Dinner party for 10

[Rellotello]

We’re a little out of practice with hosting having been renovating for 3 years and Covid prior. In the meantime we have attended some lovely dinner parties with a group of friends who are excellent hosts, great cooks and live in gorgeous houses. We’ve now plucked up the courage to invite them to ours and I’m at a bit of a loss about what to cook and how to make the evening both relaxed and fun. Has anyone got any menu and more general suggestions and tips for hosting a great evening? No dietary requirements. I quite enjoy a picky/Mezze style starter but really would love some ideas

First off, lucky you having no dietary requirements. I love hosting but accommodating various allergies really complicates things!
I keep in mind that I want to be unstressed so some of my favourite things and dishes people love I’d only do for a small group- seared scallops etc.
When will it be?

Klefiko is lovely for a main....( with a good salad and flatbreads, though Kleftiko has potato in it; if doing this, be sure to get the red-skinned, waxy potato type that will keep its shape)
Or slow cooked shoulder of pork with crackling ( both Good Food recipes)
They're get ahead recipes that don't need last minute attention.

Id be lead a little by the style of evenings your guests have previously hosted. If they tend towards more informal kitchen supper meals, then a picky meze starter followed by a easy prep main like a luxurious fish pie or a casserole would be welcome.

If you have mainly been invited to more formal dining room meals and you have the eating space for ten, then you could be a bit more ambitious. But no one wants to be alone in the kitchen hot and flustered flambéing and whisking whilst the guests swig your booze.

Cold starters and dessert made ahead. Easy seasonal veg and carbs. Something flashy but not too time dependant for the protein.

I would do something like a beef bourgignon, anything you can leave in a low oven without too much faffing once your friends arrive - maybe with dauphinois potatoes which can be prepped ahead and put in the oven at the appropriate time so you've just got to do some greens at the last minute.

Dessert I'd go fairly light and something chilled that can be in the fridge waiting - a chocolate or meringue roulade, or cheesecake.

I’d also suggest kleftiko. I’ve done it before when hosting & it’s a real crowd pleaser.

Big Greek salad/flatbreads on the table too.

I have certain family members whose dietary requirements seem to change each time which is very tricky to manage so agree, very lucky with this bunch. I think it’s almost the lack of limitations that has left me stumped!

Coq au vin,boef bourginon and similar all taste better when made in advance, and so are very easy to serve on the night

Thanks all. Kleftiko is a great idea. Definitely a fan of as much make ahead as possible (so that I don’t get distracted after a few glasses) and also a low and slow meat so it can’t go too far wrong.

My tip would be to make sure you have enough plates, cutlery, glasses and chairs for ten people, for three courses, well in advance. As it is that, and organising the fridge space, that is a bit of a faff if you don’t entertain regularly. That and keeping everything hot, and making sure everyone is served promptly.

My general menu outline when hosting is: meaty main + veggie main + carby side + fresher side - we do have lots of veggie friends and family but even so I find this structure means there is good choice and variety without it being overwhelming. When I do a spread I tend not to bother with a starter, or simply do some chips and dips. I'm also not someone who concerns themselves with things matching or fitting into a theme, when we have family over in a few weeks I'm planning on doing sticky bbq ribs, cheesy cabbage gratin, jollof rice, and cauliflower salad with miso dressing & pistachio pesto, followed by matcha rum tiramisu - much of this can be made in advance and is low effort while hosting.

Wine is obviously easy for hosting, but we are cocktail lovers. More recently I have been enjoying prebatching and clarifying my cocktails so I can have a variety in the fridge and simply pour when needed.

I mostly seem to do lamb - most recently a lamb shank massaman curry with rice, roasted broccoli and asian slaw. Passion fruit tart for pudding and various bought nibbles to start (eaten standing and chatting rather than at the table).

Next dinner will be raclette & tartiflette with the classic bread potatoes charcuterie and a bunch of salads. Chocolate mousse for pudding I expect. Not sure what to do for starter. Not sure anyone really needs one so maybe just crisps & dips as pp said.

Short ribs cooked in stout are delicious. this looks great.

This sounds delicious! Great menu suggestions, thank you

Jamie Oliver's fish pie (the one with carrot/creme fraiche, not the creamy one) is great and you can even make it the day before and leave it in the fridge before cooking on the day.

Anything you can make in advance is helpful - do you have a slow cooker? If so you could do pulled pork?

Or Nadia's chicken shwarama can be prepped and left in the fridge also, then you can buy houmous and make a mint dip to have with it with bread and some shredded cabbage.

If you want a bought dessert, we recently had a roulade from Cook which was amazing.

Love a great messenger. Some amazing pics of presentation you can google. Buffet works well unless you want a played dinner. Everyone gets what they want and can take as much as they want.

I think the trick to a lovely evening is to think about what you can do in advance - whether that's food prep, table setting, drinks laid out etc. I try as much as possible to avoid notable cooking after people arrive, and if I must, it's quick things that are all prepped - eg in summer with a BBQ I'll quite often do things like garlic prawns for people to nibble on while sitting around but I don't cook them until everyone arrives but I have the oil in the pan ready to go, a bowl of garlic, lemon zest and chilli and a separate bowl of chopped parsley - so I can pull it together in less than 5 minutes with no last minute chopping or looking for things.

I think it's essential to offer drinks pretty much as soon as people walk through the door. You can have a drinks section set up or just have open bottles ready to roll and hand over to people (sometimes I make up a batch of a cocktail and offer that "Margarita or a glass of champagne?"). n that note, I think bubbles or a cocktail create an instant "party" vibe but aren't essential. Similarly, nibble sof some sort help to break the ice, give people something to do with their hands and/or a conversational starting point - doesn't have to be complicated, smoked salmon on blinis or even just crisps and dips.

Cook things that don't have to be portioned out perfectly and/pr that you can pile on the table to help themselves. Don't be like a flatmate I had years ago who managed to kill eevry dinner party by obsessively serving up a single lamb chop, 3 potatoes and 5 pieces of aspargus - it took forever and inevitably felt stingy.

My sister, who has more space than I do, also is fantastic about making things look a bit pretty - so she can set a table and leave it set up with lovely place settings or centre pieces and again, I think it creates an instant atmosphere when people come through the door. The closest i can come to that is to put my lovely lamps outside the front door and some flowers on the windowsill!

PS the massaman is embarrassingly easy and a total cheat, it’s shop bought paste (Barts is good) tarted up with some extra spices. this recipe. Tastes great.