HELP pleeease! Calling All Gordons & Nigellas!

scraptrap

Not sure if this is the right place to post this so apologies if I got it wrong.

My OH has invited friends round for a dinner party this Saturday. :j

My OH never cooks. :mad:

So I need to prepare a swanky dinner party pronto! :eek:

Does anyone have any fab receipe ideas that will make me look like a domestic goddess but won't break the bank? I'm an ok cook and will have a go at recipes as long as you don't need michelin stars to make it!

Thanks to anyone that can help save the day

Sarah
x

wigginsmum

Salmon fillets, smeared with pesto and wrapped in Parma ham/prosciutto - dead easy and looks posh. Serve with salad or steamed veg and new potatoes.

Barbados Surprise for dessert - the day before, mix together equal quantities of Greek yoghurt and double cream. Put in pretty glass bowl and put a thick layer of dark brown sugar on top; over the next day it'll go treacly and seep down. Serve with shortbread or other posh biscuits.

LydiaSophia

Have a look on the BBC recipe website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

You can type in 3 ingredients you have in the fridge/ freezer and the recipes I have used from here have always been fab!

By using something at the back of the cupboard you wont have to break the bank.

helen0103

Gordon Ramsey has a nice recipe for Pressed Belly of Pork on his website.

Its really easy and pork belly is such a cheap cut.

I do it all the time - I have even cooked it for my B-I-L who owns his own restaurant and he really enjoyed it.

Littlebean_2

I'd do soup as a starter, maybe something like carrot and coriander as it's really easy to do and keeps well on the stove while you get other things ready. For the main course, lasagne always works well as you can get it all ready in advance and then just leave it in the oven. Don't feel you have to offer pudding, often people are happy with cheese/biscuits and maybe some nice choccies but if you do want to do something then how about an apple crumble with nice vanilla ice-cream or ordinary cream. All of these receipes can be done in advance and can sit happily in the oven while you get on with chatting to your friends. Hope it helps anyway.

squeaky

In the Recipe Index is a Lemon Curd Smash posted by Math. A great sweet, and if you buy your merangues rather than make - very very simple.

scraptrap

squeaky wrote:

In the Recipe Index is a Lemon Curd Smash posted by Math. A great sweet, and if you buy your merangues rather than make - very very simple.

Gonna sound daft now but where's the recipe index?

hex2

please give us an idea of how much you want to spend?

starter - cubes of watermelon, cubes of feta and nuts (pistachio or hazelnuts) in a lemon and olive oil dressing. PM me if you want the recipe as it is from a book.
no cook and simple to do

mains - I tend to do a roast of some kind, served with new pots, a green veg and then oven baked carrots with ginger (makes cheapest carrots taste great) and potato gratin.

Peel carrots, cut in half lengthways then into 1" pieces, boil in water for 8 mins. Drain, put in oven proof dish, add tablespoon water, chopped up lump of fresh or preserved ginger (and some of the ginger syrup from the jar) a, couple of spoons of sugar and a good lump of butter. Cover with lid or foil. Can then be left overnight at this stage. Needs 20 mins in the oven to be ready.

Peel your potatoes and cut into pound coin thick slices. Crush and chop some garlic. Put it all into an oven proof shallow dish. Cover the pots with double cream. Cook uncovered on 160 or so for about an hour and a half till it is soft. You can slice some mozarella on top half an hour from the end if you fell you are short on calories......!


desert - white chocolate cheesecake which is really easy and no cook as well

white chocolate cheesecake
4oz digestive biscuit crumbs and 2oz melted butter for your base

400g white chocolate
284ml double cream
500g full fat philadelphia (or half and half philly and marscapone)
decent vanilla essence (optional but nice)

whip the cream, add softened philly, add a bit of decent vanilla essence if you have it then stir in slow melted white chocolate. Put it on top of the base and leave overnight

dont try low fat cheese it makes it too runny.

I have never made it without being asked for the recipe, looks impressive but so simple to make.

squeaky

scraptrap wrote:

Gonna sound daft now but where's the recipe index?

You can find all our collections by using the link in the blue bar at the top of the page (it should look something like the image below) or the link in my signature wherever you see it.

Choose The Old Style Recipe Collection, and then you'll need to click on "Sweets".

scraptrap

WOW! Thanks everyone. Much better than any recipe book I've ever bought!

Unfortunately got a bit carried away with the puddings :rolleyes: and am now dribbling trying to choose between lemon curd smashy thing and choc cheesecake...maybe I could do choc cheesecake topped with lemon curd smash!!! :rotfl:

Will sit down later with OH and make him go through all the yummy recipes with me too and he can be my helper in the kitchen chopping all the ingredients for me and I'll be Gordon and boss him about! :T

Thanks again everyone you are stars! :T

mirakl

For least work, I actually find a roast dinner works really well, you can chuck a whole chicken in the oven stuffed with garlic lemons and rosemary, then later chuck in your potatoes and veg, that gives you piles of time for your starter and dessert, plus if you use nice seasonal veg to roast like fennel and butternut squash alongside the staples like carrots, it looks really pretty and posh