Ideas for dinner party....

[PDR]

Hi... my DH has invited his boss and GF for dinner on Saturday night.

I am not a good cook (at all) but need to produce something lovely.

Not comfortable about cooking beef as it will be under cooked / over cooked / raw etc!

My DH does not eat fish/shellfish.

I am thinking 3 courses with a starter that I can prepare ahead of time and a simple/shop bought dessert. Maybe M&S profiterole stack on a nice plate?

No waitrose here but OK sized M&S Food Hall.

Any ideas?

PDRwhat will you do for the pudding do you think?

Do soup

Cottage pie - a really lovely one with peas

crumble mix with any fruit rhubarb or blackberry and apple

If you want a recipe for cottage pie then use the left overs one in deliha but dont bother with the leeks in the topping just mash the potato and pile ontop

Cottage pie is fine as it it comfort food and can be all prepared to pop in the oven 45 minutes before you want it - you can prep it all in the morning.

The crumble just perp again in the morning and pop in the oven as you serve the soup

By doing this you will actually have everything perped and be able to spend time with your guests and enjoy yourself

I am liking the M&S Creme Brulee idea but does this really go with a casserole?

When I think of casserole I think of fruit crumble or some such warm wintery thing...

Will obviously have to buy said Creme Brulee to "test" on Thursday as well. Maybe will eat DHs too as this is all his fault.

I do have a "Cook Food" frozen Bramley Apple & Blackberry Crumble" but have never tasted it before and quite late to eat that one and order another.

What are we thinking for the soup...?

cook your casserole the day before...it is always better eaten the next day.

crumble a great idea - and a delicious pud after a casserole -plus the fruit and the crumble topping can be prepared in advance (but don't put together until just before you cook it) and it goes in at the same temp as the casserole!
Take the casserole out to serve and simply pop the cru,be in to be cooking as you eat the main course! Good thinking Ivykaty44!
For added texture, replace an oz of the flour with oats in the crumble topping.

add a touch of cinnimon the crumble and they will think itis homemade

the easiest casserole ever

and no worrying about the thiickening gravy - add green vegtables and new pots

link doesn't work

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4251/chicken-cacciatore

Personel preference I would buy big fat chicken thighs but others may prefer the breast meat...

I found a tin of cherry tomatos in sainsbury but chopped tomato budget tin will be fine.... and a jar of olives - if they dont like olives they are not difficult to leave on the side.

I personally wouldn't go for soup as a starter with casserole as main.... too much liquid IYKWIM. You could omit starter altogether and have canapes, olives, nibbles etc and then have the cassarole.
Rick stein does a fabby beef cassarole (marinate in a bottle of wine overnight!! ) - dead easy and the wine tenderises the meat - if you are interested let me know and I'll type up the recipe.... (essentially beef, wine, carrot and some herbs..)

Blackduck ISWYM about the soup...

Maybe some nice pate on toast as previously suggested? I can't stand olives...

Love smoked salmon but don't think that really goes with casserole either!

I will do the earlier recipe for the casserole as looks easy Will do trial run on Thursday as not working and have some beef to use anyway!

Gonna go with the frozen crumble I already have & do the cinnamon thing suggested by Ivykaty44 - it is "homemade" anyway - just not by me !!

Will get some nice custard from M&S.

Maybe I will buy some after dinner mints for having with coffee? I don't actually drink coffee but I do like after dinner mints.

DH is going to be very impressed. Let's hope he doesn't start inviting people round on a regular basis!

Feel a bit like I'm on "Come Dine With Me" lol. How much do they win? £100? Maybe I should suggest DH gives me £100 for my Boden fund?

If you are going down the pate route, Waitrose (if you have one near you) have some nice looking pates at the deli counter that you can buy by weight (and the duck and champagne one is currently reduced!).

Hope you have a really enjoyable evening.

I did a Boeuf Bourguignon last time we had guests served with rice and green veg and it went down a storm, I cooked it for about 6 hours so it was very succulent, it was butternut squash soup for starters and then poached pears with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream...easy peasy.

With a stew or something like lamb shanks you don't need to worry about over cooking if you do it reaaaaaly slowly.

No Waitrose here (boohoo) but will try M&S or we do have a small deli in our village...

if you have a deli why not do a mezze plate with little things to snack on?
Melba toasts, warm bread rolls, houmous, antipasti, olives that kind of thing?

Make some crostini? Very easy.

Will investigate deli as have never actually bought anything apart from ham there...

Ooh I love dinner party planning, but don't feel you have to do proper 3 courses to make it special, I can't remember the last time someone cooked me a starter, but if making a bit of an effort with presentation etc looks like you've gone the extra mile!

An easy starter solution is to get some posh sliced italian meats, thinly slice some mozzarella and grilled peppers (from the deli counter!) or avocado, and arrange it all on a nice plate or two in the middle of the table (plus olives, unless you really can't bear to have them in the house) with a warm ciabatta, sliced on the diagonal, then everyone can pick and help themselves while drinking wine and making small talk, and if you have to nip to the kitchen to sort things out it doesn't matter, nothing's spoiling.

Casseroles are great. My fail-safe favourite is Jamie Oliver's Lamb Shanks, from his first book, but whatever works for you. M&S mash might save on the hassle... If you sprinkle a little chopped flatleaf parsley on the top it will look a bit more 'restaurant'. And put veggies in serving bowls in the middle of the table so the plates don't look too loaded up.

Crumble would be yummy, or how about something a bit lighter like a Tarte Citrone or Tarte au Pomme? Dust a lemon tart with icing sugar to make it look more homemade, and serve it with a few raspberries. Or get a tarte au pomme (the thin type) and serve warm with scoop of posh caramel ice cream - easy peasy!

If you think the boys are likely to sit around talking shop you could buy a couple of cheeses (no more than 2 or 3 types) and pop them out with grapes and water biscuits, but don't forget to take them out of the fridge at the beginning of hte evening to warm up. If you might want to get rid of them, don't!

ahh, slow internet, massive cross-posting, sorry!

PDR i posted an easy apple crumble cake recipe on MN

it is delicious, will try to find it for you

Update:

I will be doing a trial casserole tonight...got everything apart from the marmite but will get some for Saturday.

Not managed to get to deli due to awful weather so will be getting everything from M&S tomo.

ALl set for tonight - thank you to everyone who helped!