Catering for 12

[loverains]

I'm actually quite used to catering a lunch for large family but this is child's partners family and I feel more nervous and want to get it right. 4 vegetarian, the rest meat eaters that appreciate a good meat dish. I'm away until the day before the occasion so had thought of making lasagnas so it was all ready and I could socialise etc however I'm worried that's a bit boring/ 1970's and the mixture of lasagnes don't go : beef/ veg/ salmon and spinach. I could do pulled pork/ chilli / veg pulled pork on the day but I'm not sure. I do curries for family but spice level is very personal, does anyone have any suggestions I'm going round in circles.

I catered for a large group last weekend and felt quite pleased with how the food side of things went…. I did a selection of sewers - halloumi, chicken, prawn and lamb. Served with green salad, tzatziki, flatbreads, couscous salad houmous.

That sounds amazing Five, can you link to any recipes?

I tend to find Middle Eastern stye food crowd pleasing, and but still interesting and full of flavour.

In the past I have done lamb tagine, vegetarian moussaka, tabouleh, flatbreads, hummus, and baba ganoush. The main elements of tagine and moussaka can be done ahead of time and put in the oven, tabouleh is forgiving and not too much work. I cheat as we have a brilliant Lebanese restaurant nearby and buy in the dips and bread, but they could also be done ahead of time.

As a side note, I wouldn't dismiss lasagne - it's far from revolutionary, but a good lasagne, dressed leaves, and chunks of focaccia is hard to beat! This dish is a favourite in my family, we prefer it to a classic lasagne, but aubergine can be divisive.

@Goodwitch9
Recipe for the halloumi kebabs: www.delish.com/uk/cooking/recipes/a36420265/halloumi-kebabs/ (I made them longer than the ones shown)
Lamb www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lamb-koftas
Chicken: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-chicken-skewers-chopped-salad-flatbreads
Couscous from here: https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/moroccan-style-salmon-with-lemony-couscous.html

Thank you Five!

What about a roast dinner? Nut roast for the veggies.
We regularly do roasts on large scale and find its the easiest thing to make for everyone x

Thank you for replying, I really love all your ideas, and if I don't use this time I will at others! I do like a big roast, but I'm worried that I'll be in the kitchen too much and I tend to lay food out in the kitchen for guests to dish up and take to dining room. I like the Middle Eastern ideas, they're very much to our taste. Im going to look at the recipe links and look at lamb tagline. Thank you all very much

this is the tagine recipe I used, and I thought it was delicious.