Dinner Party ideas?!

skintchick

I don;t really see how you can achive impressive food for six people with ten pounds!

A dinner party needs three courses so a tenner won;t get you anywhere!

However, a cheap starter could be soup you made yourself, or bought pate with nice bread.

Dessert: how about a fool? Get some frozen raspberries and layer then with greek yoghurt and brown sugar in glasses.

For mains, I'd suggest a beef bourguignon or similar but you'll need more than your tenner to achieve this! Or did you mean ten pounds each???

I suppose it depends on how you define an impressive dinner party, for me, a pie and trifle wouldn;t be it.

freda

Not sure what you mean by impressive, but I'd make something like:

main:

roast unhappy cheap chicken - stick some garlic and lemon, or onion inside if you have it already. Make gravy from the fat in the pan, flour and stock. Serve with loads of cheap veg so you can get away with less meat - roast tatties, carrots, frozen value peas, cabbage. Do you have any veg from last year in the freezer, i.e beans in the freezer?

Some sort of casserole - choose cheap braising meat, or a load of unhappy cheap chicken drumsticks and thighs. Bulk out with lots of lentils or beans. Serve with same seasonal cheap veg as above.

Huge chilli - use cheap meat and bulk out with beans and veg. Serve with a pile of rice.

Pud:

Certainly no raspberries, unless you have any you grew last year ni the freezer!

Maybe something like a huge crumble, with apples and raisins? Add cinnamon if you have it. Easy to make the topping with just flour, sugar and marg. Add oats, cinnamon, nuts etc if you have them in the cupboard. Serve with birds custard.

Maybe baked apples, core them and stuff raisins and brown sugar down the middle.

Get some cheap vanilla ice cream, serve with stewed fruit (you can buy big bags of value pears which would be nice) and home made choc sauce (melt choc, add a bit of milk and butter)

Cold stewed apples topped with whipped cream, grated chocolate and crushed corn flakes/toasted breadcrumbs can be nice, and you could make it in a tall champagne glass to look posh.


I *think* you could do the whole lot for a tenner, but you'd have to shop around for cheap veg and fruit, and it wouldnt be posh nosh, more like winter filling comfort food

paigexstewart

skintchick wrote: »

I don;t really see how you can achive impressive food for six people with ten pounds!

A dinner party needs three courses so a tenner won;t get you anywhere!

However, a cheap starter could be soup you made yourself, or bought pate with nice bread.

Dessert: how about a fool? Get some frozen raspberries and layer then with greek yoghurt and brown sugar in glasses.

For mains, I'd suggest a beef bourguignon or similar but you'll need more than your tenner to achieve this! Or did you mean ten pounds each???

I suppose it depends on how you define an impressive dinner party, for me, a pie and trifle wouldn’t be it.

No a pie and trifle would not do for me either and yes I did mean £10 each.

That’s not to say the lovely people on here can't come up with brilliant ideas to do it all for £10. Like the thread PP suggested.

Thanks for the main suggestion, but it's nothing I haven’t served before.

paigexstewart

freda wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by impressive, but I'd make something like:

main:

roast unhappy cheap chicken - stick some garlic and lemon, or onion inside if you have it already. Make gravy from the fat in the pan, flour and stock. Serve with loads of cheap veg so you can get away with less meat - roast tatties, carrots, frozen value peas, cabbage. Do you have any veg from last year in the freezer, i.e beans in the freezer?

Some sort of casserole - choose cheap braising meat, or a load of unhappy cheap chicken drumsticks and thighs. Bulk out with lots of lentils or beans. Serve with same seasonal cheap veg as above.

Huge chilli - use cheap meat and bulk out with beans and veg. Serve with a pile of rice.

Pud:

Certainly no raspberries, unless you have any you grew last year ni the freezer!

Maybe something like a huge crumble, with apples and raisins? Add cinnamon if you have it. Easy to make the topping with just flour, sugar and marg. Add oats, cinnamon, nuts etc if you have them in the cupboard. Serve with birds custard.

Maybe baked apples, core them and stuff raisins and brown sugar down the middle.

Get some cheap vanilla ice cream, serve with stewed fruit (you can buy big bags of value pears which would be nice) and home made choc sauce (melt choc, add a bit of milk and butter)

Cold stewed apples topped with whipped cream, grated chocolate and crushed corn flakes/toasted breadcrumbs can be nice, and you could make it in a tall champagne glass to look posh.


I *think* you could do the whole lot for a tenner, but you'd have to shop around for cheap veg and fruit, and it wouldnt be posh nosh, more like winter filling comfort food

Nice ideas thanks. Nothing beats winter filling comfort food!

rachbc

10 a head should be easy - it gonna be more about finding an impressive recipe/ menu than having any os thirft skills. how impressive are you wantin to go...give us some ideas of the kind of things you like to cook/ eat.

fwiw i'm pretty sure you could do a fanastic 3 course dinner for 10 quid

Caterina

Thanks rachbc, I am not the only one to think that with £10 per person you can really go to town, but that it is perfectly possible to feed 6 people a nice 3 course meal for a total of £10 (fine wines excluded of course!).

Mackerel pate (1 smoked mackerel, 1 tub economy cream cheese, spices, a few slices lemon for garnish)

Chicken cacciatora (chicken thighs, onions, splash of white wine), with roast potatoes and sauteed carrots on the side

Apple crumble with cream.

Voila 3 courses, I am sure that unless you buy organic and in boutique food shops you can get away with a tenner or so!

tattoed_bum

sorry for misunderstanding i read it that you had ten pounds to feed 6 not £60 to feed 6 ,
as you have read some people on here have less than £60 for a months menu.
i was only trying to be helpfull there was no need to be snooty

Pink.

tattoed_bum wrote: »

sorry for misunderstanding i read it that you had ten pounds to feed 6 not £60 to feed 6 ,
as you have read some people on here have less than £60 for a months menu.
i was only trying to be helpfull there was no need to be snooty

I read it that way too.


As it is £60 to feed six then my suggestion would be:

Starter:

Prawns tossed in a garlic and parsley butter served with salad leaves as a starter, possibly with some homemade bread.

or Mushrooms sauteed in butter served with a salad and garlic mayonaise.

or Smoked salmon (or smoked salmon pate) served with wheaten bread and slices of lemon.

Main course:

Minted couscous, lamb chops and roasted veg

Oven roast, courgettes, red onion, mushrooms, garlic and baby tomatoes drizzled in olive oil (this is what I use, but almost any veg will do)

Grill lamb chops (but cutlets are cheaper)

Put dry cous cous into a dish
Add stock (I use a cube disolved in water)
Add a couple of teaspoons of mint sauce
Stir and leave the cous cous to absorb the liquid, then fluff it up with a fork


Put couscous into a small bowl then turn it out onto the middle of a plate
Arrange chops around the cous cous mound with the long bit (?) leaning on the cous cous.
In between each lamb chop put small piles of the roasted veg.

or

Duck breasts in morello cherry and wine jus with steamed veg and baby potatoes in parsley butter.

Make the sauce: two parts of red wine to one part morello cherry jam. Combine in a saucepan, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for about 20 mins.

Put the potatoes on to boil.

Mix freshly chopped parsley with softened butter and put to one side.

Prepare the veg and have them ready to steam. Begin steaming the veg when the duck goes into the oven.

Dry fry the duck breasts skin side down in a pan for 5- 10 minutes depending on how you like them cooked. Then turn them over so that they’re skin side up and pop into a hot oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for at least five minutes. Add any juices from the duck to the sauce as it makes it richer.

While the duck is ‘resting’ drain the potatoes, top with the parsley butter and keep warm in the oven and put the vegetables into a serving dish. Put the duck breast onto plates, drizzle with a little of the sauce and serve.

Duck can be dry so best to have it a little bit pink rather than overdone. Any fat that comes out when frying the skin can be stored in the fridge and makes fabulous roast potatoes.

Dessert:

Cheesecake, pavlova, fresh fruit salad or just a cheese board.


For more suggestions have a browse through this thread:

Dinner Party ideas?!

Pink

greenbee

Now that we've got the budget clear, can you confirm:

a. does this budget include wine/soft drinks/mineral water, or is that covered elsewhere?
b. what kind of thing you would class as impressive
c. what kind of things you are comfortable cooking, and what you might find daunting
d. although you say you have nothing in, do you have storecupboard basics such as herbs/spices/flour/butter/salt/pepper/oil/vinegar
e. do you want pre-dinner nibbles to be home-made, and if so, would this be in addition to or instead of a starter
f. does the budget need to cover coffee & biscuits or chocs after dinner (and if so, are you planning on making your own biscuits/chocs or buying them).

Some ideas that I've used successfully in the past, and if you have some storecupboard items (depending where you shop) it should be within budget:

nibbles - little cheese biscuits (served hot); spiced nuts; halloumi & chilli; smoked salmon pate on brown bread; crudites and homemade dips (humous, baba ganoush, bessara etc); bread, oil & dukkah; parma ham stuffed with figs & goats cheese; blinis with creme fraiche & lumpfish roe (you won't get caviar on your budget!)

starters - bloody mary oysters; carrot & coriander soup; chicken liver parfait & melba toast; smoked duck & fig salad; bruschetta of various kinds; salad with hot prunes & bacon; crab salad; stuffed squid; squid salad

main - Italian venison casserole; lamb shanks; boeuf en croute; salmon en croute (for both of these I recommend doing one big one, not individual ones); chicken savoyarde; pigeon casserole; cod or chicken in parma ham (mentioned numerous times on this board!)

vegetables - dauphinoise potatoes (with milk, not cream); roast veg (swede, parsnip, potato, sweet potato, beetroot, squash in any combination); creamed beetroot; leek & potato gratin; caramelised carrots; courgette batons; purple sprouting broccoli; creamed spinach; cabbage with brandy

pudding - home made jelly topped with syllabub; lemon meringue pie (or any other stewed fruit in a meringue pie) with double cream; pavlova with whatever fruit seems appropriate; mango & passionfruit cheesecake; chocolate pots; individual chocolate sponge puddings (so many variations on these); tiramisu; some kind of rich chocolate cake with cream/mascarpone filling; lemon tart; chocolate tart; zabaglione; meringues in various flavours with fruit & cream (can you tell I'm keen on puddings :rotfl: )

?? cheese board & fruit??

with coffee - home made florentines or truffles; chocolate-dipped fruit;

Or you could do an italian-style meal with more courses - separate pasta, meat and vegetable

skintchick

I read it as a tenner for everyone, not a tenner each but as it is £60 in total the world is surely your oyster?!

How about a whole roasted salmon or other fish?

Pannacotta? Creme brulee?