People for dinner sunday before Christmas- and they are fussy eaters!!!!!

[notamumyetbutoneday]

Please help- we have got friends (not very close friends though) coming for dinner the Sunday before Christmas.

I'm guessing that as its a Sunday I should do something reasonably traditional ie meat and veg rather than a curry or pasta or something.

Problem is- they are fussy. No fish, seafood or lamb. Ive seen them eat casseroles before and kind of 'poke' at them IYKWIM

So a roast seems the obvious choice- but I really really don't want to be faffing last minute as we dont have a seperate dining room so we are eating int he kitchen so i dont want it to be piled high with roasting pans!

Any suggestions please for easy starter, main course and dessert?

For dessert I would love to make those melt in the middle molten choc pudding things, but are they horrendously difficult?

Thanks in advance, please help bring my blood pressure down!

How about something that you bake all in one?

a fish pie?

Or moussaka?

Or lasagne?

Or chicken and mushroom pie?

Steak and ale pie?

Sorry, just realised you said no fish.

btw, I do my "moussaka" with turkey and beef mince, not lamb.

Main course - how about a joint of ham that you can boil (ie cook in the morning and keep warm on a lovely serving plate in a low oven) with new potatoes, carrots, green beans (?) and parsley sauce. Then they can have it with or without sauce and as much or as little as they want.
I would have thought the fussiest would be OK with ham FGS. Not a wet dinner they can analyse either, just looks like what it is??

Starter - wouldn't bother, just give them a glass of something sparkly and put out some nibbles and a dip in the sit - ting room while you finish veg in the kitchen.

Pudding - why not buy something?

Top tip - make sure you sit down and have a large glass of something if they look like they are picking over your food. They are the fussy ones and you don't have to fuss over them to the same level!

If you go down the roast route, can you just have the one roasting pan? i.e, do mashed or jacket potatoes instead of roast, do veg on the hob...

Or, do a veg dish that goes straight to the table in its oven dish, like cauliflower cheese.

Being the sunday before xmas, I wouldn't feel pressured to do a proper roast dinner, do people really expect it this time of year?
I'd do a cottage pie or something like that with lots of veg and some garlic bread and nice bottle of wine

mmm - like the cottage pie idea.

Thanks everyone, tacky (love the name!) you were spot on about them 'analysing a wet dinner'- thats just what it is!!! I love the idea of nibbly bits rather than sit down starters- my fail safe starter is smoked salmon but thats out of course!

Cies and little boy blue you are definitely right about doing an 'all in one' dish so im thinking either this or this

what do you think? I always worry though with one pot dishes about the presnetation- ie that by the time ive put it on a plate itll look like a big pile of slop!

Dessert- i might do my fail safe takes 30 seconds and look posh dessert- an adaptation of this (can you tell i use this website a lot?!)this

everyone will like this, right? right?! its fruit yoghurt FGS!!!!

Both look nice. I wouldn't worry about presentation.
I am the worlds fussiest eater and if |I go round to friends for dinner, I on't expect them to make a huge effort to please me

out of interest whilst we are on topic, whats your feeling on 'bought desserts' when you have people over? i awlays thought it was something of a faux pas (being very imexperienced in these matters!) but equally if I went to someones house for dinner and they served bought dessert i wouldnt think twice about it.

what are your thoughts?

Nothing wrong with bought dessert if it tastes nice, and as long as you don't serve it straight uot of the packaging

How about a one-pot roast thing, so not saucy like a casserole, but chicken peices, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and onions and galic all in one casserole pot together, cooked for an hour with the lid on and just a little stock to stop it drying out.

Or goulash with pasta and green beans?

Or, roast chicken but served with Rice and a nice salad instead of all the trimmings?

no problem with bought desert (but secretly may raise an eyebrow to it).

If you are going to do it I would be honest about it and make a joke along the lines of 'how you are now doing a side line in puddings for Tesco' or something daft.

A bought meringue with some frozen (defrosted) raspberries on top of whipped cream all piled on top would be kind of homemade. OR you could make a meringue a few days before?

I could make a meringue a few days before- oh if only i could Tacky, if only! my several meringue shaped disasters have pride of place in my culinary hall of shame. I think rather than buy i can easily do a cheesecake the day before or my lemon curd thing.

Would love some ideas for nibbly things if anyone has them- nothing too avant garde mind you! I don't want my canapes to be poked at

cheesecake would be really nice!
for nibbles - why not buy some really nice crisps and put out some olives ( how sophisticated )

cream cheese on ritz biscuits?
pate on ritz?

or just some garlic bread?

sounds like you needn't go too mad with your guests.

DO NOT DO A ROAST YOU WILL RUIN EVERYONE'S CHRISTMAS DINNER.

You need something completely different so that lunch on the Big Day is special and not 'oh here we go, we've just had one of these'.

How about phone them up and say you just want to check for any food allergies etc and then give them a choice of 3 by saying you were thinking of either a lasagne, bread soup and cheese or baked potatoes and fillings served buffet style (so they can choose themselves) and do they have any preferences bearing mind that it's so close to Christmas and don't want to give them something they've got planned over the next couple of days.

And you could just bake a cake the day before and have that with mugs of steaming tea and coffee on the sofa instead of dessert.

I wouldn't do a roast so close to Christmas dinner. I would something in one dish or casserole plus a salad or rice,
eg lasagne and salad,
or chicken casserole and rice and/or salad, or chicken with couscous and chickpeas and salad etc.

Glass of wine plus nibbles (bought) is fine for a starter.
A good bought chocolate or lemon tart is fine for pud imo, or vanilla icecream with homemade warm butterscotch or chocolate sauce. Or have chocolate brownies with the coffee.

Those molten choc puds are easy to do yourself and you can make them in advance (see "molton chocolate babycakes" on Nigella.com - sorry, the link won't work, and she has spelt molten wrong!) - or buy them from M&S!

I would keep it simple and do as much as you can beforehand - they are coming to see you, not for the gastronomic extravaganza!

Thanks Spanks and Jules- Spank you have well and truly warned me off doing a roast! I love the idea of having cake or brownies with coffee instead of dessert- or maybe mince pies?! if i do nibbles for starter though and 'cake on sofa' type dessert- is that too much 'sofa action'?

decisions decisions...i think I need to stop over-analysing the whole thing and as my DH says- REEEEELLLLAAAAAXXXX!

I do a roast every Sunday

If they don't like casseroles/wet food then you are safe with a roast

I wouldn't do a starter and would buy in some puddings

figs in syrup with ice-cream or creme fraiche goes VERY WELL with coffee and requires very little mess and preparation

You could do pork chops and roasted veg if they don't like wet stuff.

I think they are blardy lucky to be invited at all if they "poke" at people's food

the more sofa action the better.
Agree no starter needed - just flip out some crisps or twiglets or something.
Could offer cake and mince pies -not every likes mince pies but I do and to me they would be the PERFECT pud

yep mince pies for dessert it is- although if I do chicken pie/cottage pie for main and then mince pies- is that pie overload???

oh dear lord, i really must get out more...

bigTily- the 'poking' was thankfully not at our house- I would have been mortified! It was at a dinner thing we went to where they did beef casserole bourgignon type thing.

the thing is I cant STAND 'dry' meat- i have to have it in a sauce of some description!