doing "come dine with me" with mates, ideas pls....

[CraigVmax]

Ok so...

I'm a reasonably competant cook and have to do a 3 course meal for 3 people plus myself.

The key is that i'm low on time so cant afford to spend all day making said 3 course menu degustation!

Ideas gratefully recieved for food I can put together in a few hours then cook&serve with minimal fuss at dinner o clock.

Open to any ideas really.

Ta chaps & chapesses!

[Melman Giraffe]

Starter - French Onion Soup with Cheese Crouton

Main - Lamb shank in a red wine jus with creamed mash.

Pudding - Poached pear

All can be preped in advance even the lamb can be left in a slow cooker until service.

[Stevenj214]

Do you have any time, the day before maybe?

Soup
Curry
Cold Dessert

Prepare all the day before then reheat as required.

[Shaw Tarse]

Prawn Cocktail.
Steak & chips.
Black Forest gateaux

Though I do like the idea of slow cooker lamb shanks, simple, & won't spoil if left longer than intended.

[Stevenj214]

Whatever you do, take some photos and make a CDWM Homemade show!

Not sure if this code will work...

ETA: Code didn't work, but if you go to http://dine.channel4.com/ you can have a look at others. If anyone can guide me on linking to mine, I'll stick it up.

Edited by Stevenj214 on Wednesday 2nd February 14:59

[BarnatosGhost]

Chicken Ramen (a la Wagamama) to start. Looks and tastes like it takes much longer than the 4 minutes it actually takes, and gives a (little) bit of theatre as you're lobbing the wok around.

[dan101smith]

If you've got time to prep the day before, put together a ham hock terrine.

Masterchef Australia has a really simple but delicious recipe ::here::

Main course - rack of lamb with some sort of crust isn't much effort - I really like doing crushed cannellini beans cooked with white wine, chicken stock and creme fraiche with lamb.

[Wadeski]

Everyone on CDWM seems to do:

Scallops
Lamb
Cheesecake

so who knows, they may be on to something

[Shaolin]

The main thing seems to be to find out what the others like/don't like. Then do something you are reasonably practised in, don't try something for the first time.

[BarnatosGhost]

Shaolin said:

The main thing seems to be to find out what the others like/don't like. Then do something you are reasonably practised in, don't try something for the first time.

Hells no! Test their boundaries, and test yours!

If it all goes wrong, at least your party will be the one that gets remembered, and Domino's Texas BBQ smooths over a lot of sins!

[Halb]

Starter scallops with pea purée
main stuffed peppers with butternut squash and Stilton.

[Shaolin]

BarnatosGhost said:

Hells no! Test their boundaries, and test yours!

If it all goes wrong, at least your party will be the one that gets remembered, and Domino's Texas BBQ smooths over a lot of sins!

I'm assuming he wants to primarily make a good meal rather than a memorable meal - if th latter dog-food wellington would be great, particularly if he has never cooked pastry before.

[IanMorewood]

Assume some time soon, so warm food;
Veg soup, easy to to do tastes good, serve with some crusty bread.
Some roast gammon so you dont fall into the chicken or lamb trap.
A fruit crumble with some good ice cream.

[Pothole]

Whole spitroast donkey?

[CraigVmax]

appreciate all these,thx fellas, keep em coming.

yes ideally i dont want to try anything challenging 1st time

[Bill]

Goat's cheese tart: get a ready rolled pack of pastry and unroll a square. Cut this into four. Take four small goat's cheese rounds and place in the middle of each pastry square. Brush the edges with beaten egg and crimp the sides together round the cheese. Sprinkle a little thyme on each one and cook as per instructions on the pastry pack. Serve with roast baby tomatoes or onion marmalade and perhaps a little rocket.

Piece of piss.

I'm a big fan of duck breasts and gratin dauphinoise.

And chocolate mousse