Choosing what food to cook for friends is always tricky (everyone has weird likes or dislikes, even if they’re too polite to say so!) and it’s hard to be inventive with cooking and guarantee everyone will still love it.

So I decided this time I’d ditch the drama, scour my favourite My Kitchen Table recipes and put together a couple of different menus. The recipes below have a maximum difficulty of medium, to make sure cooking for everyone is as stress free as possible!

Option 1 – Classic:
To start – Ainsley Harriot’s Crispy parma ham and asparagus salad (easy)
Main – Ainsley Harriot’s Seared sirloin steak with blue cheese butter and shoestring chips (easy)
Desert – Ainsley Harriot’s Banoffee pie with chocolate drizzle (easy)

Option 2 – A little bit different:
To start – Ken Hom’s Spicy scallops with sundried tomatoes (easy)
Main – Gizzi Erksine’s Milk roasted pork with cinnamon, orange and bay (medium)
Desert – Ainsley Harriot’s Passion fruit soufflé shells (medium)

Option 3 – Something special:
To start – Rick Stein’s Warm oysters with champagne sabayon (medium)
Main – Raymond Blanc’s Braised venison with a chocolate sauce (medium)
Desert – Raymond Blanc’s Vanilla crème brulee (medium)

Or why not create your own menu? We’d love to hear your recommendations, or see photographs of your culinary triumphs!