what are your best simple, but impressive recipes (pref not too meaty)?

[hazeyjane]

Meeting my sister's new boyfriend for the first time, and would like to cook something really nice, but am not very good at cooking meat, and don't want to be stuck in the kitchen all night.

I am going to do molten chocolate babycakes for pudding.

Thankyou.

Pasta sauce (usually make my own from tinned tomatoes, garlic, onion etc) with extra mushrooms.

Fresh spinach & ricotta tortelllini

Serve with fancy garlic bread (flatbread or ciabatta with your own garlic/butter combination is usually far better than shop bought) and salad.

Very easy - possibly not as impressive as you'd like though. You could crisp up some parma ham under the grill and put a couple of slices artfully on the top - that would be very tasty and make it look a little bit trendier!!

Also, not really a 'recipe' is it? Still, never mind. I'm sure other MNers are going to make my suggestion look silly now!!

Lentil chilli?
Aubergine pasta bake?

Sausage pasta (unless too meaty for you?):
[I find this always goes down well and if you do the sausage preparation in advance, it's astonishingly easy to whip up].

• Remove sausage meat from skins and chop roughly. (use one pack of best quality sausages for 4 - 6 people).
• Fry sausage meat in a little olive oil with a generous teaspoon of fennel seeds.
• Once browned, add a chopped clove of garlic and the zest of one lemon, salt and pepper. If you like a bit of heat, add some chopped chilli/chilli flakes and fry for a minute.
• Pour in 100ml each of wine and milk and allow to bubble for a few minutes and reduce.
• Stir in a large tablespoon (or two) of cremefraiche and heat through. Taste and if necessary add some lemon juice and salt.

Serve with penne, lashings of parmesan and cheese, and black pepper.

I had this in a restaurant the other day - it was delicious and you could easily make it at home:-

spinach drissled with ceaser dressing topped with slices of chicken breasts and crsipped bacon (from the chiller in the supermarket, no cooking required ) sprinkled with hazelnuts.

Ummmm my mouth is watering remembering how yummy it tasted

this is absolutely delicious and very easy.

so is this

and this

My easy peasy fish dish.

Finely grate carrots and finely slice leeks, cook in melted butter until softened, season.

Lay most of the veg in an oven dish
Put a layer of crème fraiche over the veg.
Lay on fish fillets.
Put the remainder of veg over the fish.
Bake for 20 minutes.

moroccan lamb.

need: lamb mince
tin tomatoes/jar of passata
tin of chick peas
2 courgettes
one sweet potato
onion

and all spice and cinnamon for flavouring.

fry up mince & onions
peel sweet potato and chop small ish. add to mince.
add chick peas and tomatoes
chop courgette and add in.
bung in as much cinnamon & all spice as you like (recipe I use says 1 teaspoon of each, but I find that doesn't taste of much)

leave to simmer a while, tasting and addign spices as required.

I usually serve with rice and naan bread.

Thankyou for all these, they all look fantastic.

At the moment I'm thinking pasta, or the chicken (just about the only meat I can cook!) and bacon (which sounds lovely).

I love cooking, but sometimes my mind just goes blank, so thankyou for any inspiration.

Hopefully lots of nice bread, butter and red wine will make for a good meal - not forgetting the chocolate puddings, of course!

teriyake salmon!

Just buy a bottle of the sauce, marinate the salmon for a short while, then grill.
serve with stir fried veges or salad

yummmmm and so easy

i think spaghetti bolognese is always an easy but impressive dish.