I need a chef...

[pinkfloyd45769]

I hve to make a dish for this dinner party with some friends and it is just driving me nuts. I have to make some kind of meat, i was thinking duck. I just need something easy that will blow these people away and not take me forever to make. I want the prep time to be 3 hours or less. Cheebs and Spall, i need you guys!!!!

[newb]

If you're serving mashed potato's I have just the thing.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/images/photos/Product_detail_potatobuds.jpg

[pinkfloyd45769]

I'll take all the help i can get.

[Spallalala]

I hve to make a dish for this dinner party with some friends and it is just driving me nuts. I have to make some kind of meat, i was thinking duck. I just need something easy that will blow these people away and not take me forever to make. I want the prep time to be 3 hours or less. Cheebs and Spall, i need you guys!!!!

Well..hmm...lets see what we can come up with.

How many people and are they alergic to anything?
Is it only 1 dish your after or a few small ones?
How long till this dinner party is happening?

Answer those and we can help ya out :)

[pinkfloyd45769]

30 people give or take a few, no allergies that i know of,
1 dish, and i have a week from today. Thanks guys you are the best!!

[Spallalala]

Ok..Give us a lil while and we shall come up with something full of goodness and simplicity. :)

[Spallalala]

Cheebs and I had a bit of a chatter about this and now we wanna make it for dinner ourselves hehe. Heres the idea and then we shall make up a recipe for ya.
Of course this only works if you guys like indian food.

Tandoori chicken ( boneless, so if you got the cash make it chicken breast, if not well just buy thighs)
Raita ( which is yoghurt, cucumber and some mint with a few other small things)
Wraps with all sorts of salad.

What I was thinkin is you could have a few bowls full of stuff.
Salady stuff ( cherry tomatos cut in half, lettuce of your choice, capsicum strips, chiffonade ( means finely shredded) purple cabbage
tandoori chicken
raita

and then you have your wraps. And ya just chuck things in ya wrap and well wrap em up and eat em. :) We have some other ideas too but lets see how we go with that.

[Phalanx]

Yeah, for simplicity, and stuff that usually goes down well crowd-wise, I'd go with something to do with tandoori. It's tasty, can be made mild to spicy, and to make an authentic recipe (no packet shit), it's really quite easy, and definately within your time constraints. Addition of the salads, and the "wraps" is a really simple, healthy, good thing to throw out onto a table, and let everybody dig in (just make sure you use implements for those people that don't "get" that you shouldn't just attacj everything with your hands.
We know some pretty good (from scratch) recipes for all this stuff including the salads, and the raita, when made right....is just fucking unbelievable.

Otherwise, I know how to throw together a few good thai items, some asian/chinese stuff, pretty much a bunch of different "crowd" food. Pastries, assorted salads, some sauces from scratch (a bit more time consuming though)...look, essentially what you want, we can come up with.
But...if you want it easy, I'd go with suggestion #1.
I mean...I can come up with full set meals that'll have these people thinking you're a chef...but the time thing, and people power at your disposal (just you right?) doesn't really make that a possibility.
With the aforementioned, all you have to do is crush up a paste (I'll throw you the recipe) or two, marinade overnight, chop some things up, and make things nice and presentable. Easy.
If you're after any dessert suggestions, might be able to help there too.

- B

[pinkfloyd45769]

Thanks guys!! You two are reminding me of the show Top Chef, i love that show. I'm going to try this,i think it will turn out great!! Thanks again and i might need your help when i start trying to make this.

[Phalanx]

I'll write up the specifics then foward them.

[pinkfloyd45769]

Ok, i just get so nervous with these things.

[crabapple]

oooo yeah. tandoori...oh baby

that's good stuff.

[Spallalala]

Ok, i just get so nervous with these things.

Think about it like your doin something very cool for your friends and there gonna appreciate what ya doin. Dont think of it as hard work or a chore.
Its awesome that you do wanna cook for your friends. Tho they may make you cook for them often hehe.

[ferretchucker]

i know the perfect desert but if you do choose to make it then i suggest you ask cheebs and spal to give you some ideas to make it look nice.

Get about 15 large cooking apples (they must be large) and take the core out. In each one fill the little tunnel made by the core being removed with blackberries or strawberries. It doesnt matter about them being squashed infact that's usually a good thing. Put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes on medium heat (just enough to make them nice and warm.) Try not to leave them in there long enough for the apples to split. Take them out and cut them in half. Make sure you serve them hot and for extra enjoyment pour vanilla custard all over them.

It may not sound that nice but it's an old family recipe and everybody i know who has tried it has loved it.

[Spallalala]

i know the perfect desert but if you do choose to make it then i suggest you ask cheebs and spal to give you some ideas to make it look nice.

Get about 15 large cooking apples (they must be large) and take the core out. In each one fill the little tunnel made by the core being removed with blackberries or strawberries. It doesnt matter about them being squashed infact that's usually a good thing. Put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes on medium heat (just enough to make them nice and warm.) Try not to leave them in there long enough for the apples to split. Take them out and cut them in half. Make sure you serve them hot and for extra enjoyment pour vanilla custard all over them.

It may not sound that nice but it's an old family recipe and everybody i know who has tried it has loved it.

That actually sounds tasty..But what you could do it not leave them whole but cut them in half and put the berrys on them. Chuck a lil mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and caster sugar and throw that on top before baking...MMmmmm thats making me hungry now.

[crabapple]

AH YES! That does sound tasty. I never made a baked apple thing but have always wanted to. I read about one version where you put the apples in a deep dish and then pour ginger ale around them up to about a half inch or so, and then cook them in the ginger ale until they become gingery. Doesn't that sound yommy

[Phalanx]

Fuck yeah, ginger is the shit.
I reckon ginger beer might work better there though, usually more full bodied and concentrated in flavour than the ales.


Pink, just writing up recipes for you now, with a few additional suggestions, I'll have 'em to you sometime (my) tommorow.

[Spallalala]

mmmm..ginger.
Ginger and carrots go so well together. I want to try this sweet carrot dish. Basically its carrots, ginger, honey and mint.

[Vodstok]

this is quick and easy, i whippe dit up on Saturday because my mother in law and grand mother in law ended up having dinner with us unexpectedly (they were going to have to fend for themseleves when Bree and I went out to dinner with her sister, but she didnt show.... :mad: )

Good, old fashioned Meat loaf

ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (96% fat free. 1 lb fed 4 people. You could scale up from there)
worcestshire sauce
beer
whole shallot (small)
onion powder
paprika
1 egg
cider vinegar
kosher salt
black pepper
freash sage (just a little)
fresh thyme
1 slice of bread (ripped into small pieces then finely chopped)
a tiny bit of hot sauce,

dice the shallot into tiny pieces, add all of the dry ingredients (just a few shakes of onion powder, salt, pepper, etc) no more than a splash or two of any of the liquid ingredients. mix thouroughly, but dont over mix. It comes out weird if you do. PLace some bay leaves on the top and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes, for an internal temp of 160 f. OR, if you are pressed for time (like i was), spread it out in the bottom of a cast-iron skillet and bake it like a fritata. takes about 20-30 minutes that way.


Mashed potatoes:

these are easy, clean and dice 4 to 8 potatoes. put them in a steamer and shake some garlic salt and grind some pepper over the top. I like to smash and chop 1 to 3 cloves of garlic and scrape it onto the taters. steam until the pieces are soft enough to poke easily with a fork, and they pull apart if you twist it. dump the water, pour the potatoes into the pot, add a few tablespoons of butter (or your favorite butter substitute), and some milk (maybe a quarter to half of a cup) and mash them with a potato masher (you have one, right?), until nice and smooth. Server with butter. Add salt and/or garlic to taste.

[crabapple]

that sounds good. we should call this the yum yum thread.

[ferretchucker]

what we have done before is take the halves and put them upside down (so the bit with all the berries in is facing down) on one of those merrang (however it's spelt) things that are shaped so they can have fillings. Makes it more expensive but still very nice. I like the cinnamon idea and another thing is to put a small amount of caramel, only a little bit so you dont take away from the overall taste in the little bit were the apple goes. But going back to basics is always good. The custard makes it so nice though.