Help with main course menu

CuppaCocoa

Serving lobster and langoustines as a starter. Stuck for a main course. one of the guests can't eat cheese, butter, red meat, cream, mushrooms, oily fish, milk or game :eek: Any ideas for a main course? The starter will be 'hands on' so maybe something communal? Have soya spread and soya cream so can improvise a bit.

Mr Magnolia

I'd stick with the fish theme. I had sea bass baked in salt last year and it was savage, seen it on the telly recently which has it back in my head. Similar recipe here, you'll need to drop the sorrell sauce as it contains butter but I'm sure you can compensate Check that eggs and olive oil is ok though.

I'll be cooking it myself soon, anyone know where I'd get a good volume of sea salt?

foodaholic

how about inviting a different friend. What foods can they eat

The Sweeper

Hmmm - I'd go a white meat main. Fish would be excellent as a main as well, but it might be very hands-on against the starters too.

If you want something communal, roast either one or two chickens, using a very rich preparation method - herbs with oil and whole heads of garlic and lemons, for instance. Also bake some fresh bread that morning, and make a simple green salad. Serve the chickens whole, on a central platter, surrounded by the roasted garlic. Serve the bread on large wooden platters, and put out bowls of salad with simple dressings in dishes - let people dismember the chickens themsleves - or get in there yourself and section them into legs and breasts so people can help themselves. Herby, garlicky chicken, fresh bread and a green salad is a very simple but utterly delicious main course, and would be a change to the neat preparation of your starters.

It's also easy for you - put bread in oven first, when bread has 20 mins to go, put chickens in oven. Bread and chicken share 20 mins, then chickens take another 70 mins or so depending on size. The chickens can rest, covered, for up to half an hour after coming out of the oven and they won't suffer, and neither will the bread, so it should allow you to eat comfortably with your guests before just getting up for five minutes to bring the main course to the table.

muckety

+1 on the chicken idea. You could also do a coq au vin (or other chicken casserole) which could be cooked the day before leaving you less to do on the day.

the beer revolu

lilybarlean wrote: »

Serving lobster and langoustines as a starter. Stuck for a main course. one of the guests can't eat cheese, butter, red meat, cream, mushrooms, oily fish, milk or game :eek: Any ideas for a main course? The starter will be 'hands on' so maybe something communal? Have soya spread and soya cream so can improvise a bit.

Give that guest a bowl of porridge made (and no salt) with water and cook something nice!!!


Chicken idea sounds great too!!

Carawaystick

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

I'd stick with the fish theme. I had sea bass baked in salt last year and it was savage, seen it on the telly recently which has it back in my head. Similar recipe here, you'll need to drop the sorrell sauce as it contains butter but I'm sure you can compensate Check that eggs and olive oil is ok though.

I'll be cooking it myself soon, anyone know where I'd get a good volume of sea salt?

I got 2 kg in france, one kg of sel de Guerande and one from portugal. they were 1.30 and 1.10 each.
An asian store should have big sacks of salt, if you're in a city, if not I remember GEM bags of salt, like soda, pearl barley etc in old style auld lad shops. or a few tubes of saxa salt, they're about 500g each.

If the guests are people who like fish, the fish idea is good, but hard to time. Roast White meat would be easy to time, some exotic poultry - guinea fowl or quail wouldn't be game as such, or a chickpea and chorizo stew,
I can't think of any white fish that'd be good to poach and serve cold. Maybe If you could get salt col(bacalao) and make a stew with tomatoes and chick peas

or even a vegetarian main course

kenco

If you have a bit of cash get your hands on some monkfish fillets. Roast them wrapped in parma ham but spread with pesto first!

Mr Magnolia

kenco wrote: »

If you have a bit of cash get your hands on some monkfish fillets. Roast them wrapped in parma ham but spread with pesto first!

A few basil leaves instead of the pesto works very well too