Ideas for small summer gathering

[user1471527955]

Looking for inspiration. A small gathering for 7 people next weekend.2 people eat fish not meat & the rest eat pretty much anything. I would like to make things ahead of time & I'm a decent cook. I'm time rich & money poor.

Is this a sit down meal or a buffet? What time of day?

You could do food with a Greek theme, meze style, which would be nice and summery, and if made ahead and served at room temperature would let you spend time with your guests rather than in the kitchen.
Some ideas are...
Spanakopita
Stuffed vegetables eg aubergines tomatoes peppers, use rice and finely chopped vegetables for stuffing
Yoghourt based dips with flat bread (Jamie Oliver's flat bread?)
Chilled egg and lemon soup
Greek salad
A couple of different open puff pastry tarts, eg tomatoes & feta, courgette & feta, mushrooms spinach and herbs.

That's a lovely idea. If you could find them at affordable prices, you can buy stuffed vine leaves and gigantes (giant beans in tomato sauce) and those are both great added to some home-made stuff. You could broaden it out to be vaguely Mediterranean and include falafel and tabbouleh. Some nice ideas here: https://www.loveandlemons.com/mezze-platter/

Tagines are great if they’re made ahead of time because their flavour actually improves.
This is a lovely summery vegetarian tagine https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/apricot-and-honey-vegetable-tagine.html It makes 6 generous servings and freezes well.
I’d also make a chicken, lamb or fish tagine. I’ve used this recipe a few times and it’s always popular https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fish-tagine-saffron-almonds
Serve them with parsley couscous, flatbreads and natural yogurt.

Thanks
Great ideas

It will be sit down at lunchtime.

Rilettes of duck