Special (but easy) dinner at home

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Any ideas for making a special dinner at home? We've done Dispatch in the past and got really nice restaurant meals that you basically assemble or heat. This is good because I like cracking open the wine and I don't want to be working too hard.

In the past I've done
Starter burrata, parma ham, rocket type assembling starter
main steak and chips
dessert Gu pot

I just wanted a bit of inspiration for something new, the only requirement is easy to assemble or heat, no chopping!

Your favourite meal is scallop linguine.

You could buy a fresh sauce and cook some linguine then all you need to do is sear the scallops in garlic butter and grate some Parmesan over.

The sauce I like is a creamy tomato and Parmesan one.

Some nice bread, white wine - job done!

Mmm sounds lovely thanks! Any ideas for starter or dessert to go with it?

I love carbonara.

I base mine on this recipe: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-spaghetti-carbonara-recipe

I buy pre chopped bacon chunks (not in UK, they don't sell bacon in the same cuts as in the UK), garlic just needs flattening so no chopping! I just use whatever normal garted cheese I have in the fridge rather than buying in parmesan/pecorino specially. It's so quick to make and really easy. Nice with some green veg like broccoli, green beans.

Nice bit of garlic bread for starter, my husband's tiramisu (or bought) for dessert.

Carbonara is nice and easy, though I'm wondering how badly I can mess it up if I've had a couple of cocktails!

ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/roasted-chicken-with-clementines-arak

This never fails, I think cos there's quite a lot of liquid the chicken never gets dry. They say serve it with rice but that's too much faff, I just do crusty bread or stick a tray of new pots in the oven with the chicken.

It's bloody lovely.

Pressed send too soon - get it marinading in the morning (when still sober, presumably) and skip the reheating juices step if pished.

Starter charcuterie. Pudding is Always Bought in this house.

@MaChienEstUnDick that looks gorgeous and pretty easy, does it taste of ouzo ( I have bad memories!)

This sounds lovely. Thanks for the recipe.
If I can find any fennel bulbs in our dismal North Wales supermarkets, we’ll be having this on Sunday!

Mango lamb!
shoulder of lamb, fat side up. Jar of mango chutney over the top. Cover with foil and cook for ever at 150/160ish until the meat falls off the bone. I do it all day.
Serve with cherry tomatoes and pomegranate style salad and pitta breads.
its rich so something v light for dessert and starter if you have.
Tis the easiest special meal ever

If you want something similar to Despatch, have a look at Plateaway. Some are pricey but we had some really good ones from there throughout lockdown for date nights.

Can't help with suggestions as our go to date night meals are usually a curry or Mexican feast or steak and chips. The starters I usually do are chicken wings, creamy mushrooms ciabatta or soup, we aren't adventurous cooks or eaters 😂.

There's a little bit of aniseed but honestly it's not strong.
@Narwhaleahoy if you can't find fennel (which does add to the aniseed overall OP) then you could just throw some sliced peppers in for the last 20 minutes, or some celeriac root sliced up. I know Ottolenghi recipes get a bad rap for the ingredient list but honestly I find them really forgiving when it comes to subbing things in and out.

To me a good curry can be special ha.if you get all the band and sides. And that's just a paste yoghurt and chicken thigh left to.marinade.boil in the bag rice with some turmeric and cartoon pods chucked in whilst boiling.
Another is prawn and salmon taglietelle.you do have to chop a spring onion and onion.but then it just cook them in some oil and butter.add wine.add creme fraiche cream prawns and salmon.gorgeous dish

Salmon cooked in honey, soy sauce and ginger paste - stick some toasted sesame seeds on at the end if you can be bothered. I like this with tenderstem broccoli and some rice.

Some amazing ideas here, love the sound of the lamb and mango chutney, I suppose a slow cooker wouldn't be as nice, it wouldn't caramelize like in an oven... I'm very tempted by the ottolenghi recipe if I can bear to spend £17 on Pernod I'll never drink! I suppose it's 7 of those delicious dinners if you use 100 MLS each time....

I actually use a leftover bottle of Sambucca someone left behind at a party It's all class round MaChien's...

I have a recipe in a book somewhere which is ready made tortellini, chorizo, cherry tomatoes, tomato pasta sauce, mozarella and garlic tear and share torn up on put on top. All in a deep oven dish and bake.

@MaChienEstUnDick I'm going with your suggestion, I actually have that cookbook and I've been meaning to cook something from there for years. I'm splashing out on a bottle of Sambucca! 🤣 Do you do any veg with it?

You can stick a tray of baby spuds/olive oil/garlic in the oven at the same time as the chicken (bit obsessed with getting the most out of my oven right now). Add some peppers halfway through if you want a bit of colour. Or spinach side salad is also good. I'm pretty sure I once served it over pasta too which didn't look very pretty but was lush stirred round in the pan juices!

Slow roasted pork. Rolls apple sauce. Stuffing.

@MaChienEstUnDick I made that ottolenghi dinner, it was delicious and super easy, thanks!!!