Receipes to impress needed!!

[dancerandprancer]

My BIL and his partner are coming to stay for the weekend soon. They always rave about what a wonderful cook she is and tend to look down on other peoples efforts. They have lots of money to spend on fancy ingredients and no children so have the time to cook. I am a pretty good cook myself if given the time. Am looking for easy but impressive receipes that will wipe the smirk of her face. I know that its petty but want to show them that those of us with children do not live on pot noodles and take aways.

What sort of thing were you thinking? Dinner? Breakfast? All meals? Personally for weekend guests I do a brunch-type thing, all pre-done, like muffins, crumpets, waffles (if youhave a machine) loads of different breads/jams etc. Then do an afternon tea instead of breakfast & lunch - lots of biscuits/cakes/sandwiches/rolls. Get out the posh china and cakestand and your best tea-pot!
Dinner: Beef wellington is impressive, not cheap tho. Roast chicken/turkey if you can get a good tasty free-range one. Casserole if you are out for the day. Curry with lots of different meat/veg/chickpea dishes (sort out the day before, or buy some in, eg dhal and raita) with breads, rice, salad. Or do a simple chicken-rolled with peppers stuffing-in-bacon or something like. I've got a nice chicken breast in peppers-and-tomato sauce that I do for dinners, just serve with rice or mash.

What's think?

Brunch is a lovely idea. Bagels, smoked salmon etc are little effort but make it look like it. A huge chocolate cake for afternoon tea also sounds good - my vote would always go to Nigella's chocolate Guinness cake, which is really easy but looks and tastes amazing.

Asparagus is always an impressive starter.

Tell us more about how many meals, likes and dislikes etc!

Thinking evening meals really. Like the idea of brunch, will def do that. Will probably be out and about during the day so keen on something I can either prepare before hand or is easy to do quickly. Liking the curry idea. They like to think of themselves as real foodies, but in actual fact are the meat and two veg sort. Not sure I can be bothered with a roast though. Fancied something a bit different.

Why don't you do a casserole then? Nice bit of stewing steak braised with onions, garlic, celery, carrots and a load of red wine?

It can cook slowly in the oven whilst you're out and about.

Delia's chocolate bread and butter pudding is incredibly easy and absolutely delicious. Can be made from about 48 hours in advance and left in fridge bung in overn when you sit down for main course (in fact is better the longer it's left). I can add the recipe if you're interested...

You say you are a pretty good cook 'if given the time' - so make sure you have got the time, delegate the childcare to dh, get the lot of them out for a pre-dinner walk to give you time and space.

If you want to impress people, cook something easy that you enjoy and have cooked before, getting stressed by trying to pull of a tricky dish that you have never cooked before will end in tears. And most importantly serve it with genuine affection and good will. If people feel welcome( I mean really welcome) then it doesn't matter what you serve them, they will be happy to sit at your table.

There is a lovely lamb-leg dish in the current waitrose freebie mag - you just put it in the oven with some onions and garlic, wrap it up and leave it i the oven for 3-4 hours. Then you can add some small new potoatoes to the dish, wrap it up again and leave for anothe 1-2 hours. Cook some veg and it's done!
You could leave it on a slightly lower heat all day if you like. easypeasy.

It may only be posh Spag Bol but it is the nicest thing I have ever cooked or eaten ragu

How about chicken florentine with salad and garlic bread? It really is very good and looks very simple.

1. Bash however many chicken breast you want flatter with a meat tenderiser or rolling pin (put in bag first!)

1. Cover with bread crumbs (from a packet) that have been mixed with garlic salt / garlic powder

1. Fry both sides until golden

1. Put in roasting dish and on top of each breast, put a layer of wilted spinach that's been mixed with chicken soup (not too wet!) and then layer sliced mozzarella over the top. Bake for about 15-20 mins at 180 degrees.