Having friends round for dinner... what to feed them!

[SuperTed127]

We've recently moved and have a new group of friends. They are all very good at inviting 2-3 families round for dinner at the weekends - kids have something like pizza or pasta and then go off and play and then the adults eat.

After a couple of years of covid, I feel like we've lost all sense of how to entertain and it'll soon be our turn to return the invites.

So please could you hit me up with a few nice relaxed dinner party style dinners that would feed 6-8 adults that won't cause me to have a massive anxiety attack during the process!

Stuff that can be prepped in advance would be good, or foolproof simple yet more "impressive" than just usual mid-week type dinners!

Thank you :)

Lamb tagine with cous cous.

www.rte.ie/lifestyle/recipes/2016/0325/777237-moroccan-lamb-tagine/

I had people round last night and felt similar OP. It went fine.

For what it's worth I did a cottage pie type tray meal - mince and onions and carrots and peppers under a sweet potato and potato mash with cheese on top, served with broccoli and green beans. The mince was done in advance so all I had to do was the mash and put it on, add cheese put in oven and do veg. And I did a home made Victoria sponge for pud with cream. None of it was fancy but it all looked and tasted good and people had seconds.

You can do it!

Nigella's slow roasted chicken thighs, I serve with rice and a green salad.

cookingwithnigella.com/2020/03/29/slow-roasted-garlic-and-lemon-chicken/

We also have "fancy" shepherd's pie. Prepare the mince/stew before hand then make a cheesy, rosti topping on the night.... Grate potatoes, squeeze out moisture in a teatowel, mix with a handful of breadcrumbs and a handful of grated cheddar, put on top of meat and bake til hot and crispy

Delia's fish pie is also another good one.

You would think I had nothing better to do, oh wait I don't, house is tidy, ironing has just come back and DH always does Sunday roast.

Stuffed chicken breast wrapped din Parma ham

Ha ha thank you all. Keep ‘em coming!

I’d you did, say, a Moroccan main, would you try to do Moroccan starters/nibbles and dessert too?

www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Roasting-Tin-Vegetarian-Dinners/dp/1910931896/ref=asc_df_1910931896/?hvlocphy=1007064&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310762441626&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-488786546040&hvrand=14838880629216499559
This book and the meat/fish versions have good recipes. I like the miso aubergine and gnocchi ones.

Don't bother with a starter. Olives, nice crisps, nuts, bread bread with oil and balsamic vinegar.

I'd probably just do a bought tart plus berries for pud.

Tagine, cous cous and salad would be lovely.

My go-to recipes or dinner parties are Lamb Kleftiko or Beef Stifado. Unusual enough to impress but really the meat does so much of the flavouring for the veg. I'm a vegetarian so slow cooked meat is a safe bet and makes it easy to do something for vegetarians.

For big groups I also like meals where I can prep ready to serve sides in advance so it looks more impressive than it is. Pickles, chutneys and salsas can really make a meal and be done the day before. For Mexican I do a hot salsa, mild salsa, red onions in lime juice, chicken tinga and a potato stew in advance (latter two to be reheated with soft tacos before serving, the rest ready to serve) then do corn esquites, chopped lettuce and guacamole with DH at the time. For Indian, we do one meat and two veg curries to reheat, a couple of chutneys and raita in advance. On the day we only need to cook naan bread and rice. In case you can't tell, DH and I love to cook. So it's less about minimising the cooking and more about prepping so I having fewer things on the go when guests are here and I might be a few glasses of wine down

Curry/lasagne type dishes always handy. With salad, bread etc
Or you could do burritos/fajitas where everyone helps themselves.

Lasagne served with salad and garlic bread. Easy chocolate tart for pudding. www.joyousapron.com/no-bake-chocolate-tart/

Or a few different curries served with spicy potatoes, rice and raita. And some naan bread. Always a bit stumped to know what to serve for pudding after curry so I often buy a selection of Indian sweets from the Indian grocer and ice cream

Tartiflette, it is fairly easy, tasty and can be prepped in advanced. It is also not something people have everyday.

@FloBot7 Please tell me more about the potato stew 😁

Last time we did this (feels like a looooong time ago) we did three different curries, one chicken, one veggie and one lamb. Homemade poppadums, naans and basmati rice with cloves/star anise/cardamom. Side dishes of saag aloo, mushroom bhaji, tarka daal, raita, kachumber salad. Laid it all out buffet style and people helped themselves, it was delicious.

We did homemade ice creams and sorbets for pudding, again all laid out buffet style with topping and sauces, and people made their own sundaes.

I tend to do an easy starter like halloumi and grape salad (I do this with a lemon dressing ) , then a slow cooked meat main- lamb hot pot is easy and was all eaten last time (Northcote manor recipe from years ago- semi famous chef whose name I can't remember), crusty naice bread, roast veg tagine for me, cous-cous with parsley and pine nuts then a pavlova and a tiramisu
Another menu was mackerel pate to start, cassoulet then trifle

@Fivemoreminutes1

Stuffed chicken breast wrapped din Parma ham

Oooh with slices of smoked garlic inside.

And a cream a gruyere sauce.

Lasagna
Roast chicken & new potatoes & salad
Chicken wrapped in Parma ham & potato dauphinois & green beans

Last time I catered for 3 families I did curry: tandoori chicken, mixed veg curry, lentil dal, basmati rice. I bought naan bread and samosas, poppadoms and pickles. Most of the children ate at least some curry (rice, dal and naan bread but there was some pasta with the options of pesto or tomato sauce available for children.

Last time I went to a large dinner (for approx 25 - no children) she had made chilli con carne (+ a veggie one too). Rice, garlic bread and salad. We served ourselves. It was delicious!

We usually do something like bouef bourgignon (Ina Garten) or spring chicken casserole, or a full on curry evening. We usually have vegetarian dishes for that, so we'd do that if we had vegans/vegetarians.

Recently I have done Hairy Bikers sausage casserole (so tasty and can be prepped in advance) l, pork stir fry (quick and easy) and chicken, bacon and leek pie (again prepped in advance). Dessert i tend to go for a no bake cheesecake or tart so that I can do it the day before

Venison stew with colcannon mash always goes down well and is really easy to prep in advance as the stew just stews away and you can make the mash in advance top with butter and leave in the oven to keep warm - the butter stops it from going hard (and the more butter in mash the better anyway).

I've also been known to pay a visit to COOK on the morning of a dinner party.........

Starters - short board meze (re potted from the supermarket) with nice bread.

For mains - A whole roasted fish (something large) with a spicy coating, nice salad, new potatoes or wedges.

Desert - lemon tart

I'd get frozen or fresh salmon fillets.

defrost. wrap in foil having added s&p, wine etc to make parcels.

Do rice, roasted veggies or new potatoes and salad as a side.

Doesn't even have to be boiling hot to serve and all parcels prepped in advance. Pop in 180 oven for exactly 20 mins.

Delia recipe I adapt it. It's delicious, SO easy and impressive and prepped in 10 mins.

Buy an M&S tart for pud.
Buy M&S or similar canapes or as PP said, nuts/olives/dip and nice crisps.

Pulled pork!