Friends for dinner: what do you cook?

[Greentomatoes21]

What would you cook for a couple of friends coming over for dinner on a Saturday night? Please help me with some ideas! I'm thinking appetisers, a main and a dessert. Nothing very fancy, just tasty and simple but looks like I've made a bit of effort!

I always struggle with mains for a group but not dessert!

Could I suggest mini baked cheesecakes? Look impressive when arranged on a pretty plate, easy to serve, a doddle to make, make in advance the day before, no worrying if they are fully cooked like when making a big one. I have made these several times here

Antipasti starter with fresh crusty bread, chicken & chorizo paella and a lemon tart with double cream & berries

Melon and parma ham salad to start. Top with twists of orange slices. Fancy bread rolls.

Roast chicken or leg of lamb with Mary Berry potato dauphinoise and green beans.

Bought pudding, usually cheesecake or tiramisu.

Also was going to suggest an antipasti platter! Easy and tasty. Main...steak, dauphinoise (sp!) potatoes and asparagus. Desert...lemon possetts with shortbread biscuits

I'm having family over on Saturday so doing a lasagna/garlic bread and salad with shop brought cheesecake. One veggie so I'll buy a premade lasagna for her

Oven baked teriyaki salmon with udon noodles and ginger/garlic pak choi .
Salmon takes 15 mins, noodles and pak Choi, 5 mins tops. All recipes on web.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds, chilli and spring onions. Looks fab and much more fancy than it is.

Tarte Tatin and clotted cream. Again, dead easy, packet puff pastry. Can’t go wrong. Plums a seasonal alternative.

Cheeseboard, chocolate mints.

Food of the gods, takes an hour to prepare.

These are my go-to recipes depending on what you / your friends prefer. I probably would bother with a formal starter, I'd do a couple of little nibbles (little tarts, posh cheese twists etc) then do a main, dessert and a cheese board (and red wine). I think meals are much more social if its in the middle, all help yourselves.

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/blackened-chicken/

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/blackened-roast-salmon-avocado-mango-salsa

www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/9145/jaime-olivers-thai-green-curry

For pudding, I'd do a cheesecake / Pavlova / lemon posset - something that's something you can prep ahead and keep in the fridge.

Appetisers: sorry, missed that.

Parmesan crisps and salted caramel mixed nuts. Countless recipes for nuts on web. Take minutes, taste/look professional. So much better than shop-bought.
Parmesan crisps are simply dessert spoonfuls of grated Parmesan mixed with flavouring of your choice - herbs, smoked paprika, etc. - then melted into discs in hot oven. Leave to cool til crunchy. Delicious.

Pre made filo pastry put into muffin trays. Two slices cut into squares put in so the Corners make a little nest then I fill them with either duck and hoo sin sauce with spring onion and cucumber or prawn and chorizo. You can do loads of variation on the fillings.

Main chicken breast wrapped in Parma ham stuffed with Boursin cheese. Probably with baby potatoes roasted in the oven and a veg of some sort.

Then usually a shop bought dessert.

Easy starter is garlic prawns - the big fat raw ones cooked in a wok with garlic and chilli and a big dollop of butter. serve with French bread and a finger bowl. OR melons are quite nice now, v. refreshing with parma ham.
Main either steak frites & salad, or a very slow cooked piece of lamb shoulder with lovely Ottolenghi salady stuff.

Puds could be a creme caramel or the cheat's pudding (and very seasonal) - Eton mess

LOVING these ideas!! Thanks so much to all you have commented so far. I want to come for dinner at your houses! 🤣

If you were a true mumsnetter you would offer pom bears on arrival

Ha ha ha...none left 🤣

Starter:

• baked Camembert with crusty bread
• antipasti platter salami, sundried tomatoes etc
• mozzarella & tomato

Main:

• chicken wrapped in Parma ham with new potatoes & asparagus
• steak & potato dauphinois & green beans
• lasagna with salad & garlic bread
• puff pastry rolled out with cherry tomato & onion base & cheese topping
• chicken skewers with new potatoes & salad

Dessert:

• meringue with strawberries & whipped cream
• Apple crumble with cream or custard
• something shop bought

Starter of olives and martinis or negronis

Main - whole chicken slathered with anchovy-garlic butter (literally just softened butter mixed with a tin of anchovies and a few cloves of crushed garlic, all mashed together), with two or three quartered red onions and a whole bulb of garlic, sliced in half, in the pan - once it's roasted, move the chicken to a platter to rest and toss a whole load of torn up sourdough in the juices and stick back in the oven to crisp up, then sprinkle with a generous handful of flat leaf parsley. Serve with a crunchy green salad - lettuce, cucumber, pine nuts, fresh dill and mint, sliced spring onions, dressed with lime, olive oil and salt.

Dessert - really ripe peaches or nectarines, grapes, a big wedge of cheese, walnuts and pecans

I usually do something I can prepare earlier or cook slowly so there's not too much faff when guests are there:

Starter: bruschetta or antipasti as others have suggested - can be prepped and placed in fridge.

Main: slow cooked beef shin ragu with parpadelle

Dessert: Brownies/ice cream or tiramisu

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beef-ragout

I want everything that people have suggested I going to try that beef shin recipe it looks gorgeous

Soup and bread
Risotto with asparagus and salmon cooked en papillote
Tiramisu

We try to serve things that need minimal cooking before serving, so we can relax with our guests

Start with good quality antipasti, with fresh bread, some homemade Roquefort-butter
Main is beef bourguignon or beef stew, cooks for hours and you can serve whenever
A nice cheeseboard
Then something light for dessert

If we want a lighter main we do something with prawns or scallops, they cook so quickly

Would a BBQ be an option? Most prep is beforehand
-Marinade meat
-Make salads. I'd usually make 2- some ideas: potato salad, home-made coleslaw, quinoa salad, greek salad, pear and blue cheese, mango/prawn and macadamia nuts, som tam Thai salad or watermelon/halloumi salad.
-Corn on the cob. Mix butter with garlic and onion powder, salt/pepper and slather on the corn, then wrap in foil.
Pre-cook baked potatoes and sweet potatoes in the microwave, then wrap in foil.

• Dessert could just be a cheesecake or a pavlova. Or cook pineapple on the BBQ, or bananas in foil with chocolate.

Otherwise, if you aren't thinking BBQ, then a de-boned leg of lamb- either Greek or Morrocan style, or a tagine.

Or fajitas as a main with a few fillings, so everyone can choose what they want in theirs. I'd normally do chicken strips and a separate beef strips (or prawns) in a fajita mix sauce. Fried onions and peppers. Plain, cooked rice. Sour cream. Refried bean or black beans. Grated cheese. Guacomole and lettuce/tomatoes on another plate.

My go to for an easy prep and no panicking about cooking times --

Melon and parma ham, can be jazzed up with leaves etc.

Lamb shanks in red wine sauce served on garlic butter mash. Just prepare, put in the oven and leave for at least two hours. It can take a long slow cook, so you could use your slow cooker also. Medley of veg on a platter in centre of table. Nice bread stick or a combo cut into rounds to mop up the sauce.... Job done.

Eton mess or Banoffee pie.

Im seeing a strong theme of nice bread if in doubt throw bread rolls at your guests! With proper butter of course (anchor is my favourite)

I usually try and do a theme so for example Mexican food, and make fajitas and nachos or greek, some roasted lamb, rice or Greek stew , Greek salad, nibbles like pitta bread, filled vine leaves. Curry like some tandoori chicken and rice and make some pilau rice and sides

Puddings i usually find a brownie is a winner and you can make it more special by serving with fresh berries and a sauce and cream or icecream or a no bake cheesecake (nigella has a great recipe)

I really love Nigella's Express. Haven't had a dud yet. My faves are Curry in a Hurry and the chilli. Easy peasy and not too many ingredients.
I cheat if doing starters. This summer Sainsbury's gazpacho soup with a few chopped veg into it and crusty bread is perfect. Or try fresh crabmeat mixed with a bit of mayo scooped onto individual endive leaves with a sprinkling of paprika. Or if you find good melons slices of that with a bit of Parma ham?