Help!

xxdilemmaxx

Ok, just bought an apartment and having a bit of a getogether this saturday for all my relatives as they haven't seen the place yet. Have promised food but the guest list has jumped from about 7 people to 20! Any ideas of what to make? Trying to impress

feylya

Big pot of curry and a lasagne or two?

r3nu4l

How about some cous cous and stir-fry.

To make cous cous simply calculate roughly 50 g per person. Boil 50 mls water per person (add olive oil and salt to taste, or not).

Take the pot off the heat.

Dump the cous cous (50 g per person) in on top of the water and leave for three minutes.

Stir-fry some chopped chicken breasts, kidney beans, red onions, mushrooms, diced red/orange/yellow/green pepper.

Add a medium curry paste or spices to taste.

The stir-fry can be made the night before, allowed to cool and put in the fridge, meaning you only have to make the cous-cous and then microwave the stir-fry

bonkey

Big bowl of chilli.

Serve with dishes of homemade guacamole, a proper tomato salsa crudo, sour cream, grated cheese, and a couple of bowls of tortilla chips.

Add in some dishes refried beans, wild rice and you're sorted for any number of people without too much work.

olaola

Lasagnas are great - you can make them in advance and the taste only gets better when you re-heat them.
Moussaka is also great - like lasagna, it tastes great re-heated.
A pot of curry or something like chicken and bacon pasta sauce.
Beef stroganoff - one of the big pot classics!
Chorizo stew with baby potatoes in it - is also good.
Meatballs.
Potato tortillas are great eaten cold and are easy to serve.

Salads - cous cous, pasta and a green salad. Plenty of bread rolls and that sort of thing.

Someone did mention stir-frys. Something I would avoid tbh as the veg will go soggy, unless you are cooking it fresh, which is WAY too much hassle + mess for an apartment get-together.

Remember to cater for the veggies - I would usually do a veggie curry and the salads + potato tortilla would be suitable for them too.

CJhaughey

I would go with Bonkeys idea, I have used it many times myself always with a good success rate.
I would also have some flour tortillas and some shredded lettuce, that way people can make their own tortilla wraps if they desire.

xxdilemmaxx

Thanks guys - think I will go with the chili. Anyone have any nice recipes? Bonkey how do you make homemade guacamole and tomato salso crudo??

bonkey

Here's how I make mine...

In both cases, I would consider this enough for 4-5 people, assuming I'm doing both, and the other bits that have been suggested. For 20 bods, I'd use 4x the amount I'm giving here.

Guacamole

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Take 1 avocado, cut in two, remove the stone, scoop the flesh out into yoru food processor
Add 1 garlic clove.
Take 1 lime, and cut the skin off. Cut into 2 wedges, then remove the "thin end" of each wedge (where the degments all join). Throw this into your fodo processor
Add some salt, and a dash of tabasco.
For variety, add a large handful of fresh coriander.

Blitz it all down. Add more lime/salt if needed.

If you don't have a food processor, then mash the avocado flesh up with a fork, crush the garlic, use the juice of the lime only, and finely chop your coriander before adding.

Notes
- avocado (and thus guacamole) will decolour once cut. Its a wives-tale that leaving the avocado stone in the guacamole will prevent this. One trick you can do is to not add the lime juice before mixing, but rather squeeze it over the rest after mixing, and then mix it in just before serving. The lime-juice will both act as a barrier against the air as well as an anti-oxidant.

- I usually use 2 cloves of garlic per avocado, and sometimes use a fresh chilli instead of the tabasco. I also like my guacamole to be quite strong in lime flavour so might use more than 1 lime per avocado if they're not juicy.

Salsa Crudo

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Finely dice equal 1 fresh tomato 1 and onion (preferably red, about teh same size as the tomato). Add a large pinch of salt, a dash of lemon-juice (or lime-juice), some freshly ground pepper and a glug of sunflower oil.
Mix well.
Allow to sit for an hour or three before use.

bonkey

Hmm...I remember discussing chilli recipes here recently too, but can't find the thread.

CJhaughey

I find that you can pad the Guacamole out with some sour cream, this works well especially if you get the idea at the last minute and the avocados are as hard as handgrenades.
I find that you need to add sour cream in order to get a nice texture.