FoodieChat

Part 2 of budget cooking for 50 – breakfast. Menu: scrambled eggs, sausages, grilled tomatoes, toast. (sorry but hash browns too fiddly).

Scrambled eggs: allow 2.5 eggs per person. So that’s 11 dozen eggs.  Find 2 massive casserole pots, and break half the eggs into each.  Using an electric handheld mixer, beat the eggs, and add in 5 teaspoons of salt into each as well as the same of cracked black pepper. Mix in 300ml of thickened cream (or full fat milk if you’re watching your weight ). (more…)

A couple of weeks ago I put up my hand to cook for 50 people over a weekend away… that was before I knew that I had only an electric cooktop, 2 rack electric oven, one 2-slice toaster, 1 kettle, and a BBQ!! Needless to say, my helpers and I were too busy to take many photos, but here’s a few hints and recipes in case you need to whip up meals for 50 people!

Chicken shish kebabs

13kg chicken breast or thigh, cubed 

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Ever found yourself in a situation where you’ve purchased a 7kg frozen turkey 2 days before Christmas, and wondering how you’ll ever have enough time to thaw it, let alone cook it?  Well I did, and here’s some wisdom/tips I can share.

1. Even though the turkey packet says that each kilogram requires 18 hrs to thaw in the fridge, and not to thaw it on the kitchen bench, it doesn’t actually say that you shouldn’t thaw it by sitting it in a bath of water On my estimationg 18 hrs x 7 kgs is around 5 days. And I only had 2. So in the water it goes.  Did you know that it actually floats? No problem. Anchor it down with a 2L bottle of diet coke.  the next morning, I found that it started to seep some yucky pink liquid, so I took it out, ripped open the packet, and washed my turkey. Seemed thawed enough (after 24 hrs) so I put in my fridge just in case. (more…)

One pot cooking for 15 friends? Go for a paella. I must admit I’ve always been scared off because a) it uses saffron – so expensive and how do you use it b) seafood – and lots of it – how do you time it correctly and c) well it’s kinda exotic.  Well thanks to a SunRice recipe and also Donna Hay, I’ve come up with a hybrid of the two recipes that seemed to please the crowd I had over.  I served it with sangria too – as long as there’s red wine, vodka, chopped fruit – the variations are up to you!

Ingredients (for 15)

• 2 cups arborio rice
• a pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tblspoons hot water
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chorizo sausages
• 1 squid tube
• 1 sliced red capsicum
• half kg of uncooked prawns
• 500g chicken meat
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 300g piece of fish fillet (I used barramundi)
• 1 tablespoon smokey paprika
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

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