Simple party food ideas

[mogs0]

I'm having a few friends round next month and am looking for some simple buffet food ideas please.

Every year I end up buying loads of frozen supermarket party food that takes ages to cook/prepare and isn't all that great and I end up really stressed (until I've had too much to drink then I'm ok again!!).

This year I'd like to keep it simple and have minimal cooking/prep time.

I have crisps, bread sticks, a few cheeses and that's about it so far!

I did buy a chorizo sausage and thought about mixing it with cous-cous or rice (though cous-cous would be easier to prepare) and some roasted pepper. Anything else I could mix in with it? Pesto, maybe?

Any ideas?

Make your own pizza - massive rectangles on baking trays, couple of different toppings. Bake as needed.

Or have it delivered

Make two big bowls of pasta, one meat, one veggie, a bowl of salad and french stick.

I'd go with a big casserole or curry. Delicious, easy and can be served with tasty sides.

You consider quiches which are easy and always look good on a buffet. Especially if you do a couple of different ones with suitably posh fillings.

Thanks for the replies!

Frites - I have the tiniest oven on the planet and struggle to cook normal size pizzas. My smal baking tray has to go in side-ways to fit........get the idea?! Getting it delivered is a definite maybe though!

lula - do you mean hot pasta or cold? I suppose either would be ok. Any recipes?

Bling - everytime I cook casserole it tastes vile and I couldn't make my own quiche, although, I suppose they can be bought and are pretty easy to serve up.

Any ideas here or here

why not jsut cook a meal?

Homemade courgette & Boursin soup,
followed by the cheese, some pate and french bread,
finished off with a fruit salad or pavlova/eton mess and cream!

Delicious and all prepared in advance

Shame about the oven. How about:

Chilli (even better if you have/can borrow a slow cooker to keep it warm)
Chunks of french bread or rice.
Grated cheese, jalapeno peppers, dish of sour cream to sprinkle on.

Blinis with smoked salmon are really easy to do. You can put other toppings on them as well and they go down a treat. They are good to nibble on as a "starter"

• Chili with jacket potatoes is good
• cold cuts
• big salad
• nice cheeses
• olives
• Fruit salad