If dinner parties are over, and restaurants are out of most people’s budgets, can we still have friends over and feed them?
I will always want to invite friends into my home and cook for them. But while I used to use this as an opportunity to splurge on an expensive piece of meat or fish and loads of delicious but pricy snacky treats, these days my shopping budget is decidedly more squeezed. Whose isn’t?
I am also guilty of overcomplicating things. I regularly spend hours considering what to serve when friends come over. While reading cookbooks and trying out new recipes is something I enjoy, even I recognise that most people just want to leave feeling fed and well looked after.
I turn to Olly Rowe, who writes Convivial, a weekly newsletter about the pleasures (and occasional horrors) of having people over, for advice. “Your friends are hoping for a relaxed, chatty time, not a spectacular meal – they’re just happy to be out!” he says. “Your guests also want you, the host, to be in a good mood, not sobbing over the stove. So radically simplify your menu, and don’t hesitate to buy in key items. Bags of pre-mixed salad, good cheese, a simple cake from a bakery – these go a long way to making your life easy (and cost a lot less than a meal in a restaurant).”
“Food is only one part of it,” says Shivi Ramoutar, a TV chef who made her name hosting supper clubs and is now the founder of her own new hot sauce range, Island Girl. “You don’t have to be a brilliant cook to be a wonderful host. Hosting is about generosity, warmth, love and creating a beautiful atmosphere. Above all, be a relaxed host. And this comes down to preparation. People remember how you made them feel, not just what you served.”
Instead of searching for the latest dish or trying something new, Rowe recommends sticking with the classics. “Do not fear clichés. Some people might worry that it’s passé to cook an Ottolenghi recipe. Cast such worries aside. Turn to Ottolenghi, Nigella, Jamie, Delia and Meera Sodha. There’s a reason these writers are so popular: their recipes work.”
I’ve stuck to a brief of a three-course dinner for four people for under £30, but in most cases you’ll have plenty left over for extra snacks or drinks.
The comforting one
Starter: Baked Camembert and baguettes, £4.25
Main: Fish pie with peas, £16
Desert: Stewed orchard fruit with clotted cream, £4-£6
You can buy a Président Camembert and two bake-at-home baguettes from Sainsbury’s for the winningly low price of £4.25 for such a crowd-pleasing starter. Bake in an oven dish, studded with some cloves of garlic and rosemary if you feel the need to be fancy.
I have long made a Jamie Oliver fish pie that has boiled eggs and spinach inside. Arguably, you can serve it on its own and not bother with extra veg, but I think a spoonful of peas is always a just accompaniment to a fish pie. I’ve priced up Jamie’s classic fantastic fish pie here, using 500g fish. He promises it serves six but people always want seconds of fish pie.
Stewed fruit and cream is a comforting and easy pudding. I would stew apple chopped into large chunks – e.g. eighths – with cinnamon, or plums with star anise, and serve with clotted or thick double cream. I stopped short of a crumble given the generosity of the other dishes, but a crumble topping takes minutes to make.
To make it even cheaper, why not draft in some support? “Ask your guests if they’d like to bring something,” says Rowe. “Most people love to contribute. I’m forever carting desserts around to my friends’ houses, and it makes me feel central to the evening, rather than a fringe player.”
The meaty one
Starter: M&S cured meats, three for £8
Main: Red-braised pork with rice and greens, £12
Desert: Oranges with pistachio and honey, £3.75
What guest won’t feel spoiled by some M&S meaty treats? I’d go for two packets of cured ham, such as prosciutto and salami, along with olives or a veg like pickled cauliflower or artichokes. The mini fuet are brilliant, too – great to take to someone’s house when charged with bringing snacks.
While pork belly has gone up in price, it’s still cheaper than most meats, with the 500g needed for this recipe coming in at £6.50 for Waitrose free range or £5.40 for Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference.
Otherwise, this braised pork, a recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop’s essential cookbook Every Grain of Rice, is simple and economical, using Shaoxing wine, ginger, spring onion, soy, stock and star anise for a deeply flavoursome dish spending only £3-£4 more.
Serve with rice and a green vegetable. Dunlop has recipes for Chinese cabbage with vinegar and stir-fried broccoli with chilli and Sichuan pepper. A true Chinese meal would include far more dishes, but we’re going for simplicity over authenticity.
Citrus is a great choice for a sharp, refreshing dish after this rich, fatty pork. Use one large orange per person, remove the skin and as much pith as possible, slice into rounds and lay out on a large platter, sprinkled with 50g chopped pistachios and a few tablespoons of really good runny honey. I’m a big fan of Odysea, sold in Sainsbury’s.
The veggie one
Starter: Devilled eggs, £6
Main: Courgette and basil moussaka with lemon béchamel, £11.50
Desert: Tangy goat’s cheese with chocolate and cantucci, £12
Friends laugh at my obsession with this kitsch Abigail’s Party-esque dish, but it’s very on trend at the moment, with restaurants decorating the hard-boiled and halved eggs with everything from cured ham to smoked eel and caviar. I tend to go classic, scooping out the hard yolks to mix with a little mayo (buy the best you can find, e.g. Tracklements, if you’re not one to make your own), mustard and salt, then spooning this back into the divots in the whites and dusting with paprika and chives.
It does look pretty if piped or with an extra garnish – a sliced cornichon or an anchovy – but is equally brilliant without.
I’d been struggling to bring in a moussaka under budget given the high price of lamb mince, until Rowe suggested this delicious-sounding vegetarian moussaka from Jamie Oliver which, in turn, reminded me of the courgette and basil moussaka with lemon béchamel in Bee Wilson’s The Secret of Cooking. This dish revolutionised my approach to what can be baked and laid to rest under a cloak of dreamy béchamel.
Rowe also has great advice on timing, and how even greens and mash can be done in advance. “Choose a main course you can prepare in advance, at least one day ahead,” he says. “This extends to side dishes. Green beans? Cook them the day before, and reheat when guests are at the table. Mashed potato? Nigella Lawson’s make-ahead mash can be made up to three days in advance, and reheated in the oven.”
I was a little sceptical of re-heating green beans but gave it a go and plan to do it again next time I have guests over.
For pudding, get one really good cheese, a tangy goat’s cheese such as Waitrose No. 1 Le Fleuret (£5.80) and serve it with something sweet, such as a bar of good chocolate or some cantucci biscuits (perfect for dipping in any end-of-meal drinks, whether a hot tea or sweet wine).
The best looking one
Starter: Roast aubergine with whipped feta, chilli honey, pomegranate and herbs, £7.85
Main: Coconut rice with spiced chicken and mango salsa, £12
Desert: Passion fruit pavlova, £7.70
When I ask Ramoutar for her favourite dishes for budget-conscious dinner parties that still feel impressive, she goes straight to presentation. “The trick is to take inexpensive ingredients and make them look abundant, colourful and beautiful,” she says, preferring to server her starter and desert as huge, show-stopping platters.
As a starter, serve half a roast aubergine per person, topped with a block of feta whipped with Greek yoghurt and lemon zest, honey with chilli flakes, topped with fresh pomegranate seeds and chopped herbs.
Ramoutar marinades whole chicken thighs and drumsticks in a homemade green seasoning of herbs, garlic and hot sauce, adding a tin of kidney beans and one of coconut milk to her rice for Caribbean rice and peas. She uses an unripe or green mango with fresh coriander, a splash of vinegar, garlic and black pepper in her green mango chow.
The pavlova is based on a recipe using six eggs, 600ml double cream and three passion fruit. I urge anyone nervous of making meringue, large or small, to give it a go. There’s really no knack to it, just follow a recipe and bake low and slow.