I want to make a nice meal for my family and I need recipes that can feed between four and seven and that are impressive as a special festive meal. I do not think anyone has any dietary restrictions that I am aware of apart from cream milk is fine. I've looked in my cookbooks and they are pretty awful so I hope you are able to help.

Depends on how involved you want to get I'll post the longer one first, but it's worth it!

Horseradish-Crusted Brisket
Ingredients
For the Brisket:

5 to 6 pounds point-cut beef brisket
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 to 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 large Spanish onions, cut into thin wedges
8 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 cup tomato paste
3 cups (1 bottle) full-bodied red wine
1 teaspoon sugar
4 leafy inner stalks celery
2 6-to-8-inch sprigs fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 pound carrots, halved crosswise

For the Crust:

1 clove garlic, smashed
Kosher salt
1 6-ounce piece fresh horseradish, peeled
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
2 to 3 tablespoons dijon mustard

Directions

Prepare the brisket: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously season the brisket with salt and pepper, then coat with the flour in a large bowl. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Brown the brisket on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate.

Add the onions and 2 teaspoons salt to the pot and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the onions are caramelized, about 10 more minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook about 5 more minutes. Add the wine and 1 cup water, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in the sugar. Reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer.

Tie the celery, rosemary and bay leaves together with kitchen twine and add to the pot along with the brisket and carrots. Cut a round of parchment paper to fit inside the pot; place directly on top of the liquid, then cover with the lid. Transfer to the oven and cook 3 hours, 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the crust: Mince and mash the garlic with 1 teaspoon salt. Coarsely grate the horseradish. Chop the parsley with the horseradish and garlic paste until the mixture is moist.

Remove the pot from the oven, discard the parchment and transfer the meat to a rimmed baking sheet. Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Brush the top of the brisket with the mustard, then pat with the horseradish mixture. Return the meat to the pot and bake, uncovered, until the crust is golden, 30 to 35 minutes.

Transfer the brisket to a cutting board. Discard the celery-herb bundle and skim the fat from the braising liquid; thin the remaining liquid with water, if desired. Slice the meat against the grain. Serve with the carrots, onions and braising liquid.

My Favorite Chicken

Ingredients:

2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup Dijon honey mustard blend
½ tsp dried tarragon or thyme
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
6 boneless chicken breast halves
1 ½ cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup fine dried bread crumbs
½ tsp salt
Dash pepper
Dash paprika


1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Line a baking pan with foil and lightly grease the foil or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Combine the mayonnaise, honey mustard, tarragon or thyme, and parsley.
4. Spread over the chicken to coat thoroughly.
5. Combine the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and paprika in a pie plate.
6. Press the chicken breasts into the bread crumb mixture, turning to coat thoroughly.
7. Arrange chicken on the prepared baking pan.
8. Bake for 25 minutes; turn and bake for about 10-15 minutes longer, or until cooked through.

Side Dish Risotto

Ingredients

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
Kosher salt
2 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice
2 large pinches saffron
3 to 4 cups chicken stock, kept HOT
1 1/2 to 2 cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Coat a large saucepan generously with olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and sweat them until translucent, about 5 minutes. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, letting the rice slightly stick to the bottom of the pan and scraping it off. It should also sound crackly.

Add the saffron to the hot chicken stock; the stock should turn bright yellow.

Add the wine to the pan until it covers the surface of the rice. Season with salt and cook over a medium-high heat, stirring continuously until the wine has absorbed into the rice. Add the saffron chicken stock to the pan until it covers the rice. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring continuously until the stock has absorbed into the rice.

Repeat this process two more times with the hot saffron chicken stock. When the third addition of the stock has absorbed and the rice is very creamy, bite a couple grains of rice to be sure it is cooked perfectly. If it is still a little crunchy, add a little more stock and cook the rice for another couple of minutes. When the rice is cooked perfectly, remove it from the heat.

Toss in the butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano and "whip the heck out of it." The rice should be creamy but still flow and hold its own shape.

Kale Salad

If you want to go easier route than risotto

Serves 8

Salad:

2 large bunches Kale – chopped finely (discard stems and ribs)
1 c dried cranberries
1 c pine nuts – dry toasted
¼ c Parmesan cheese – grated

Dressing:

6 T extra-virgin olive oil
6 T white wine vinegar
2 T garlic – finely minced
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine dressing ingredients in glass jar and shake well.
2. Combine kale, cranberries and pine nuts in a large bowl.
3. Drizzle with dressing and toss.
4. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
5. Toss lightly again.

This salad is best made a few hours in advance of eating to both soften Kale leaves and to have flavors blend.

I taught myself to cook many years ago when I moved 500 miles from home. I basically just bought the Silver Palate Cookbook and cooked my way through it. Nearly everything was good. These 2 dishes always draw lots of compliments for the cook. Over the years I've made a few changes, incorporated below:

CHICKEN MARBELLA
8 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast halves*
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup dried oregano
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine

In a large bowl combine chicken, garlic, oregano, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, bay leaves, a little salt & pepper according to your taste.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large shallow baking pans (13x9" Pyrex dishes are perfect for this) and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken with brown sugar and pour white wine around the sides of the pan (so that you don't wash the marinade off the chicken).

Bake uncovered for 50 - 60 minutes, basting frequently with pan juices. Chicken is done when no longer pink in the middle.

With a slotted spoon transfer chicken, prunes, olives and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonsful of pan juices. Pass remaining pan juices in a gravy boat.

*original recipe calls for 4 chickens, 2 1/2 lbs each, quartered. I prefer the boneless, skinless breasts.

Recipe serves 10; cut quantities in half to serve 5 or fewer.

RASPBERRY CHICKEN

2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 2 lbs.
2 tablespoons sweet butter
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
4 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock (canned chicken broth will do)
1/4 c heavy cream or creme fraiche (when making for the guest who can't have cream, substitute whole milk; sauce will just be thinner but you can cook it down)
1 tablespoon canned crushed tomatoes (I usually omit this)
16 fresh raspberries (in a pinch I have used frozen, but fresh is best)

Cut the chicken breast halves in half again lengthwise. Flatten each piece by pressing gently with your hands.

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Raise the heat, add chicken, cook about 3 minutes per side, or until lightly colored. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Add onion to the fat in the pan and cook, covered, over low heat until tender; about 15 minutes.

Add the vinegar, raise the heat and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vinegar is reduced to a syrupy spoonful. Whisk in the chicken stock, heavy cream or creme fraiche, crushed tomatoes and simmer 2 minutes. (If substituting milk, simmer a few minutes longer til the mixture reduces a bit.)

Return the chicken to the skillet and simmer in the sauce, basting often, until they are just done and the sauce has been reduced and thickened slightly; about 5 minutes. Do not overcook.

Remove chicken from skillet with a slotted spoon and arrange on serving platter. Add the raspberries to the sauce in the skillet and cook over low heat for one minute. Do not stir the berries with a spoon; merely swirl them in the sauce by shaking the skillet.

Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

Recipe makes 2 to 4 portions; can easily be doubled or tripled.

I do a moroccan fish stew from a Jamie Oliver book quite often which is dead easy as you don't need exact quantities and it's really quick.

Gently fry a few cloves of garlic (minced or sliced), red chillies depending on how hot you want it, torn up basil, some whole cumin seeds and a teaspoon or so of ground cinnamon.

Chuck in raw king prawns, allow about half a box per person, and fry til pink. Meanwhile oven cook 1 or 2 fillets of white fish (cod, haddock, sea bass are all good) per person. The recipe actually says to do this in the pan but I just can't get it to cook through.

Add tinned chopped tomatoes to the prawns - allow one tin per person roughly - and add a handful of frozen peas per person, and a handful of broad beans per person. When the sauce is hot through and the fish and prawns are fully cooked then ladle into bowls and put the fillet/s on top of the stew. Garnish with a few extra basil leaves.

Serve with lemon couscous - I don't know why people cook it because this is the easiest option: Weigh out cous cous according to the packet instructions - I normally do 100g per person. Put into a glass bowl with the juice of a lemon (or two if there are lots of you), a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. JUST cover the cous cous with boiling water, swirl it around to mix and then cover the bowl with a plate. The cous cous will cook as it absorbs the water. Fork it through just before serving and you're done, job's a good 'un.

Another one from a Jamie book - chicken stroganoff. You could so easily do this with leftover turkey, too!

Fry some leeks in a pan - allow 1 leek per person, roughly. Add a handful of sliced mushrooms per person if desired (I do not desire!). When the leeks are soft and the mushrooms are cooking, add a big handful of leftover turkey per person - or you could just dice up fresh chicken or turkey breast and cook through. Add a large glass of dry white wine and roughly the same quantity again of double cream, plenty of salt and pepper and let it blip away for a bit until the sauce is hot through and tasting good. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and chopped flat-leaf parsley. Serve with rice - I always go brown but either is fine.

Roasted asparagus is super easy and delish. I'd get 2-3 bunches of thin asparagus stalks--not super super thin, but about pencil-width--that are nice and green. Cut or snap off the woody end of each stalk; if you snap it, the asparagus will snap easily about an inch or two from the end. Rinse the stalks and pat dry with a paper towel.

Once the asparagus is ready, toss with a tablespoon or so of oil (I prefer olive oil for this) so that the stalks are very lightly coated. Toss again with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place stalks on a baking tray or in a roasting pan in a single layer--I sometimes sprinkle a bit more pepper on them at this point, but that's completely up to you. Stick them in an oven that has been preheated to about 350 F for about ten minutes, flipping the stalks halfway through. They should be a vibrant green color when finished.

You can use regular salt and pepper for this recipe if need be; it just gives a nicer texture with the coarser sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy!

Thanks for all your help I can see four recipes I want to try. Is it alright to use premade horseradish? I've never seen an actual horseradish for sale here.

Now I have to find a nice desert recipe and somewhere to buy the ingredients that isn't sold out.

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I think I might at some point over the Christmas holiday. It definitely looks elegant enough for a dinner party, but not complicated at all! Maybe let me know how it is if you use it?

smittenkitchen.com . . .

If you use a preprepared horseradish sauce then leave out the mustard and use between 4-6 tablespoons of the horseradish sauce (depending on the size of the joint used) instead.

Horseradish sauce is a mixture of grated horseradish, cream and mustard, so you can see that preprepared sauce won't need the mustard added.

I know i'm updating this thread i need some more help such as Kosher recipes as I'm not jewish but one of the guests is anyone can help would be much appreciated? What are the rules?

With the horseradish issue, just be sure you read the label. I've found sometimes it's a complete horseradish sauce in a jar, and sometimes it's just grated horseradish and vinegar. In which case i guess you could add dry mustard powder.

I´m not Jewish but I have a bit of experience with Jewish dinner guests as a hostess.

One of the first things I was told is that I shouldn´t worry about preparing anything that´s kosher, as this is not possible in a "normal" kitchen anyway. I´ve been told that Jews who strictly abide by their dietary laws separate dairy and milk products completely, using two sets of pots and pans, plates, cutlery and also store things separately using two separate fridges and there are lots of other rules you have to grow up with to know them. Unless you follow the rules and also prepare the food correctly, it won´t be "kosher".

At least that´s what I´ve been told, I don´t know if they were only being polite because they didn´t want me to fuss, in any case my guests were always happy with a vegetarian dish.

Maybe it would be a good idea to ask your guest what they´d be comfortable with.

Natz2 wrote:

I know i'm updating this thread i need some more help such as Kosher recipes as I'm not jewish but one of the guests is anyone can help would be much appreciated? What are the rules?

Happydancer2 is correct. It's not possible to make a kosher dish, even from a kosher recipe, in a non-kosher kitchen. The laws of kosher are very detailed, going well beyond not mixing meat and milk, no pork, and no shellfish. There are separate dishes, in some cases even separate appliances, and the fire would need to be kindled by a Jew.

I keep kosher, and would never simply accept a dinner invitation from someone who's kitchen was not kosher. I would, instead, suggest we make alternate arrangements - maybe meeting at a local, kosher, restaurant where I would foot the bill, offer to bring my own meal (and paper plates and plastic flatware) and simply enjoy their company, or even offer to bring a dish for everyone on the condition that I could serve me and my family first with our own serving utensils and eat off our own dishes before everyone else helped themselves.

If you have a guest who accepted your invitation, knowing you're not Jewish and don't keep a kosher kitchen, then you have nothing to worry about on that front. However, it's always a good idea to ask all your guests if they have any dietary restrictions, so that you can plan accordingly.