Hellllp please. V specific food qu...Can anyone who channels Delia help please?

[sassy]

We are taking part in a safari dinner on saturday - i.e.. starter at one house, main course at another, dessert at a third. There are 50 odd people at start and finish but we split into groups of 8 for the main course.We've done this lots of times before, ut this time we have landed with doing a main - which we have not done before.$o we need something that fits the following brief:-

We need to able to leave it for an hour or while we go for our starters
It needs to be tasty, and preferably a bit impressive
It needs to look good!
NOt too ££££ cos we are a bit skint.

Any ideas, oh wise ones?

A stew or another one pot dish that cooks slow. Also if you are using meat if means you can use much cheaper cuts as they are fab for cooking slowly.

There are 2 ways to do this and impress.

1. Go for very traditional meal but cook it very very well (this is the harder option). Not necessarily british - could be something like coq au vin.

2. Go for something more exotic - a tagine, a good curry (not something that you would find on takeaway menu).

With the weather as it has been you may want soemthing at the lighter end of scale like a tagine you can do with couscous. Or something like rattatouie (sp?) with lamb

We had thought about curry, rice, naans etc;if we go this route we'll do it in the slow cooker. Tagine/couscous a possibility.

its not hot here any more.

Does it have to be hot?
her chicken and tarragon grape thing is nice.

as is her beef in deisigner beer

Jamie Olive posh fish pie?

YY, needs to be hot I think.

If weather good we may do posh BBQ

Fish pie?

what about this with boneless chicken thighs(skinless) that are cheap) then seve with couscous?

Ooh that looks good. And can be made ahead.Mmm.

Not fish, people can be funny about fish ime.

this has god reviews you coudl tart it up wiht olives etc

mmmmmmmmm
or doesnt nigella do a lamb stew?

This always goes down very well in our house and is better the longer you leave it:

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/Moroccan_lamb_shanks_872

and this too:

Aromatic shoulder of pork ?Donnie Brasco?

www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3312736/The-River-Cottage-Meat-Book-part-one-roasting.html

(although not so good if it is a hot day as the oven has to be on all the time)

Great ideas here thanks. Will peruse later with glass of vino and the dh. And report back on our choice.

cheers

Sorry, may be too late but here are two posh, summery and utterly delicious stews that your guests are unlikely to have had before. Both can be done on the hob very slowly or in a slow cooker, and both are quite forgiving on timings provided you have cooked them for long enough.

Beef shin, chorizo, green olive and sherry (add a tin of pulped tomatoes, some bay and thyme if you have them, salt, pepper and smoked paprika - that is the essential ingredient and immediately tarts it up). I added some butter beans at the end from a tin to warm through. Took 9 hours in a slow cooker.

OR: Rick Stein's shoulder of lamb (more expensive) braised in rose with flageolets. This can also go in the oven. Takes about 4 hours on the hob.

Because of the beans you can get away with crusty bread on the side instead of veg which might be useful. Some plain steamed carrots would be nice with either though.