Hello you lot, especially the good cooks. I’m having an old friend over for dinner next week and I want to cook something nice, and out of my ordinary range. My friend is gluten free and dairy free, but that leaves all meats, vegetables, legumes, rice, fruits. My usual range includes curry so I don’t really want to do a curry. Does anyone have a suggestion? I will have 1.5 hours between getting home from work and her arrival. Or I could slow cook through the day.

my go to is usually a slow roast lamb - like 8 or 12 hours - on a very low oven temp - 120 degrees (you blitz the lamb on high temp for first 20 minutes of cooking so it colours nicely) - and then when i get home i take the lamb out, let it rest for a bit (it should be falling off the bone now) and then crank up the oven and do some roast potatoes and maybe carrots and make a nice red wine gravy - but if you’re posh you’d call it a “jus”. BUT - that would require you leaving your house to go to work with your oven on (albeit low) - which would make some people uneasy. I’ll have a think about some other options….

What about a paella? They are very special occasion type dishes I think. I have the proper pan but you can do it in a flat casserole type dish or a frypan. Also you can put in pretty much whatever protein you like, so prawns and chicken or chorizo and calamari. Not super expensive and feeds a lot of people.

I was angling for @Blinkybill but she seems to have “posted and run” 😆

This Thai Coconut Chicken recipe is my current go to for entertaining at the moment, everybody absolutely loves it and is so easy to make: https://www.recipetineats.com/thai-coconut-chicken/ I would serve it with a home made fried rice and an asian type salad.

Dinner inspiration

Blinkybill

Hello you lot, especially the good cooks. I’m having an old friend over for dinner next week and I w...