Easy Michelin-standard menu plan

[Repostersyndrome]

Help! Calling all gourmands. I’m hosting 10 people on Saturday afternoon for drinks and then dinner.

Three of them are amazing cooks and spend a lot of time and money eating out at the best restaurants in London. And yes, they do recreate these dishes at home successfully. The other family are amazing home cooks, expert with Chinese food so I need to steer clear of this as I won’t be able to replicate it.

I am surrounded by a billion cookbooks - Ortolenghi, Slater, Phaidon Greek, Persiana, Apollo etc and am overwhelmed. I usually do lamb with a Persian sort of twist or seafood. DH has vetoed my Syrian saffron seafood stew which is my favourite!

I would like the menu to be simple-ish but still impressive, with a seasonal bias (late summer). We don’t have a barbecue.

I like fresh, zingy but also rich flavours. Help!

No curries, pulled pork etc or compile your own tacos etc (much as the kids might like that)…

What are your favourite wow late summer recipes that are impressive but easy-ish?

any use @Repostersyndrome?

www.greatbritishchefs.com/collections/michelin-star-recipes

The whole point of Michelin standard is that it’s not easy :)

How about doing a paella as the main? That is easy and always looks super impressive if you stack it full of really good quality seafood.

I looked at that earlier thank you @beetr00 but after a certain point they want you to subscribe!

I know @TheBossOfMe but part of me hoped it could be just about tasty food! I have friends who throw together the most delicious food with the best joints of meat etc. I am good on making it flavoursome but sometimes drop the ball on presentation. I love all things rice related but DH vetoes it!

How about something like duck a l'orange, coq au vin or fillet steak with a sauce? Always crowd pleasers and easy to make ( well I think so) I usually do something like those at dinner parties

should add as there’s 10 people costs might be too high for steak but duck on the crown or coq au vin should be fine, or do a one pot meal, they go further and still crowd pleasers

If your husband is the one with all the opinions on what you should be offering guests, surely he should be the one coming up with options/doing the cooking?

Stuffed courgette flowers always look beautiful and in season at the moment. Would make a lovely starter.

Check our Alexandra Dudley, she has a knack for making very pretty plates that are easy to replicate and great for hosting.

Michelin stuff takes DAYS to make. That's the whole point.

I'd avoid seafood - it makes guests nervous and if you fuck it up, you will never live it down...

Slow-roasted leg of lamb is good for catering, with some delicious sides - nice salads, tabbouleh, that sort of thing. Whack in some artisan bread and hummus and you're sorted.

I'd do as much as possible in advance, so look at a soup that gets richer as it stands, and a fridge based dessert which can be done the day before.

Also, presumably these people know that not everyone can cook to their standard, and they're coming for your company. Even just a decent cut of roast beef, well rested, would be fine if it gave you time to sit and talk with your friends. Don't overthink this.

There’s an Ottolenghi slow cooked lamb with figs and pistachios which is utterly delicious. Lots of steps (does need some time and pre planning) but none of them are hard and it’s forgiving.

I think it’s important to do something you feel confident you can turn out well, rather than working yourself into a lather trying to turn out something uber fancy and stressing if it goes tits up.

This. Unless he’s cooking, he doesn’t get a recipe veto. Make your Syrian seafood dish, assuming all guests can eat fish, which you know you can do well, and feel relaxed about.

I do agree with @TheBossOfMe — the whole point of Michelin level cuisine is that it’s food that would be almost impossible to replicate in a domestic kitchen, even with excellent ingredients. We’re vegetarian and buy our produce from the same wonderful growers as a local restaurant with a star, and while DH is an excellent home cook (he used to work in the kitchen of another award-winning local restaurant), the dishes produced by the starred restaurant are of a very different type. Phenomenally work-intensive, with fermenting, brining, pickling, smoking, desiccating etc, abstruse extra things involved (bee pollen, in something I had recently), crazily pretty presentation.

I would just cook something less finicky with good ingredients, and relax about it.

Easy Bloody Mary Gezpacho followed by Ottolenghi's Halibut Vichessoise (Nopi). Two side dishes.

Fillet steak for ten to order will be a pita!

Yep completely PITA but she asked for Michelin and that’s what you get, either that or in season local produce which will be costly! One pot meals are the cheapest and most crowd pleasing but definitely not Michelin

look at the pics and choose those which you may like, then google the recipes?🙂

Buy two really good leg of lambs

Mix a pot of ras el hanout with sea salt flakes, the zest and juice of one orange and one lemon, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 of pomegranat molasses and 3 of water. Stir them into a thick paste and coat one leg of lamb. Marinade it for at least 24 hours. Slow roast it and then turn it up at the end so the marinade gets a little golden and crispy.

For the other leg of lamb make a marinade of an entire head of garlic crushed with sea salt, olive oil,a good squirt of clear honey, finely chopped fresh mint and rosemary. Coat the lamb and leave it for 24 hours.

Serve with purple sprouting broccoli dressed with lemon butter, crushed new potatoes tossed in garlic and cumin seeds, roast butternut squash tossed in smoky paprika.

All easy. All taste divine. And you can tart up the look of the legs of lamb with fresh sprigs of rosemary and mint on the trad one and scattered pomegranate seeds, dried rose petals and toaste dpine nuts on the middle eastern one.

Yeah that’s the kind of thing that works well for larger groups and is suitably impressive.

The fact that you've ten people for dinner will limit what you can successfully achieve. To serve fillet steak to ten guests would be impossible in a domestic setting with one cook.

So I'd be inclined to do something like coq au vin, Navarin of lamb, Spanish chicken casserole as the main course. You could do a potato and a rice side dish plus a green salad.

For the first course perhaps a fish pâté with a citrus salad, or prawns with a tomato sorbet? For pudding, something like a polenta cake with summer fruits, or pear Belle Helene.

A couple of suggestions from the French Laundry that aren't all that difficult to do.

I was inspired by this blog where a woman made every recipe from the book.

How about Gazpacho as a starter?

https://carolcookskeller.blogspot.com/2007/01/gazpacho-with-balsamic-glaze.html

Gazpacho with Balsamic Glaze. Photos included with that link.

The recipe from French Laundry, I've scanned a copy below

Then for a main course either Citrus-Marinated Salmon with a Confit of Navel Oranges, Beluga Caviar and Pea Shoot Coulis (you don't need to use caviar)

or perhaps

Black Sea Bass with Sweet Parsnips, Arrowleaf Spinach, and Saffron-Vanilla Sauce

These are both links to the blog and I've put the recipes below

It wouldn't let me attach all of them so here is the last one

I agree with buying 2 great legs of lamb and doing a couple of veg sides

This.

Thank you so much all of you! I agree DH would usually take over the mains but since last month, he’s the sole breadwinner and I’m the one who invited the guests at this particular time so I have to do the heavy lifting…

The poster above who said guests can be nervous about seafood is probably right. I know the foodie ones love it but not sure the (only British born guest!) would as he’s more of a traditional type.

@Meadowwild this sounds fabulous, it’s exactly the kind of thing I would normally do.

@Another2Cats thank you - these look divine. I may try it when we have fewer mouths to feed as I suspect the younger guests won’t appreciate it! Very kind of you to scan that.
love the idea of pea shoot coulis! X

Starter: melon and Proscuitto salad https://sowthetable.com/melon-and-prosciutto-salad/

Main: sous vide chicken and courgette gnocchi https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/chicken-breast-ballotine-gnocchi-recipe There’s a video on YouTube for this which will be helpful.

Pudding: smoked plum mousse https://www.wildwoodgrilling.com/brandy-mascarpone-smoked-plum-mousse/

I agree with buying 2 great legs of lamb and doing a couple of veg sides. This is easy and nice but be careful not to burn it towards the end.

Slow-roast Persian lamb with pomegranate salad recipe | Good Food (bbcgoodfood.com)

Or this
Roast Lamb, from ‘The River Cottage Meat Book’ by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Cooking the Books, week 7 | Country Skills for Modern Life (countryskillsblog.com)

I think I'd do the latter with a huge plate of broccoli, hardly cooked so it's still green, with some thinly sliced garlic and chilli and maybe another veg side. For carbs you could either do flatbreads of mini potatoes roasted in their skins with rosemary.