Please critique my menu

[MrsArbuthnot]

Friends for dinner on Saturday. I love cooking so happy to put in the effort. Mix of vegetarians and omivores. Prefer not to do a dish only for vegetarians, all dishes on table help yourself style.

Starter
Twice baked soufflé
Roasted garlic tomatoes
? Salad

Homemade bread ? Focaccia

Chicken cooked in Sherry and cream sauce with shallots and tarragon

Spinach and ricotta puff pastry pinwheels

Green beans with almonds

Roasted butternut squash

Chocolate mousse with cherries in kirsch

? Maybe cheesecake as well.

No particularly helpful feedback except that it all sounds delicious!

Perhaps a potato dish?

Sound like a lot of work but sounds lovely.

My only ask as a guest is that it doesn’t keep you in the kitchen all night when I’d rather be taking to you. If most if it can be pre prepared then lovely.

Actually I would change the bread/focaccia for potatoes or rice to soak up the chicken sauce and make that more I’d a meal, but then that makes it strange for the pastry dish.

I second the adding potatoes to the main course suggestion.

@NYnewstart yes, I prefer to prep beforehand so it just needs shoving in the oven. The soufflés are cooked then frozen. Then reheated from frozen and come out beautifully.

I thought potatoes are needed too

@Workinghardeveryday

I thought potatoes are needed too

I’m usually up for potatoes but with the butternut squash and home made bead Im not sure they are needed in this case.

Needs a starch
The pinwheels just sound odd , if I was veggie and had those and some green beans it would be a dull meal and quite dry

How is the roast butternut squash going to be served?
I’m not sure the pastry pinwheels are a great veggie option for the main bit. The chicken will have a sauce and I could see a veggie plate being dry.

Potatoes? Well there's not much food, don't want them to be peckish and have to stop at the chip shop on the way home

It sounds lovely, but it'd be very rich (cheese starter, cream/ricotta main and cream in the mousse/cream cheese in the cheesecake). Think I'd swap out the starter or pud for something a bit lighter.

@MrsArbuthnot

Potatoes? Well there's not much food, don't want them to be peckish and have to stop at the chip shop on the way home

Why ask for advice then, it's clearly perfect already.

Good points above about the pinwheels. I’d misread and interpreted it as a something like this, which is filled with spinach and other fillings, but a thin layer of flavourings wrapped in a lot of puff pastry feels more like lunch/ canapé than a main course to me.

Not sure why you are so shocked at potatoes. I’m assuming bread is served at the start of the night, so chicken vegetables and potatoes as a meal isn’t exactly carb paradise.

@PurpleDaisies

How is the roast butternut squash going to be served? I’m not sure the pastry pinwheels are a great veggie option for the main bit. The chicken will have a sauce and I could see a veggie plate being dry.

There isn't meant to be a main bit, just a collection of dishes that hopefully go together.

I'm thinking I could stuff the squash instead with rice.

Maybe ditch the pastry and do ricotta and spinach with courgettes instead.

@thebigpurpleone 'Twas a joke.

Filo is a good idea. What about peppers, courgettes and chickpeas in a filo pie.

I'd ditch the pastry (or do them for nibbles first).

I'd do crispy lemon roasted potatoes with that for some texture and crunch.

It does sound lovely but a bit all one texture and nothing to soak the chicken with. So stuffing pumpkin with rice would be good.

Also a sharply dressed salad to cut through it if it's all serve yourself.

Maybe ditch the pastry and do ricotta and spinach with courgettes instead.

I don’t think that solves the problem of the lack of sauce for the vegetarians.

Maybe you need to think about what it will look like on the plate. The meat eaters will have an obvious “main” of chicken . The veggies will have a mix of what could be salads from a buffet.

@MrsArbuthnot

Filo is a good idea. What about peppers, courgettes and chickpeas in a filo pie.

That sounds nice. Needs a sauce.

You don’t need potatoes. There’s plenty of food there along with starches to bulk it out.

Potatoes don’t have be a part of every meal!

Prefer not to do a dish only for vegetarians, all dishes on table help yourself style.

The problem with this is that the omnivores often eat all the vegetarian stuff leaving nothing for the vegetarians.

Something like this for the courgettes is what I had in mind. But it doesn't go with the chicken.

@MrsArbuthnot

Filo is a good idea. What about peppers, courgettes and chickpeas in a filo pie.

Check the availability of filo pastry - a lot has been recalled in the last week or so due to a salmonella contamination. Same for ready made puff pastry. There was none at all in my Sainsbury's last week.

@MrsArbuthnot

Something like this for the courgettes is what I had in mind. But it doesn't go with the chicken.

The meat eaters don’t have to have chicken. They could choose one or the other. Or just ditch the chicken altogether and do a veggie meal.