'Easy but impressive' - Buffet/Party food

Teapot55

Echoing what @CapricornLass said, we make onion bhajees and take them to buffets as our contribution and they always go down a storm. 

They are true finger food - not greasy if cooked at the recommended temperature. Use the recipe that’s on the side of one of the brands of gram flour - readily available in most Asian shops as well as larger supermarkets - except you should use a lot, lot less salt than they say! 

We have a deep fat fryer handy (old school we are) so it’s relatively easy for us to do. Time-consuming but worth it. 

ChilliBob

I do love a bhaji, however, would be too time consuming for us alas. Reminded me to make some again next time I knock up a curry though, lush they are!

ChilliBob

PipneyJane said:

ChilliBob said:

Brambling said:

If you want another dessert this is always popular and really quick and easy to make I swap the digestive biscuit for ginger snaps and it works with lemons instead of limes 

https://www.carnation.co.uk/recipes/key-lime-pie-recipe

Banofee pie is another one which goes down well, using the tinned caramel rather than making your own.

strawberries and marshmallows dipped in chocolate 

smoke salmon blinis
pizzas or quesadillas 
tabbouleh salad 
bruschetta with various toppings
small savoury scones ie cheese, cheese and chive, bacon etc
whipped feta dip
some nice bread like focaccia  

Cheers! I can see the banoffee going down well, with some clotted cream!

Whipped feta I'll look into my wife, and bizarrely my nearly 2 year old daughter, love feta!

Brie - those muffins sound well nice, what's cornmeal thougu? Can't say I've come across they before

Hi @ChilliBob.  I’m not @Brie, but I can answer your question.  Cornmeal is ground, dried corn and is readily available in 2kg bags in the ethnic aisles in Tesc0 or Sainsbug’s.  In Italian cooking, cornmeal is used to make polenta, so the expensive version is sold in a small box near the pasta.  There are two grades:  fine and coarse.  I’d use fine for the muffins.

To answer your original question, here are my suggestions:

1. Chicken drumsticks, which can be roasted en-mass in the oven and then chilled.  Marinate if you want.  To ensure a good, crisp finish, make sure there’s at least an inch between each drumstick while roasting.
2. Cheese and Ham Quinoa Bites from Eat Well For Less. This is an easy recipe to vary. I’ve made them using tinned tuna instead of the ham; ditto smoked mackerel; ditto cooking bacon; and left out the tomatoes.
3. Pasta salad.  Cook one of the smaller pasta shapes.  Once cooked, drain, then toss with a couple of tablespoons of oil, before allowing to cool.  (The oil stops the pasta sticking.). Add chopped spring onions, slices of red pepper, a drained tin of sweetcorn and a couple of tins of tuna or salmon (boned first), before stirring through your favourite brand of mayonnaise.
4. If you have a slow cooker, how about making a large pot of chilli?  Just double or triple up most of the quantities of your favourite recipe, combine the raw ingredients in the slow cooke with half the amount of liquid that you’d normally use, then cook for 10-12 hours on low.  Serve with bread rolls.

HTH

- Pip

Cheers, that's intresting, seems it'd be Gluten free naturally too, which is a result. A pasta salad with some spinach and pine nuts always goes down well - you've reminded me of another I've not done for ages, again, I think it can come out of retirement, with a remix!

Brie

ChilliBob said:

Cheers, that's intresting, seems it'd be Gluten free naturally too, which is a result. A pasta salad with some spinach and pine nuts always goes down well - you've reminded me of another I've not done for ages, again, I think it can come out of retirement, with a remix!

Had a spinach salad last night with sunflower seeds (too cheap to buy pinenuts!) with grapefruit and feta.  Nom!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Katiehound said:

Waldorf salad

"I think we're just out of Waldorfs"

I know you said easy which it isn't, but a Dobos Torte is impressive for desert. 

ChilliBob

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Katiehound said:

Waldorf salad

"I think we're just out of Waldorfs"

I know you said easy which it isn't, but a Dobos Torte is impressive for desert. 

Definitely not easy! Definitely impressive (well, if you can get it to look like the pictures!) 

goldfinches

This coleslaw is amazing and can be made a day in advance provided you don't add the coriander leaves until the day you want to eat it Lime & poppy seed slaw with curry leaf oil | Ottolenghi Recipes You can omit the curry leaf oil if it's a pain to do but don't miss the nuts, they're epic even though the turmeric stains everything it touches.

The mushrooms from this recipe are incredibly easy and impressive and can be made a day in advance and then just warmed through when you want to eat them, they're also good cold too. Portobello steaks & butter beans mash | Ottolenghi Recipes

This curry is delicious and very easy and again you could roast the aubergine and make the sauce the day before and then combine them on the day you wanted to eat them. Aubergine curry | Ottolenghi Recipes

This soda bread is delicious fresh but also lovely toasted on the following two or three days so you could make it ahead of time Quick Carrot And Walnut Bread Recipe | olivemagazine
This pickle is very nice almost the next day after you make it but keeps for ages in the fridge Crunchy courgette pickle recipe | Good Food (bbcgoodfood.com)
These paneer skewers can also be made with extra firm tofu and you can use jarred peppers or other veg if you like too Chilli paneer skewers recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (sainsburysmagazine.co.uk)
I loved this soda bread and again it is good toasted when it's a couple of days old Fruit & spice soda bread recipe | Good Food (bbcgoodfood.com)
You need mini muffin tins for these but otherwise the only faffy bit is cutting up the ready made puff pastry into squares and they re-heat well Grandma's Mushroom Puffs Recipe (food52.com)
This lemon and cream cheese loaf recipe was a big hit here and tasted just as good on the following days Braided Lemon Bread Recipe | King Arthur Baking
Then for puddings had you thought of trifle or making you own no-churn ice cream and buying waffle cones to put a scoop into? Nigella has some great trifles and lovely boozy no-churn ices too so you could look here Recipe Search Results | Nigella's Recipes | Nigella Lawson
There are some excellent vegan sorbet recipes that can be made weeks in advance as well like this one How to make the perfect chocolate sorbet – recipe | Ice-cream and sorbet | The Guardian If you don't want to include the booze use liquid glucose instead.

These don't seem to make a very cohesive meal but I'm assuming you'll pick and choose whatever appeals to you so hope these are helpful.

ChilliBob

goldfinches said:

This coleslaw is amazing and can be made a day in advance provided you don't add the coriander leaves until the day you want to eat it Lime & poppy seed slaw with curry leaf oil | Ottolenghi Recipes You can omit the curry leaf oil if it's a pain to do but don't miss the nuts, they're epic even though the turmeric stains everything it touches.

The mushrooms from this recipe are incredibly easy and impressive and can be made a day in advance and then just warmed through when you want to eat them, they're also good cold too. Portobello steaks & butter beans mash | Ottolenghi Recipes

This curry is delicious and very easy and again you could roast the aubergine and make the sauce the day before and then combine them on the day you wanted to eat them. Aubergine curry | Ottolenghi Recipes

This soda bread is delicious fresh but also lovely toasted on the following two or three days so you could make it ahead of time Quick Carrot And Walnut Bread Recipe | olivemagazine
This pickle is very nice almost the next day after you make it but keeps for ages in the fridge Crunchy courgette pickle recipe | Good Food (bbcgoodfood.com)
These paneer skewers can also be made with extra firm tofu and you can use jarred peppers or other veg if you like too Chilli paneer skewers recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine (sainsburysmagazine.co.uk)
I loved this soda bread and again it is good toasted when it's a couple of days old Fruit & spice soda bread recipe | Good Food (bbcgoodfood.com)
You need mini muffin tins for these but otherwise the only faffy bit is cutting up the ready made puff pastry into squares and they re-heat well Grandma's Mushroom Puffs Recipe (food52.com)
This lemon and cream cheese loaf recipe was a big hit here and tasted just as good on the following days Braided Lemon Bread Recipe | King Arthur Baking
Then for puddings had you thought of trifle or making you own no-churn ice cream and buying waffle cones to put a scoop into? Nigella has some great trifles and lovely boozy no-churn ices too so you could look here Recipe Search Results | Nigella's Recipes | Nigella Lawson
There are some excellent vegan sorbet recipes that can be made weeks in advance as well like this one How to make the perfect chocolate sorbet – recipe | Ice-cream and sorbet | The Guardian If you don't want to include the booze use liquid glucose instead.

These don't seem to make a very cohesive meal but I'm assuming you'll pick and choose whatever appeals to you so hope these are helpful.

I am blown away by these responses everyone, especially the above. Many of these really resonate with us, I had actually intended to make a slaw a few days ago, I may do a trial run, I think we have most of the ingredients. 

Puddings - we never seem to fall short of inspiration here, I can always make one from all sorts. I hacked something together last night from granola, Greek yogurt, strawberry, bazil, cream, caco powder, amaretto and amaretti biscuits, was well nice! 

and we have a lovely Heston ice cream maker which you have just reminded me of!

Brambling

Goldfinches I will be trying some of your ideas as well 🙂

Sarahspangles

My mother used to do gravadlax as a centrepiece to a board with other ingredients for open sandwiches. Bonus, you don’t have to actually make sandwiches.

Rather than birthday cake, I do cranachan, tiramisu or sometimes croquembouche.

Looks like multi syllable foreign stuff is a family trait!