Dinner Party ideas?!

Sola

JHB - that sounds like a winner!

cupid_s

Hi,
I've read loads of dinner party threads on here and the meals sound delish - but none seem suitable for my guests. DH will do most of the cooking as usual but wants to do just one meal - he doesn't mind doing a piece of fish for our veggie guest but everything accompanying it must be the same.

We have 8 guests. One is veggie, but eats fish and almost anything non-meat, another wont eat cheese at all and another wont eat beef, fish, pork and will only eat lamb if it is completely free of fat. Oh and I hate peppers and curry.

Can anyone help me? There just seems to be too many tastes to please.

JoJoB

How about fishcakes, but replace the fish with something else for the non-fish eater? These can be served with a piquant tomato coulis and selection of veg. Fishcakes are handy for dinner parties as can be made and cooked beforehand and heated through in the oven before serving.

Or risotto? A good risotto for dinner parties would be scallop risotto - you add the scallops near the end so again you could reserve some plain risotto for the non-fish eater in a separate pan (maybe adding different ingredients such as chicken and mushroom, wouldn't add too much work).

Skint_Catt

Quorn Peppered Steaks with veg or salad of your choice and new potatoes? These are perfectly tasty for carnivores. (In other words OH and I love Quorn and we're meat eaters!)

celyn90

What about something like a roasted vegetable or roasted onion puff-pastry tart? You could add some parma ham on the top for the meat eaters in you wanted to. serve with small boiled potatoes and a light salad.

Mrs_Flittersnoop

Roast chicken with a nut roast or similar for the veggie? Lots of accompanying vegetables, roast potatoes etc. I think that's what I would do under the circumstances, nice and easy and everyone seems to like a roast.

HTH
Mrs F x

Stephen_Leak

Tackle the problem from the opposite direction, take the line of least resistance and do the vegetarian option for everyone. Carnivores tend not to demand meat in the same way vegetarians have to refuse it.

I also have a real problem with doing something specially for the "poor old veggies". You are meant to be eating together. The carnivores all compliment you on the meat option: how do you think that will make them feel?

There are some fabulous so-called "vegetarian" dishes out there, which just happen not to have any meat in them. The cheese, peppers and curry should be easy to work around.

PS. JoJoB's post has just sparked a flash of inspiration. Why not combine his suggestions and do savoury rice "fish"cakes with the spicy tomato coulis? I can just see that on "Masterchef"!

chivas

How about a stroganov??

Prepare the beef separately, then cook a stroganov with loads of mushrooms (include some interesting ones to make it a bit flashier!)

Then serve the veggie first, before adding the beef back into the mix, and serve everyone else!

Serve with wild rice - yum yum!

cupid_s

Oooh the fishcakes idea is great in fact everything is.

I thought about a roast but I want to show off a bit and whenever these people come round we do a roast so it's a little boring now. Though always tasty.

Is risotto difficult to do? I've never cooked it and would be worried about getting that wrong.

About the stroganov, I didn't even know what it was until last week when my dad had it at a restaurant and it was yummy! I discounted it because the one guy doesn't like beef (how can you eat meat and not like beef?) but I could do the mushroom one for him as well. Genius! Apart from DH not liking mushrooms lol, but he's used to just having to pick them out of whatever we serve as I love them.

So I might do the fishcakes as a starter, or a mini roast vegetable tart, and then stroganov. Though I have a few days to decide so maybe I'll make everything you suggest so we can decide on the best one. Great excuse to eat nothing but posh nice food for a week.

At least for pudding everyone is easy to please. As long as we do something chocolatey

liz545

I think it'd be easiest to do a veggie dish that will suit everyone - how about Japanese ramen soup? This is insanely easy, and inexpensive. Buy a couple of packs of instant noodles, cook in boiling water. Saute your choice of veggies (try spring onions, carrots, broccoli & mushrooms) maybe with Quorn chunks or Cauldron's marinated tofu. Make up a few sachets of Miso soup (the dry kind from a packet), put a heaping portion of noodles and veg in bowls, then pour over soup. You could even buy some frozen spring rolls and serve alongside?
Or how about HM soup & quiche with salad? Or a mushroom risotto - you could provide some small bowls of crumbled blue cheese or parmesan for your guests who do eat cheese, and just serve with a green salad and garlic bread. HTH!