Dinner for 8

MaggieBaking

Hi everyone, I'm going away with a group of friends to a self-catering house. It's a new holiday home and I'm guessing the kitchen wont be fully established as yet.

I'll be taking the car so I can take cooking things with me, and as it's a 2 hour drive I can take frozen food expecting it to be defrosted by the time I get there.

I've agreed to make dinner for 8, but we can always just get a takeaway in. I haven't had a proper think on it yet... At the moment I'm wondering Chilli and Rice (take rice cooker with me) or perhaps a bourguignon with roast veg potatoes (I have a jar of goose fat in the fridge I could do with using up.)

I know more or less what the girls will like but their partners I don't know. The main things I know to avoid are cheese and tomatoes.

It doesn't have to be too MSE but buying all that beef is putting me off the bourguignon :rotfl:

I'd also like to think about a dessert of some kind. Any ideas would be welcome.

I'm also thinking about some Halloween bakes too, but I have a lot of DIY to do as well as preparing for the weekend!

marmalize

if you have the time i would do a big roast dinner...it seems to suit most peoples taste..
another good/easy meal is chicken breast stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon(can be prepped in advance) and a big tray of roast potatoes..

for desert you can't beat 'Eton mess' for ease and speedyness.

rising_from_the_ashes

Do you have a cool box you could take with you?

I'm thinking of something like a cheesecake for dessert - this is a great (and easy) recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3842/baked-raspberry-cheesecake and you could leave the raspberries off and put on when you get there. If you also took a trifle (again easy and quick to make) I'm sure one or the would suit everyone!:)

Chilli & rice sounds good and is easy to make in larger quantities - would you make the chilli before you went & just heat it up?

ifonlyitwaseasier

lasagne
spag bol
garlic bread
hm pizza's with add your own toppings

mildred1978

How will you make a chilli without tomatoes?

mildred1978

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

lasagne
spag bol
garlic bread
hm pizza's with add your own toppings

She's to avoid tomatoes and cheese..............

scheming_gypsy

mildred1978 wrote: »

How will you make a chilli without tomatoes?

very easy as long as they just don't like tomatoes and aren't allergic. I can't stand the evil little bastards so I use passata; even though it's tomato juice it's not actual tomatoes and isn't as bad

MaggieBaking

Thanks very much for your replies

My first thought was cottage pie but one of them said no to that v quickly! Not sure why but that was going to be perfect (in fact if I hadn't thought I would make that I probably wouldn't have offered )

Yes I find chili is not too tomatoey fortunately, but the only problem is I don't like it :rotfl:

I'm tempted to make my all in one roast chicken breasts with potatoes and a bit of veg, only problem is I thought it could be a little mean, and people couldn't pick and choose what bits they like and don't like. Hmm, a day left to think it over I guess.

ifonlyitwaseasier

you can make lasagne without either, use quark for part of the white sauce and lots more peppers in the sauce, just has to be red wine and stock-ish

pizza can have a white sauce aka garlic and butter with chicken and greens on top with no cheese.

TheThriftyScrumpers

Hiya
I recently did a beef bourginion (or however you spell it!) for 8. If you google gordon ramsey's version he does it with shin of beef so it doesn't work out too expensive. I paid £12 for the meat and it easily did 10 portions so I didn't think it was too bad per head for a really nice meal. Also it's a prepare it and leave alone in the oven for 3 hours so very low maintenance.

Alternatively I do a whole chicken in the slow cooker which is even easier. Just grease the slow cooker (I dab a little oil on a piece of kitchen paper) then pop a whole chicken in. You can brown it first on the hob but I never bother as we don't eat the skin. Sometimes I pop a lemon in the cavity which gives a nice flavour. I cook it for about 8 hours on low and when it comes out it is so tender and all the meat falls off so you use every last bit.

Maybe a microwaved sponge pudding with syrup or jam for pud? Nice and easy and quick.

Hth and have fun!

Fen1

Boil a large ham at home. Take salad. Pre-cook jacket potatoes - can be warmed up in the microwave or oven when you get there.
All very easy and portable.

Pudding could be a couple of different gateaux/cakes, eg chocolate, orange and lemon etc. Sachets of custard - just add water, easy. ( Do take a large measuring jug with you, just in case they don't have one.)