dinner party menu

[Le Chat]

I am cooking a meal for 6 people on Saturday night and need some suggestions for the menu. It needs to be something that can be cooked in my huge, huge wok-like pan ... not anything that is reliant on the oven or grill. I am ok for the starter and pudding but would welcome any suggestions (recipe included!) for the main course.

[spudqueen]

I make a prawny rice type thing in a wok:

prawns
red and green peppers
onions
mushrooms
rice
1 egg per person

Stick some long grain rice on to cook and then fry up the peppers, onions and mushrooms in some butter. Stick the prawns in to heat up and then stick the cooked (rinsed) rice in the wok. Mix it all up and then put in the beaten eggs, stir until the eggs are all cooked. Served immediately.
This is the basic stuff I use but you can stick in anything you like.

[Buenchico]

The BBC website is possibly the best place in the world to go for recipes. Just go to http://www.bbc.co.uk , put 'stir fry recipe' into the search box, at the top left, and you'll get hundreds of suitable suggestions.

This one for Chicken & Pineapple Stir Fry really appeals to me: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chickenandpin eapples_72981.shtml

Chris

[scubadiver]

Jambalaya ( the cheat's method)

You will need- an onion, a red pepper, a green pepper, a couple of chicken breasts, some chorizo sausage, some (preferably king or jumbo) cooked & shelled prawns, some rice, some fresh coriander, tabasco sauce and a couple of jars of Discovery Creole sauce.

Dice the onion and peppers & stir fry until almost cooked. Dice the chicken breast & add to the pan- stir fry until cooked. Chop the chorizo into pieces & add to the pan.

Add the rice (judge what you think the 6 of you will eat), then add the creole sauce. Stir, add a small amount of water & cover. Keep topping up with small amounts of water until the rice is cooked.

Meanwhile, chop the coriander.

Once the rice is cooked, add a couple of shakes of tabasco, to give the whole thing a bit of zing, then add the prawns and coriander and allow to heat through for about a minute.

I prefer to serve this in a large bowl, with a couple of sprigs of coriander to decorate & allow people to help themselves at the table. I also serve it with crusty bread.

It's a bit of a cheat, but I have used it on several occasions & found I never have to be too precise with the quantities to get a tasty dish that always gets a great reaction. (add more onion or peppers to the above quantities to bulk it out a bit more if you want)

HTH

[camille79]

How about injecting a little sunshine by making paella! Brown 1 chicken thigh per person in a little oil then set aside, add a chopped chunk of chorizo and fry until crispy and set aside. Drain excess fat, leaving a tablespoon or so. Add a finely chopped onion and a couple of cloves of garlic to the fat and soften then add a 500g pack of paella rice (from supermarket, next to rissotto rice etc). Stir fry for a minute then pour over a glass of white wine and 500ml chicken stock in which a generous pinch of saffron has been dissolved. Pop the chicken thighs back in, cover and simmer until all liquid is absorbed, chicken is cooked and rice is tender (you might need extra water or stock). Pop the chorizo back in and add a good handful of large prawns and 200g raw mussels (in their shells). Cover and cook until prawns are opaque and mussels open then scatter generously with parsley and lemon juice and serve immediately.

[Le Chat]

Thank you very much for all your suggestions. I actually really fancy trying the jambalaya, as I am a chorizo lover! (thanks scubadiver!)

I made paella at my last meal (about 1 yr ago!!) and two of the diners were attendees last time, so I've had to rule that out..but thanks anyway camille79!