Casual Dinner with friends

Our casual dinner menu is all about keeping it simple but making sure it tastes amazing. All the elements of the dishes can be prepared before your guest even arrive. The pre-prep for each recipe doesn’t take any longer than 35 minutes so give it a go.

The casual dinner menu starts with a lightly baked goats cheese pear and rocket salad. The main course is crispy chicken goujons with avocado, roast cherry tomatoes and lettuce, contained in a soft wrap with a garlic and parmesan dressing. To conclude the meal a lovely strawberry Mille-feuille. The menu can be adjusted for vegetarians by replacing the chicken with crispy courgette slices.

Starter - Baked Goats Cheese with Pear and Rocket Salad

The starter for the casual dinner menu is baked goats cheese with pear and rocket salad. This is a fantastic starter of goat’s cheese and ciabatta with roast hazelnuts, served on a bed of caramelised pears and rocket and sprinkled with a honey balsamic and mustard dressing.

The pre-prep items for this dish are:-

• Caramelised the pears and placed them in the fridge till needed. Warm through just before serving.
• Place the goat's cheese on the ciabatta discs, coat in crushed nuts and refrigerated. Pop into the oven just before the guests sit down to dinner.
• Finally pre-prepare the dressing and set it aside ready to serve.

When the guests arrive cook the goat's cheese disc and warm the pears. Plate the salads with the rocket, pear slices and goat's cheese, and serve with the balsamic dressing.

Main Course - Chicken Goujons Wrap with Herby Tomatoes, Avocado & Parmesan Mayo

The main course for the casual dinner menu is chicken goujon wraps. Crispy succulent chicken goujons enclosed in a soft wrap with sweet roast tomatoes, fresh avocado and crispy lettuce served with a savoury parmesan and garlic mayo.

The pre-prep items for this recipe are:-

• Pre-prepare the parmesan and garlic dressing and place in the fridge.
• Roast the cherry tomatoes, cool and store them in the fridge (make sure the tomatoes are cold before you refrigerate) .
• Coat the chicken goujons in the breadcrumb mixture and refrigerate. Peel and cut sweet potato into chips, wrap in cling film set aside.
• Mix the chip spice but do not add it to the chips till just before they go in the oven.

When you remove the goat's cheese from the oven for the starter, place the chicken goujons in the oven. Toss the chips in the oil and spices and place them in the oven too. Remove the roast tomatoes from the fridge as they taste better at room temperature. Just before serving warm the wraps and slice the avocados.
Place all the elements in separate dishes and let the guests create their own wraps.

If you have any vegetarian guests, you can easily swap the chicken goujons for courgette slices  (remember to replace your parmesan with vegetarian cheese) the rest of the recipe remains the same.

Strawberry Mille-feuille Gateau

The dessert for this menu is Strawberry Mille-feuille Gateau. Fresh strawberries and cream layered between light puff pastry topped with sliced strawberries and glazed with redcurrant jelly.

This is a classic dessert and incredibly easy to make. Prepare this dish before your guests arrive, the pastry can go soft so I personally would make it on the day. You can bake the pastry the day before and store it in an air-tight container. Once the pudding is complete refrigerate until required.

If you like this casual dinner menu, then check out our dinner party section for others just like it. If you love entertaining and are always looking for great ideas then why not sign up for our newsletter?