Friends for Dinner

I've watched enough competition cooking shows to know that the best way to entertain is to stick with something you've cooked before and keep things simple, but tasty. Stress in the kitchen does not make for a fun evening! So when we had friends over for dinner last night I stuck to this philosophy.
I didn't need to impress anyone, just make a nice meal that filed tummies and brought smiles to people's faces. I decided to cook some tried and tested winners and a few simple new things. The meal plan looked like this:
Nibbles-Cashews with Caramel Chilli and Wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.
Entree-Pumpkin soup served with garlic bread
Main-Nicoise Risoni Salad with barbequed salmon or chicken and a Green salad
Dessert- Chocolate dipped strawberries and a dessert brought along by N, one of our guests.

I did a lot of preparation before our friends arrived, so that I could enjoy their company and have a cleanish kitchen.

It turns out the youngest of our guests is allergic to cashews, so they were quickly removed from the table when it was time for some snacks.

The wedges went down well, however after an hour of cooking in a hot oven, I was disappointed to see they weren't crunchy on the outside. Oh well.

For the soup I used butternut pumpkin instead of a stronger flavoured variety and added a little more red curry paste than I should have but thankfully the adults enjoyed the soup and accompanying grilled french stick with garlic butter.

The weather wouldn't permit us to use the barbeque last night so I steamed/baked the salmon and chicken on a low heat in the oven. I was worried that I would over cook the meat but for a change it was perfectly done. Unfortunately I didn't add quite enough dressing to the Nicoise Risoni Salad and it could have done with a little more seasoning. But it wasn't too bad. This dish was something different for T who couldn't  work out if he liked it or not. I totally forgot about the green salad but it didn't seem to matter.

With salmon

With chicken

N cooked up some deliciously scones for dessert. She loves cooking desserts and her passion comes across in every mouth full. We served the scones with jam and cream. I also added a few choc dipped strawberries to the plate.

Everyone was full and (hopefully) satisfied by the end of the night. But more important than food was the desire for everyone to have a good time and enjoyable conversation, both of which were achieved. Success!