Foolproof dinner party

All dishes to serve 6

Baba Ghanoush with Hot Lavash
Stick a large aubergine over the supports on a medium flame gas burner, or under a hot grill, and char the thing all over till black and blistery. Cool a little, peel and squeeze out the bitter juice in your hands. Mash with a fork in a bowl. Add a finely chopped clove of garlic, salt to taste, then sloshes of juice from 1 lemon alternately with dollops of about 50ml tahina paste. It's really up to you how tahina-ish you like it. Hot strips of pitta bread are acceptable, but for real panache, wind one of those thin, tea-towel sized lavash breads sold in see-through packages at major supermarkets round your hand, the way waiters make teepees of stiff napkins, and warm it. Your guests rip off strips to dip with. What could possibly be easier?

Parma Ham and Mozzarella Salad
The days when salad meant quarters of tomato and hard-boiled eggs lying with bleeding beetroot slices on wilting lettuce smothered in salad cream are gone. Isn't the following infinitely preferable - and just as easy?

Scatter a generous three handfuls of mixed leaves such as rocket, mizuna, and torn strips of chicory over a huge flat plate. Tear up 3 balls of fresh buffalo mozzarella and scatter the pieces among the leaves. Fling a handful of pitted black olives cured in oil about the dish, then drape 6 (if you love your friends, fewer if you only like them) ripped-up slices of Parma ham over all. Make a dressing with 5 tbsp good green extra virgin olive oil whisked with 2 tbsp sherry vinegar (balsamic is so yesterday), salt and freshly ground black pepper. Deceptively casual. (If you are deeply fond of your friends, use ripped up pieces of fresh fig - 1 per person - in place of the more humble olives.)