contemplate this as a possibility!

ok so not venision then but loads of great veg curry dishes can be done day before.

The venison idea is just right in tone, but slightly too dean animal-y in tems of content.

I could do curry, but have done big curry lunches before and was wondering about doing something different if I could just get inspired.

dean animal? Dead animal even!

olives, dips &tc.

various salads (prepared in advance), various pizzas (ordered in). Fruit salads and birthday cake.

Lots of booze. Enjoy yourself!!

I would probably do a Mexican buffet as it's the most versatile for a variety of appetites and dietary requirements.

Lots of booze! Only for everyone else. I'm preggers!

Now that's interesting expatinscotland - what exactly would you do?

if you are looking at veggie mnainly - veg lasagne - can make with quorn or just vegetables, stuffed peppers or aubergine and just warm before serving, pasta dish with tomato, courgette and cheese sauce, possiblities are endless. Are you having a starter too?

I'd do tacos and both corn and flour soft tortillas so guests could make/fill their own taco or tortilla wrap.

I'd have fried mince, shredded chicken, fajitas, black beans, pinto beans and refried beans as fillings.

Then the condiments: salsa, guacamole, shredded cheese, soured cream, chives, fried onions, jalepenos.

And a big bowl of Mexican style rice - just regular rice, but you do it like this:
put some oil in the bottom of the pan, fry up some onion and green and red pepper and garlic and salt and pepper. Then add in the amount of rice you need. When it starts to go brown, IMMEDIATELY add the amount of water you need, but replace about 1/4 of the required water with tomato passata. Then cover and cook as normal.

I'd go either for huge vats of chilli, with rice, breads, salads etc; or a mezze type thing - tabbouleh, falafel, greek salad, olives etc.

And for pud I'd probably just do a couple of cakes to have with coffee later, with icecream and fruit for those who want "proper" pud.

Though I like the Mexican idea too but think it would be harder to get it all sorted in advance.

Yep, mexican is good, people can help themselves to the selection you have made up earlier in eve. How about cheese fondue?
prawn thai green curry is very easy, .. erm what do you really fancy eating?

That way, there's something for everyone: meat-eaters, veggies, corn tortillas for gluten free folks.

Plenty of beer and probably even a few pitchers of margaritas - mojitos in a pinch.

That rice sounds good Expat.

I think expats idea is excellent. I would also make a veg chilli which would go well with the tacos too.

Buy a bottle of tequila and a bag or two of limes and you are guaranteed to have a great party

That great thing about margaritas is you get a lot of bang for the buck .

One bottle of Tequila goes a lloonnnggg way.

It's pretty cheap, too, to feed a lot of folks with the buffet.

Some will not eat as much as others.

Personally I prefer sambuca!

I'm quite taken with the mexican idea. Can I buy good tortillas? I'm quite happy with making the rest of it but might struggle to get them right first time as will have my 17 month old 'helping' me do the preparation.

Lol @ Littlepicklesmum - what do I really fancy eating? Well, this morning I had onion bhajis and fudge for breakfast... am a bit offish with food at the mo. Hopefully will be feeling better by the time I do this.

The tortillas you get from a supermarket are fine. Most also sell hard-shelled tacos.

Corn tortillas may be harder to source, but you could always go with just soft tortillas or hard shelled tacos and/or do nachos with regular Doritos corn chips.

How sad... I've just googled virgin frozen marharita recipes as I won't be drinking but don't want to feel left out!

expat, you are a woman after my own heart (at least where buffets are concerned).

BSpears (like your name), do you have a slow cooker? Very 70's, but great for doing chili in the am and having ready for your tex-mex buffet. ASDA had them going for a tenner the other week.