If four long-lost friends announced they were in town and coming to dinner tomorrow night and you were going to be at work until 90mins before they arrived, what would you cook?

[artichokes]

One is a veggie (but eats fish).

I want to cook something nice, I have not seen them in years. They are coming at 7.30pm tomorrow. I will be at work until 6pm. It has to be simple. But impressive.

Help!

I did baked camembert starter, a Jamie Oliver fish pie with salad for mains, and Eton Mess for pud. I had 40 mins btw arriving home and guests coming and in that time DD was an angel and I managed to prepare the fish pie and get it in the oven. When friends arrived I shoved the camemberts in the oven and they helped prepare the salad and whip the cream while we chatted.

'Twas a great night. Brilliant to catch-up. Drank lots of wine and sat around the table 'til the early hours. And luckily they all loved the food.

Thanks for your help guys.

Well done! Sounds like a wonderful meal. I've had a couple of occasions when I've had to prepare food in far less time than I'd like - and it's taught me that you can prepare impressive dinner party food quickly and easily - leaving you more time with your guests. "Ladette Express" predates Nigella by several years!

ladette, was it this recipy? www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=243300

It wasn't that one. It was called "fantastic fish pie" and was in one of his earlier book. Basically you just fried-up some onions and carrots and then mixed them with double cream and parmesan. Seasoned and added nutmet. Mixed all that with some steamed spinach and chopped-up boiled eggs. Put that mixture in a baking dish with some cod and haddock. Covered with mashed potato and shoved it in the oven. 35mins later a lovely bake emerged.

Incredibly quick, easy and yummy.

(fedda, yes, that's the one I was talking about. I found it took more like 25-30 mins, but would check after 15 incase it was my oven)

SueW - you're right... as I recall it looks quite dry in the book (long time since I made it for the first time and now I just chuck it all in so haven't seen the picture for a while). I was amazed at how lovely the baked avocado was, especially with the cheese and cream. Defo not one for weight watchers, but as a one off, one of my favourite quick dinner party recipes. That said, I've found a lot of my friends don't eat fish/seafood/dairy so you really do need to know what your guests do and don't like.

Oh, I must make it. I'm really intriged now and I love fish. i could just do it for DH and me, boys unfortunately are only interested in fish fingers. Thank you everybody for your tips, it's very kind of you

Fedda, it's so quick & simple, it's no matter that you are just doing for two. Would strongly recommend putting a little spoonful on each of your DS's plates next to their fish fingers. They might surprise you.

Thank you, ladette, i'll try it, who knows, they might do. Do you have any other quick and tasty recipies you could share. I'm really interested in cooking something kids would love and share with us. I kind of keep cooking separate meals almost every day and I think it's so important to share the meals with kids. Yet, we don't really want to have pizza, chicken nuggets, spaghetti bolognese, fish fingers and sausages with french fries and baked beans all the time.

After all the time I've spent trying to find a good recipy my DH stepped in, he was determined to cook lentils himself and mash them so he put too much water and they were swimming in it . Never mind, he tried. He used to cook them when he was a student and he loved them but he can't remember what he did, obviously. Poor DH. Anyway, next time lucky.