Hi all! I’m having friends over for dinner and need some recipe inspiration. There will be 8 of us and 2 people are vegetarian, would ideally like to have a mix of meat and veggie options but not too many dishes to make. I have scoured my recipe books but thought the community would have some good ideas! 
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I think a good place to start is pick a cuisine you like, i.e italian, middle-eastern, and go from there.
As there is so many people, I would do ‘family style’ serving, for people to serve themselves. I’d pick a big carb dish as your centerpiece; pasta or a suped-up potato dish always goes down well. And then supplement with some fresh bread, veggie dishes and some meat dishes.
I always reach for my ‘One Pot, One Planet’ cookery book on occasions like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Planet-greener-family-planet/dp/000817248X
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Hello! I would have a look at the following sites:
They offer quite a range of delicious recipes and cater for different dietary requirements:
I think crowd pleasing platters are your best bet - a bit of mix and match. I like a roasted butternut squash with a satay dressing (Dr Rupy does this), perhaps some traybaked chicken thighs and a green dish like Ottolenghi’s bean side.
Thank you so much to all of you for your wonderful ideas and help!
@Gblaskey I ended up going with your idea of a chicken traybake, combining that recipe with Ottolenghi’s marinade in his Chicken Marbella recipe. Thank you! 
We also made these dishes if anyone else is looking for inspiration:
- Couscous salad (Ottolenghi)
- Courgette and chickpea “meatballs”
- Steamed rice with fresh herbs
- Saffron vegetable tagine (from Leon One-Pot Vegetarian)
- Fried Broccoli and Kale with Garlic, Cumin and Lime (Ottolenghi)
- Dessert: Poached pears with vanilla ice cream (Sabrina Ghayour)
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What a great-sounding menu! I’ve made that fried broccoli and kale dish before – the lime makes it taste so good!
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This is so good! Sounds like an absolute feast 