Chicken. Baked chicken. Gourmet baked chicken. Individual portions (bone-in small breast or small thigh quarters) baked, such as:

Baked Chicken Marsala
Baked Chicken Paprikash
Baked Chicken Fricassee
Baked Honey-Dijon-Bourbon Chicken
Baked Chicken Parmesan
Baked Chicken Florentine

Serve with pasta or rice.

Joe

You looking for formal? To serve buffet or will you plate individual servings?
You want the appetizers served at the table or cocktail party style?
I agree with Hoe, sounds liek we are talking chicken or pork if you don't want to do beef.
Linda c

Thanks Joe. I was leaning toward these stuffed chicken breasts that I like. Skin on with a spinich/ricotta filling.

My idea was to have just finger appetizers. The meal would be sit down, but I am not sure if I want to serve everyone. I personally would rather serve myself as everybody always gives me way more than I can eat. But that's just me.

One idea I had that I wondered about as a side dish is individual ramekins of garlic mashed potatoes. That way, they can be done ahead and reheated I would love to serve with broccolini, but I bought some last week and it was $2.99 for about 4 stems.

Another thought ,if you want to do an elegant beef dish, yet stretch the budget, is beef Stroganoff. I love the Silver Palate recipe, very classy and can mostly be done in advance. Serve with noodles or the garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

Finger appetizers are always a hit and will make it easy to accommodate the shellfish allergies while still indulging the shellfish lovers.

Some ideas that are very elegant:

Ann T's escargot stuffed bread cups
Smoked salmon
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cheese Gourges
Selection of olives
Antipasto Platter
Prosciutto Palmiers

Someone posted a blue cheese "bites/cups" recipe a few months back that sounded divine.

I'm at the cottage so don't have access to all the recipes but they all came from here so we can find them for you if they interest you

I have served the following to large groups for years and everyone asks for the recipe. A good one for buffet style serving.

ROQUEFORT-LEMON CHICKEN
Bon Appetit

6 servings (easily doubled)

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (or 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 chicken breasts cut in half vertically
3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup crumbled Roquefort cheese (about 2 ounces)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon sliced green onion
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 4 ingredients in shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.

Melt butter in heavy skillet pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken in batches and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes, turning once.

Transfer chicken in a single layer to a flat baking dish, skin side up. Combine sour cream and remaining ingredients in small bowl. Spread over chicken. Bake until topping is golden and chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Notes: I remove the skin from the chicken breasts and bake this casserole covered, uncovering it the last 10 minutes to brown a bit. This can be assembled in the morning, placed in fridge and cooked later in the day adding about 20 minutes to the cooking time.

As much as I hate to say it, I would neverserve a dish with a blue mold cheese to a group unless I were sure that everyone like blue veined cheeses....hard to believe but some people don't like it!..blink, blink...
I love the garlic mashed potatoe idea...but why not save the ramekins for the vegetable? Howabout a spinach ro broccoli timpal? ora carrot souffle....then serve the mashed potatoes on the side. you can always make them ahead and reheat.
How about a whole roast pork loin, sliced and each serving topped with caramelized onions in a balsamic reduction? Then garlic mashed potatoes and a ramekin of a green vegetable timbal? Or because it's so good nor a zucchini timpab, topped with strips of red pepper before it's baked?
Salad of baby greens, half round slices of garden tomatoes and cucumbers with a cutrus vinaigrette dressing ( just sub lemon juice for the vinegar and add some grated orange rind too)
So....what's the dessert?
Linda C

I hate it when the phone rings before I get a chance to proof read....

Linda, part of my pleasures in reading your posts are your now legendary typos. From above: I agree with Hoe. ROFLMAO.

Jessica, you beat me to that one. She even capitalized "Hoe". (grin)

Annie

LOL, after all these years I was shocked to hear that she proofreads!!! Gotta admit, "I agree with Hoe" is gonna go down as a LindaC classic.

I'd have to vote with the Stroganoff. It's always been a big winner with people I've served it to.

The other big crowd pleaser for a discerning crowd is Boeuf Bourginon. I make it very simply but taking my beef cubes [trimmed very well] putting them into a pot with plenty of garlic, a few stems of thyme if you have them, then covering the meat with enough jug burgundy to cover. Simmer for about 45 minutes then add lots of onions [chippolini or small whole whites are nice touch but sliced any kind will do fine] and way more mushrooms than you think you need and simmer until the meat is fork tender. Yes, I don't brown the meat at all. To me the meat infuses the burgundy better when simmered without browning, and since I don't dilute the burgundy the juice/gravy is extremely flavorful without being overpowering. . Season with salt and if you insists, pepper. I served this to our Senior Citizens Holiday Dinner one year and it was a major hit and that's a rough crowd. LOL. It's served over rice. As a veggie I served halved acorn squash with brown sugar, butter and orange juice baked until also tender. For summer you could make those zucchini or spinach timbale LindaC mentioned, but a simple summer green salad would be great.

One of the least labor intensive menus that I have is chicken pillows, rice pilaf, vegetable of choice....I like roast asparagus but zucchini and tomato casserole would be nice too or even fresh green beans with roasted onions.

Chicken Pillows

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded thin.
Rub with 1 garlic clove. Place 1 oz. proscuitto or ham and 1 oz. mozzarella on top. Sprinkle with 1 - 2 T. flavored bread crumbss. Roll up and secure with toothpicks. Place in greased baking dish. Combine 2 T. dry sherry, 2 T. melted butter and 1 T chopped parsley. Pour over chicken. Bake approx. 25 min basting occ. Increase recipe according to # of people. When breast is pounded it has been my experience that women will only eat about half the breast so I make large ones for the men and smaller for the women. This can be prepared a day ahead. I roll the chicken, put in prepared dish cover and refrigerate overnight. I put the sauce on an hour or so before baking. Goes great with strawberry and spinach salad with poppy seed dressing. If you want to serve a soup, a white gazpacho is nice.

This is truly a simple yet elegant meal. You can also pound the chicken breasts, put on baking sheet, freeze and put in zip lock bag after frozen... a week or so ahead making day before preparation even easier.