Picture the scene. You’ve got a mob coming for lunch. You want to give them an enjoyable meal, but you don’t want to lose your mind while you’re making it, and actually, you’d quite like to spend some time with them rather than perspiring over a hot stove.
I am the worst offender when it comes to trying to be an over-achiever on occasions like this, but I’ve learnt my lesson. Three-course meal? Fine, yes, but for starters and dessert, use recipes you can make it advance, leaving you more time to cook the roast lamb or whatever.
On that note, I’d suggest a slow-cooked shoulder you can prep the night before and bung in the oven first thing, so you don’t have to worry about last-minute timings and can concentrate on the veg.
Don’t like lamb? Ask your butcher to spatchcock a chicken or two ‒ they cook much faster that way. Just join them up when they’re done, pile them on a platter, and if you’re feeling lazy, serve them with a big green salad.
Dessert? Keep it simple. Make a fresh fruit salad or just buy a big bowl of grapes and/or other fresh fruit and serve up some good cheeses. You can’t go wrong with a cheese board.
To start, you could make a light soup, or if your family and friends are fish eaters, try this ridiculously quick and easy smoked mackerel paté. Because it’s sealed with butter, you can make it up to five days ahead and keep it in the fridge or get well ahead of the game and freeze it (it’ll keep for up to six weeks), defrosting in the fridge a day or two in advance. Serve it with melba toast (very retro) or some thin rye crackers. This makes enough to feed, if not quite the 5,000, a good-sized group. Halve the quantities if that suits you better.
This is a versatile recipe, though, so if you have freezer space it makes sense to make the full amount and keep it for another time. It doesn’t have to be a starter. Serve it on toast with a salad for a light lunch or pay tribute to the 1970s and pack it into short lengths of celery as a canapé. No aspic required, thank goodness..
Mrs Portly’s Kitchen easy smoked mackerel pâté
Ingredients
4 medium fillets of smoked mackerel
200-300g room temperature butter (100g reserved to seal the pots, more if you’re using lots of pots)
200g cream cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
1 heaped tsp concentrated tomato purée
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh bay leaves
Method
Skin the mackerel and flake the fish. Cube the butter. If you have a food processor, add the fish to the jug along with 100g of the butter and all the cream cheese, the lemon juice and tomato purée.
Pulse until blended but try to keep a little texture. Taste and add salt and pepper as required.
If you’re working by hand, flake the fish as before, then in a separate bowl cream 100g of the butter with the cream cheese.
Mix in the fish and remaining ingredients (except the reserved butter) and season to taste.
Scrape into serving pots and level to a little below the top.
Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan (you may need the extra quantity, depending on the number and size of your pots) and if you can be bothered, clarify it by pouring the melted butter into a jug, leaving the milky solids behind in the pan. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t clarify it, if you’re pushed for time, it just looks more professional.
Gently press a bay leaf into the top of each pot of pâté, then pour over the butter. Chill for at least three hours before eating.
Find out more about Mrs Portly’s Kitchen classes at mrsportlyskitchen.co.uk
