Wedding Food Planning

I’m getting hitched in October of next year and I need to start planning food. This is alot harder than I thought it would be. First I’m expecting 250-300 people (my family is way to large). I want to do a buffet and I think I’d like to do a tapas style buffet with different foods from around the world. Does anyone have any clue how many different types of food I need and about how many servings of each? We were going to do a Mediterranean display with Italian and Lebanese food, but as it so happened, we are marrying in Des Moines and were hoping that we could find someone in Cedar Rapids to do the Lebanese (has a large population there) but as some of you may know, Cedar Rapids went completely under water about a month ago, so that’s not looking to good right now. I did find an alternate caterer who would prepare food with recipes I can give him, so we can pass off the simple Lebanese recipes, but we wouldn’t be able to do the Kibbe, so I guess I got to be okay with that. So anyways here’s my list so far of food and countries. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

American: Buffalo Wings, Glob dip (family recipe – despite the name actually very good)
Italian: Meatballs, Italian meats deli platter, family antipasti recipe, Caesar salad
Lebanese/Middle-Eastern: Hummus, Spinach Pies, Tabouli, pita, falafel
Thai: Chicken Satay, spring rolls
Japanese: Sushi platter
Chinese: Egg Rolls, Crab Ragoons
Indian: Vegetable Samosas
Mexican: Empanadas, ceviche
General: Fruit ,veggie, and assorted cheese platter

Still trying to find something decent that’s German and Irish, still looking…….
Anyways, ideas are always welcome.

I’m getting a pressure cooker/canner!!!

Yeah!  Just spoke to my mom and she asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I’ve had my eye on the Presto 23-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner. I told her is she found one used that would be great because, hey I’m budget conscience. But alas, my mother told me she would buy it new. I’m so excited!!

La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange: The Original Companion for French Home Cooking

This is probably the best book I’ve ever read on cooking, not just French, but in general.  I’d be hard pressed to say that it is a recipe book.  Sure there are recipes in it, but what I found to be most helpful were the clear explanations on technique.  Not only did Madame E. Saint-Ange cover how to do techniques very clearly, she also explained why you do them and what happens when you do it incorrectly and why.  What I found particularly amazing is that much of tools used in the book are still the same.  The book was originally published in 1927, but only recently translated into English.  This book does prove though, that the food processor is the greatest kitchen invention of the 20th century or, may I be so bold to say, ever!  In reading this, I also found out that Julia Childs relied on it a great number of times in learning her techniques.  If your serious about food, especially french food, I highly recommend buying this book.  Read it from start to finish, you’ll be glad you did.

La Bonne Cuisine

Recipe Revamps

So every now and then I have produce on hand that I’m not sure what to do with.   This happens with CSA shipments sometimes.  So last week I had a box of produce I received from a friend who went out of town for a week.  Amongst other things in the box there were five small yellow squashes.   So of course, I went to the Internet to try to find a recipe I could make with ingredients I had on hand.  I found the following recipe on  epicurious.com.  The recipe is called Butternut Squash with Shallots and Sage. The recipe that follows is the epicurious recipe. 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 shallots, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (3/4 cup)
1 (1 3/4-lb) butternut squash, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (4 cups)
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth or water
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook shallots and squash, stirring, until shallots are softened, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, brown sugar, sage, and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar, pepper, and salt to taste.

 

Sounds nice, right?  Except I didn’t have butternut squash, I had yellow squash.  I didn’t have shallots, but I had a fresh white onion on hand.  So I decided to use the above recipe as a guide, substitute the items and add a few more and created quite a delicious quick meal.  Here is my version below.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large white onion, diced (3/4 cup)
3 small yellow squash, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (4 cups)
1 lb. Italian sausage
1/4 cup reduced water
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dry sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Prepared Egg Noodles (fresh or dried)

Preparation

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook onions, sausage and squash, stirring, until onions are softened and sausage is browned, about 10 minutes.

Add water, sherry, brown sugar, sage, and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. If liquid still remains, uncover and cook off liquid for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar, pepper, and salt to taste.  Spoon onto hot egg noodles.
 

Now I can’t tell you how the original recipe tasted, but this was absolutely delicious.  I will be making it again.  The addition of the egg noodles was a last minute add, as I was cooking the recipe it seemed not like something you would eat by itself.  Try it, and tell me what you think.

The Slow Food Movement

So I’m not known to be a trend follower, but then again, I’m hard pressed to call the Slow Food movement a trend.  Check out the links under organize to see more about this movement.  I didn’t so much as start following this when I found out about it, rather, I started to organize my relationship with food in this manner and found that there was a whole movement that thinks the way I do.   How I fell into this line of thought started with how I like to cook.  I love to make everything from scratch and use the freshest ingredients possible.  I thoughroughly enjoy the process of cooking.  I also like to support small community businesses.  I try to buy all my meat from Lincoln Quality Meat Market.  I try to use product from local green grocers, or if I’m lucky, I get a partial bushel of produce from a CSA a good friend is part off.  Living on the northside of Chicago in an apartment with no car really makes it nearly impossible for me to garden.  I don’t even have enough room to do container gardening at my current place of residence.  I’m moving to Nashville in a few months, and I’m hoping I can find a community garden close by.  I would love to learn how to can safely, that way I can make tomato sauce for all those tomatos that come into season very quickly.  I’m also all about learning how to make cheese.  I would love to perfect a fabulous blue.  Anyways, more about that later.  Talk to y’all soon.

Welcome to The Oven Mitts are Off….

Anybody who already knows me, knows that I love to cook.  I make just about anything I can from scratch and prefer to use only fresh ingredients.  Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee are my mortal enemies.  They stand for all that is evil in the food world.  My favorite chefs are of course, the one and only, Julia Childs, Anthony Bourdain, Jamie Oliver, Gordan Ramsey, Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali.  There was a time in my life I almost entered a culinary school.  I was planning on attending CHIC.  Before I officially registered, the advisor recommended me to read Kitchen Confidential from Anthony Bourdain then think long and hard if this is the path I want to take.  Well I admit it, I’m a wimp in that sense.  I just don’t have the gumption to work long, hard hours for little pay.  I’d rather just feed my family and friends without the hassle.  So even though I will never be a professional chef, I remain committed to making the best food possible with the best ingredients I can get.  And that’s where this blog comes in.  I’d like to share with you all my thoughts of food, recipes I’ve made and any tips I may come across.  Please feel free to share your comments with me.