Dairy and Fish free starter

[BarrelOfOtters]

Got friends round for dinner at the weekend. Will do lamb for main and have a dairy free idea for dessert. But what for starter? Something easy and make ahead if possible.

These bruschetta are easy:

Make on smaller slices if having them as finger-food with drinks, and larger if sitting at table as a first course - that's what I do anyway!

Tomato bruschetta recipe | Good Food (bbcgoodfood.com)

I was about to suggest the same!

Well they're so easy and the tomatoes can be prepared in advance. I prefer to use halved baby plum/cherry as they look nicer than chopped larger tomatoes, and serve at room temperature.

A nice roasted tomato soup

Asparagus with vinaigrette dressing.

Avocado with crispy bacon dressing.

Parma ham with mixed citrus salad.

Spring soup https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/spring-harvest-soup - just swap the butter for olive oil

Soups seemed to go out of fashion, but they are a great make ahead starter.
That said, I wouldn't make it before a 'wet' main course eg some sort of stew/casserole. Perfect before a roast if that is what you are doing. Something like tomato and red pepper - or anything that doesn't repeat the veg you plan saving with the main.

Some sort of salad would be an option. My dairy free friends can have sheep's or goat's cheese, so Greek salad is a nice fresh start to the meal.

I do also like the idea of bruschetta, or canapés served with drinks instead of a sit down starter.
I struggle with desserts, as one friend is gluten free as well as dairy free, would love to know what you are doing. I usually do something fruity, with an almond GF cake, and Swedish Glacé dairy free ice cream..

Something with pastry - really easy to get 'vegan' (dairy free) - in fact i think most jus-rol pre-made puff pastry is naturally vegan.

@OMGitsnotgood somethingsweetsomethingsavoury.com/nigellas-clementine-cake/
for pudding or possibly something similar with walnuts with sorbet.

I'm better at cooking gluten free as regularly cook that.

Bruschetta is coming up first at the moment.

@BarrelOfOtters that is a fabulous moist cake, have made it several times. I serve with caramel oranges; baked plums or a mixed frozen fruits, cooked with a little water and thickened with cornflour, a little sugar added if too tart.

Chicken liver pate, toasts, fresh greens with a mustard vinaigrette, cornichons

This is a great starter:

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/delias-summer-collection/piedmont-roasted-peppers

Nigella's clemetine cake is amazing! I make it quite often.

Greek salad chopped small with optional vegan feta/real feta (the Violife one isn't too bad, considering) - cucumber, olives, cherry tomatoes, more olives, celery, olive oil, marjoram/greek oregano, grilled mini peppers, lemon juice and some sesame or olive bread cut into small pieces? It's similar to bruschetta but might be more in keeping with the main course.

Or perhaps make a pate/spread of broad beans, shallot, olive oil, lemon and thyme to go on bread with sliced tomatoes?

Could also have some Dolmades, bake mini pasties with feta, spinach and vegan soft cheese, melon and cured meats, chargrilled artichokes, more olives, pickled chilli garlic...this is making me hungry.

Like the greek ideas...that's given me a thought. And I could do the lamb a greek way too.

Hummus or baba ganoush dip with some pitta?
Kleftiko is lovely (and very low maintenence) if fancy greek lamb.

@Topbird29 top tip on the lamb - thank you!

It would have to be chicken liver pate made without butter. You could use oil instead.

This is a good recipe for a mushroom and walnut pate, which happens to be vegan and dairy-free: https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-mushroom-walnut-pate/

Re Jusrol pastry - it isn't naturally dairy-free. Puff pastry always used to be made with butter, although sometimes that was eked out with margarine. Now that the dairy-free market has increased, Jusrol doesn't use butter at all (other brands have followed the same path). The problem with this is that a lot of the vegetable fat they do use is palm oil, which I would rather avoid on environmental grounds. So on the odd occasion I buy puff pastry I spend a small fortune on an all-butter puff pastry. (Yes, I could make it myself, but it takes ages, and I am too lazy.)

Doesn't have to be oil - you could use duck fat from a jar.

Cook chicken (or lamb) liver in a pan in duck fat after snipping out any stringy bits and cutting into thumb sized pieces. Set aside and cook finely sliced onions on a very low heat with the lid on until they caramelise without added sugar to a golden colour. Add a couple of hardboiled eggs and all the duck fat you used to cook everything into a blender with the liver and onions. Season and blitz until you get the texture you want.

Soup
Garlic mushrooms
bruschetta
Salad
Crudités with hummus
Melon

If you're offering something like Greek Salad I'd just check that they do actually like and miss dairy. I'm DF due to an allergy. It made me so ill as a child I'd probably be very polite if you gave me this but feel incredibly guilty that you'd gone to the effort for something I'd not enjoy and probably wouldn't eat very much of or even touch the fake cheese

Melon and Parma ham
Fancy bread with oil or breadsticks, with olives and sundried tomatoes
Prawn cocktail with DF dressing

Know what you mean. But he’s recently developed a severe intolerance to dairy even though he loves all things dairy. He’s ok with sheep/goat cheese.

I had some nice falafel and salad as a starter at a restaurant, I think it also came with hummus