Help .. Impressive 3 course menu needed

[bizzylizzy]

I'm cooking a meal for two sets of friends, both of whom are excellent cooks. They both have agas by the way and are brilliant at whipping loads of impressive dishes out of their many ovens.
I feel I owe them a decent dinner, but only have a bog standard cooker. Add to that the fact, in comparison I'm a bog standard cook. Can anyone recommend three impressive but failsafe courses that can on the whole be prepared in advance. Maybe a cold starter and a dish that can sit in my oven all day. I want to try and avoid rushing around like a mad thing at the last minute as I tend to burn things if I get panicky :-)

Thanks everyone.

[sense4all]

Trawl thro' the recipies on here to get an idea or two.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/

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[LuBlu]

A nice simple caeser salad to start, get the best fresh ingredients you can, fresh anchovies from the deli (not caned ones) etc.

A baked fish dish for the main. A really good, easy fail safe is;
skinless & boneless cod loin, laid into a ovenproof baking dish, spinkle over sliced avacado, prawns & halved cherry toms, grate chedder over this and drizzle with double cream (not too much). Put it in the oven for about 20-25mins until the fish is firm and cooked through. Serve with jacket potatoes?

Eton Mess for dessert. Fresh berries pureed and mixed into whipped double cream, fold in halved/whole berries and crushed merigues. Serve in wine glasses or short tumblers.

I think the most basic foods and be made to look good through presentation and taste good through good fresh ingredients. Hope these ideas may be of some help and i'm sure your friends will understand a little stress in the kitchen, no-ones immune to that!!!

[funnygirl]

If you have a favourite dish, that you are good at cooking, cook that with maybe a prawn cocktail or soup starter and then a simple apple pie with cream.
sometimes simplicity is best.

[ethandron]

why not go back to basics, and instead of trying to compete just concentrate on doing some fairly simple things beautifully.
prawn cocktail to start (make the cocktail sauce in advance and put avacado in with the prawns, a lime and lemon wedge to decorate).
shepherd pie or something like that which will sit in the oven and not spoil, served with spiced red cabbage which is another dish you can do well in advance or even the day before.
and a tried and tested dessert that you already have in your repertoir (gateau, trifle, syllabub). i always think syllabub is a good one as that can be made the day before and is all the better the next day, and everyone loves it.
making myself hungry now!! good luck.

[andrea81]

I'm not a pudding girls but know of a main that you could cook slowly.

1. Coat some beef steak chunks in flour and cook a little in oil. Take out and put to one side.

2. thinly slice UNsmoked bacon and fly in a big oven pot with a lid!

3, when bacon is brown add whole shallots or big onion slices (up to you)

3, add in some big chunky mushrooms.

4. add the chunky beef

5. Pour in a whole bottle of dark ale (should cover about half of the meat and veg.

6. Pour in beef stock to cover rest of meat and veg and give it some seasoning.

You could cook this until it's thick and serve on mash, or you could put individually in a hot pot dish once thick and cover with 'bought' puff pastry and serve with new pots or cunky chips!

Good luck x

[theonlyone]

Melon for a starter ,then homemade lasagne with a side salad and garlic bread , fresh fruit salad to finish . The lasagne and the fruit salad can be made in advance . Also while you are chatting the main course is cooking , so chill and have a glass of vino !! Enjoy x

[daffy654]

http://www.agalinks.com/recipes.htm

I find this site has some excellent recipes for dinner parties.

[molly malone]

That sounds good....andrea, might make that myself.

[Figi]

Please just spare them the prawn cocktails - they won't thank you for them.

[ethandron]

nothing wrong with a well made prawn cocktail - easy to make from scratch and enjoyed by many.

[JanL]

I think Andrea's beef dish sounds fab. I'm just off to Sainsbury's to get the ingredients to make it myself.
What about Bruschetta to start, you can just put all the toasted sliced french bread on a plate, they can rub their own garlic and drizzle their own oil and then they can help themselves from little dishes of things like chopped tomatoes, olives, roasted red peppers, bottled artichoke heats in oil etc. You can put all this on the table in advance and enjoy the company. For dessert, I tried a recipe I found on the BBC website for Cranacan. It's just whipped cream with whisky and toasted oatmeat and raspberries. Dead easy and done in advance. Very popular. If I have spelled Crancan wrong, I will let you know later

[JanL]

Here is the recipe for Cranachan
Ingredients
250ml/� pint fresh double cream
1 tbsp thick heather honey.
1 generous tbsp of Talisker whisky
1 heaped tbsp of toasted oatmeal
2 punnets rasberries



Method
1. Whisk the cream together with the honey and whisky.
2. Fold in the toasted oatmeal.
3. Pile on top of fresh raspberries and serve.


Show me more raspberry recipes


Find out more about these ingredients and techniques:
Double cream
Honey

[dave thefish]

i agree with some of the others on here.keep it simple.simple dishes done well will always win people over.forget all your fancy stuff and ingredients.do a chilli without using the jar crap or sheps pie etc.if they are used to fancy stuff and you do simple well this will impress them more and make them think twice about what they dish up to you !! be the first.dont follow lead.otherwise i will come round and cook it for you.good luck!! oh and for pudding hot chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream.easy and quick