Dinner party help

[fiestas*girl]

I am having a dinner party 20th and i have NO clue what to make!

I used to think I was a pretty good cook but years of feeding a plain diet to teenagers/young adults has killed any inspiration and skill i may have had

the people comming to this event are 'foodie' types, when i ahve lunch with them its twice baked pork belly, or some duck thing...

seriolusly i am looking for simple but packed with punch luncheon ideas, something fairly easy but looks impressive

AND, i ahd a great salad out the other night called 'chicago chopped salad' it was to die for and while i figured most of the ingredients, the dressing is a mystery to me....anyone know of this?

I have some fantastic wines from our local wineries and i was thinking of a starter and and main course, i can do cheese and fruit for a dessert to go with the sticky

[lurker172602]

A tried and true entree of mine is stacks made up of a slice of cooked kipler potato, a slice of chorizo and a seared scallop on top. I usually arrange 3 stacks on a smear of garlicky pea purée on a rectangular plate. Looks very flash, tastes great and is simple and easy to do.

[jean2579]

fiesta, go to the MasterChef, Nigella Lawson or Rachel Khoo websites, they have an amazing selection of recipes to choose from for lunch. An easy fall back is always fresh seafood platters in the middle of the table with salads and they help themselves. Good luck with it.

[fiestas*girl]

thanks lurker i might give that a go sounds good and do able

jean, where i used to live fresh seafood would have been definately the way to go, but here in ACT we are soo far from the coast I always wonder how old the seafood really is or is it even fresh

alot of canberrans are 'sus' of seafood (I miss it big time!)

i will also check out  those websites, thanks

[freddie*rooster]

http://stolenmomentscooking.com/homemade-portillos-chopped-salad/

http://suburbanscrawl.com/2013/09/make-portillos-chopped-salad-home/

[daydream**believer]

this salad is delish amd i dont normally like salads

http://www.changs.com/recipes/oriental-fried-noodle-salad/

[daydream**believer]

Ive become addicted to the '4 ingrediants' cookbooks.

Great recippes and only 4 ingrediants

[tcmsecretuseid]

I've made a version of that cabbage salad for many parties. If you toast the almonds(in a pan on the stove) before tossing them into the salad, it adds a wonderful taste. I use less sugar, and more sesame oil in mine. 

[fiestas*girl]

hey thanks everyone,

all good ideas..off to check out the websites

[lurker172602]

Fiesta, re the fresh seafood in Canberra. I know what you mean having lived there up until about 5 years ago. (I'm now down on t he coast.). There are some people from here who have been in the commercial fishing game for generations who apparently take their fresh catch and sell it at the EPIC (or whatever it's called these days) farmers markets. Maybe give them a go sometime?
I'll see if I can find out what name they trade under.