I mentioned last year that I'm in charge of the food for SingSoc's formal meal this year (it's in March).
This means, as the title suggests, that I'll be catering for 50.
Which is a bit scary and daunting, but I'm really excited.
You know me, I love cooking, and I really enjoyed cooking under Pete's direction last year, but I've never been in charge of a kitchen before, let alone had to do budgeting and portion control and menu design and all the other essential jobs that go with it. So all new experiences.
The formal will have a Spanish theme, mostly because I fancied having a crack at tapas. I've spent the last two days planning the menus and budgeting for the ingredients (mySupermarket has proved invaluable already, saving me around 15%).
Here's the provisional menu... basically each table will get enough of every dish for everyone to have some, for vegetarians I'll reduce the portions of meat/fish on the table and increase the veggie portions. Far too complicated to ask everyone to order individual dishes. Once I get all the recipes up, they'll all be linked to here. Bout time I posted more recipes anyway.
Meat
Lamb meatballs in tomato and pepper sauce
Chicken in lemon and garlic
Fish/seafood
Salmon in Canary Island green sauce
King prawns with lime
Veggie
Baked tortilla
Deep-fried manchego cheese
Stuffed garlic mushrooms
Salads
Rocket salad
Orange and fennel salad
Roasted pepper salad
Potatoes/rice
Spicy potato wedges
Saffron rice
Dessert
Orange and mint flaó (Spanish cheesecake)
Fresh fruit
Also bread and marinated olives served with sangria when the guests arrive! Marinating olives is fun and tasty. :)
Good news is that it's inspiring me to get off my arse and do something that isn't watching TV, reading, playing Pokémon or cross-stitching.
The humble Mallard
1 day ago
Posts
Good heavens, you've really taken on something here. I expect it's exciting though. Good luck with it all, I'm sure you'll do a smashing job of it. Looking forward to seeing some of the recipes.
ReplyDeleteYeah OC, I'm really looking forward to it. Should be fun. I've worked in a real kitchen before and enjoyed it, although I didn't like the pressure of having to get orders out fast and perfect every time - customers are very demanding - and not being able to follow my own recipes or experiment. So being in control will be much better.
ReplyDeleteYour menu sounds wonderful! You know, if you do a terrific job, you might be doing this every year... Sigh. Room for one more?
ReplyDeleteSure Sayre, and it'll only cost you £15.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that I do get asked to do it again. I love cooking, and even more I love the compliments I get when it goes well! I need the ego boost, I'm such an attention whore. :)