Make it easy for yourself

Cooking for the masses is never easy. (Here we're referring to meals for 80-100, not the 25-50 parties that I do often) I learned how to do this well when I volunteered with the GRX kitchen in San Francisco, where we would cook a mini-supper for the congregation (about 100-120) after the evening service. Typically there would be 3 or 4 of us, and we'd have about 3 hours to prep and cook, which was a feat in itself. However, the biggest challenge was that I only had a budget for about $80-$100, and most often, I stuck to it pretty well!

This time, I cooked for the Menlo Park Pres Choir Welcome Dinner, and my main priorities were efficiency & quality! When cooking for such a large crowd, you need to be able to minimize the cooking on the extra day itself. This means that most things should be done ahead of time! For example, if you're serving a pasta, the pasta sauce needs to have been made two days in advance, to cook, cool, and store properly. Then, if you were serving a meat, letting it sit in a marinade usually works well to tenderize and impart good flavor, since, quite often the luxury of quick searing or slow braising is not there to give the meat it's best shot.

The same guidelines apply when you're throwing a dinner party. I always ask myself these two questions: What can be done ahead, and how can I showcase the food at it's best given the constraints?

I ended up serving a pasta with the Romesco sauce that I'm so fond of - to stretch it, I used half and half, and also added a good amount of roasted tomatoes from the garden. Chicken is always welcome at large dinners, since it agrees with everyone, and I chose to do roasted chicken thighs, which I was sure would hold their juices quite well. The recipe I used was the same one that I previously published for the roasted veggie salad, and can be found here. You don't need too much for the marinade, about 1/3 cup per 2 large chicken thighs.

I love pairing meats with stuff that's farmer's fresh, and figs are in season right now. So, I threw together a fig compote that accompanied the chicken for that extra special touch. It's super simple to make, and you can serve this alongside chicken, pork, and even cheese! Here's the recipe

Easy Fig Compote

Makes 2 cups

1 pt Fresh Figs, stemmed & chopped
1 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 ea Red Onion, diced
2 Tbs Olive Oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan, and sweat red onion until translucent
Add the figs, and saute for 1 minute before adding chicken stock
Bring to a boil, and simmer until compote thickens and liquid has mostly evaporated
Keep stirring the pot to prevent browning
Puree the mixture and leave to cool before storing in the fridge

Magical Mushroom Mystique

I absolutely love mushrooms, and think that one of the simplest, most luxurious food that you can have is creamy mushroom soup! Traditionally, as with most other foods, cooking a great mushroom soup requires time, patience, and multiple steps. However, there are times when the luxury of time or patience cannot be afforded, as with a small dinner party on a workday evening.

At times like those, it is necessary to take shortcuts, while still producing the best possible result that I would not be ashamed to serve on the table. Although I had to work quickly, it paid off, and we had mushroom soup on the table in 30 minutes!




Here's the recipe:

Creamy Mushroom Soup

1 lb Fresh Mushrooms, I like to use Crimini & Shitake for best flavor
2 ea Garlic Cloves, Smashed
2 sprigs Thyme
1/4 cup White Wine
2 cups Chicken Stock, or Veggie
2 cups Half & Half
3 Tbs Butter

Salt & pepper to taste

In a heavy saucepan, melt one tbs of butter
Add 1/3 of the mushrooms, one garlic clove, and 1 sprig thyme
Saute mushrooms until a deep brown, and cooked through
Repeat with the remaining 2 batches of mushrooms
Deglaze the pan with the white wine - that means addinfg the liquid and scraping up the brown bits over heat
Bring the pan juices, stock and mushrooms to a boil
Simmer for about 10 minutes
Puree the mushroom soup and add the half & half
Thin with water to desired consistency, then season with salt & pepper