8 people coming for dinner! Help needed!

amalis

Hi all,
somehow we invited 8 people this Saturtday for a dinner/lunch. I am terrified as I have no idea what to serve. I am not a very good cook, I am a beginner in cooking and also on a budget.:( Can anyone hel me with ideas and recipes what can I cook.. something easy! I imagine it will be rice, but with what?
Please help!
N.B. some of people coming over can't eat pork

redruby

I think I would do a big pan of chilli, you could serve it with rice, or even easier jacket spuds and salad, all could be prepared before, and just serve when they arrive.

nikki_angel

Huge lasagne with salad and garlic bread.

Chilli con Carne with rice and nachos.

Do you need starters and desserts?

amalis

we will buy desserts, but startes most probably needed. I never ever cooked for such a quantity of people :eek:

KittyKate

Three courses? I'd do duck pate (which you can buy cheaply at Lidl, it's lovely), toast points and cranberry sauce, followed by something you can bulk out like spag bol or chilli and rice, then a nice simple pud, like jam sponge or bread and butter pudding. MMmmm! I fancy it now :rotfl:

PasturesNew

You can make easy desserts, such as cheesecake - which you can make ahead. Some recipes are really easy, needing you to just melt butter and mix with crushed digestive biscuits, then top with a pot of soft cheese (sometimes mixed with one other straight forward ingredient, sometimes not), then you can top that with a tin/pouch of pie filling (e.g. black cherry).

amalis

Thxs to everyone! So I see that the winners are: chilli con carne, jacket potatoes and lasagna.
For me lasagna would be the preffered meal, but I have never cooked it and I am afraid to try the big size directly. I quite liked the idea of potatoes, this way I can make different toppings and people can choose what they like. And also I can make Greek salad with it. Some starters.. Doesnt look it will be very expencive. I have £30 voucher from Tesco. I know it sounds awful, but can anyone tell me how long it takes to bake potatoes? Do I boil them before or how?

House_owner

I found a very good tip for baked potatos and it worked! Preheat your oven(180 c in my fan oven was best) - wash your potatos, then boil them for about 5 minutes, drain, then brush with a small amount of oil, then bake in the oven about 50 minutes. If you don't boil them first, takes about an hour in the oven

Buddingblonde

You can bake potatoes in the micro until soft and then just finish them off in the oven - that way you arent having to have the oven on for too long.

Starters - I would be tempted to make a big pot of soup and serve with bread to fill up

The other thing that I do a lot for starters is buy a big box of tescos value mushrooms - slice but not too thin.

Cut up a frech stick or some crusty bread - and put in the oven to toast.

Add olive oil to a large frying pan and add 3 or 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped (dont let them catch and burn) and let them soften. Once they are soft add mushrooms and fry till cooked. Once cooked take off the heat and add a swirl of cream to the pan to lift all the juices and serve on the oven made toast - all in this takes 10 mins MAX and you can made it for buttons.

If you have the money you could buy a mix of mushrooms - oyster, chestnuts etc but you dont need to. And if you have the money you could make this dish with prawns - just add some chopped chillies in the with garlic and dont add the cream and the end but instead add a good squeeze of lemon or lime.

Dead easy starters that you cant go wrong with and dont leave you slaving over the stove.

Lasagne is hard work - making the different sauces etc - a lot of washing up too. Have you thought about making cottage pie or a fish pie. Can be made in advance and then just popped in the oven when you have finished making the starter.

Buddingblonde

Just thought of my fave dessert which is the easiest thing in the world to make.
Eton Mess

Buy a large tub of whipping cream, some mixed berries, and some meringue nests. Whip the cream until thick and doubled in size. Stir in berries and break up the meringues and gently stir in so that every spoonful will have cream, berries and meringue. You can whip the cream and add the berries in advance and break up the meringues when you come to serve it.

You can use a bag of frozen berries but you need to make sure that they are completely defrosted and that the the berries dont have too much juice in them as this will make the cream very red/pink and very tart.

amalis

Thank you, Buddingblonde! Are these toasts served hot or can be cold as well?
I love mushrooms and I know everyone likes them, so I will give it a go! what type of bread would you recommend for this ?