Brunswick stew or a mixed meat pasta sauce.

"Darkginger" > wrote in message
...
> I've got 2 friends coming for dinner this coming Saturday, in order to
> celebrate the 50th birthday of one of them (this is not the lot who are
> coming for the Chinese meal the following week!). DH has requested that I
> keep food spending to a minimum (because we seem to have a lot of dinner
> parties lined up!), so I'm looking at cooking up something from the
contents
> of my feezer, plus some fresh stuff bought on the day. Trouble is, I can't
> decide what to cook, so that's where you come in - can anyone suggest
> something impressive (I don't mind spending 2 days cooking, if that's what
> it takes!) that could be made from any selection from the following:
>
> a turkey
> 2 loins of lamb
> 2lbs of stewing beef
> 2 lbs of stewing lamb
> 4lbs of pork ribs
> 8 mackerel
> 2 duck breasts
> a free range chicken
>
> I also have access to free mussels, and DH wouldn't object to 1 lobster,
> crab or a few scallops being bought. We are currently overwhelmed with
eggs
> (got chickens) plus I make bread every day, so have various flours (strong
> white, strong wholemeal, granary, rye, gram) to hand. There's also frozen
> puff, shortcrust and filo pastries in the freezer, plus some vol au vent
> cases. Growing in the garden are peas, fench beans, nasturtiums, mangetout
> and radishes, plus the usual herbs. I have a huge spice collection, but no
> access to Penzey's mixes. I can buy most veggies that grow in temperate
> climes (plus some that don't!). Got rice, got cous-cous, got polenta, got
> noodles.
>
> The weather is cool, and I don't expect that to change before the weekend,
> more's the pity. Ideally, I'd like a 3 or 4 course sit-down-but-casual
meal
> which takes some time and effort to prepare. No 'packet' type ingredients,
> please - Kraft Mac 'n Cheese won't do!
>
> Please help, because all I can think of doing is Christmas dinner in July,
> and I'm not sure that's a good idea! In return, I promise to report back
on
> recipes used, problems encountered, and results achieved! Oh, in case
anyone
> is thinking of suggesting the loin of lamb thing I posted elsewhere, I
can't
> do that, cos these guests have been fed on it before.
>
> I don't need full recipes (can always find them if I have to), just an
> outline of the dishes. The birthday boy is teetotal, but the rest of us
are
> definitely not!
>
> Thanks tons to anyone who takes the time to answer this, as I know I'm
> asking a lot, but my mind is a bit of a blank (just for a change!). For
> once, I'm ignoring all the DH's fussinesses, cos it's not his birthday,
and
> he'll just have to be adaptable! The only other 'fussiness' is that one
> guest hates fresh figs!
>
> So come on, do yer worst!
>
> Jo
>
>
>
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