Cooking for a crowd

As we roll on towards Christmas, the number of parties, reunions, dinners and gatherings start mounting up. If you’re going to be hosting your own soiree, working out what to cook can be a bit stressful. Serving something that everyone will enjoy is tough enough, but guests can be vegetarian, gluten intolerant, struggle with dairy or be allergic to specific ingredients. You might think this seriously limits the number of dishes you can serve, but don’t feel like you have to play it safe; the number of free from and alternative products has expanded massively over the past few years. With a few substitutions, versions of recipes normally containing wheat, milk or eggs can still be served to large crowds of people.

It’s always a good idea to offer a vegetarian dish of some kind, but instead of sticking to the classics (many of which most vegetarians will be fed up of being served time and time again) try something a bit more adventurous. Fabrizio Marino’s Gourmet pizza looks absolutely stunning and will make most people forget about any carnivorous offerings entirely. For vegetarian canapés and party food you’re spoilt for choice; try Bruno Loubet’s seasonal Roquefort and cranberry endives or Deena Kakaya’s spring rolls and puff pastry plait.

With the number of people following a gluten-free diet constantly on the increase, it’s important to find out if any of your guests are intolerant or allergic. If they are, don’t automatically think your planned pies, pastries, sauces or batters are off limits – the majority of them can still be made with gluten-free flours. While they might not have the exact same texture as their wheat-filled counterparts, gluten-free baking is incredibly popular, and a thriving online community has helped create alternative recipes for everything from bread sauce to chocolate fudge cake. Victoria Glass’ recipe for sausage rolls uses a mix of potato and rice flour with xantham gum to create the pastry, and they’re every bit as delicious as the traditional kind.