The scene: one of those long, lovely, shaded outdoor tables overlooking the Tuscan hillside with all 16 family members...
The "problem": I think I'm cooking for them all many nights!
We looked into having someone come in and cook, but it's just not affordable this time.
I would love advice on meals to prepare for that many people given that I don't know what the grocery situation will be.
Anyone have experience with this?
We bought fresh pasta and homemade sauce from small markets in town. And pizza take out too, all fabulous. We had a chef come on one night which was around $40 per person. We ate out every lunch as we were day tripping so dinner was usually a lesser meal .
I have been in that situation, for up to 24 people. I don't relish the idea as much as I used to.
Keep in mind that pasta can cook quickly; if you have a grill you can cook meat, fish and veggies on that.
Perhaps some others in your group would like to give it a whirl. Some of my favorite dinners with friends have been more assembled than cooked. Pick up some great bread, wine, cheese, cold cuts, marinated and fresh vegetables, maybe a fancy dessert from a bakery, at least a few times, depending on how long you are there.
You could alternate your cooking nights with others providing some relief, or have volunteers for different courses. Anyone can make a salad.
It's not affordable to hire someone to cook for the family, but it IS affordable to fly you over to Italy to cook for them? I'm a mom of three grown kids, a grandma, and I totally get wanting to cook for them and them appreciating that you do it better than anyone else. On the other hand, this is your vacation, too. How about (multi-age) teams that each cook one or two nights? How about clean-up teams, too? Make it a competition (if you all are into that) with some fine reward (a big box of chocolates? Some fine bottles of wine?) for team whose meal is voted best, on last night? Remember COOP grocery stores have AMAZING deli counters, with lots of salads, marinated veggies, prepared fish dishes and more. (In Montepulciano it's at the bottom of the hill, a couple of blocks near the gate to enter the old town. Just ask anyone.)
You can buy freshly made ravioli in a Gastronomia/Pastificio shop and freeze them.
Working moms' secret: Frozen ravioli can be thrown into boiling water directly out of the freezer. 3/4 minutes and they are ready. Of course you'll need an huge pot to boil water and cook pasta (stuffed or not) for 16.
You can cook a tomato sauce at the last second using olive oil, salt and peeled bottled tomatoes. Just a couple of spoons of sauce per dish, not tons of it.
Let some days pass and then make ravioli again, but this time with an easy sauce of parmigiano, butter and sage heated together in a frying pan. Take a bit of the pasta water where the ravioli are being coooked and put it in the sage & butter sauce. Call it the Piedmont's day.
The most importan thing is asking the shop to pack the ravioli in 2 separate servings.
Plan B: cold cuts will be your best friends.
Seriously how can one person, on vacation cook for sixteen people most nights?? Surely someone else can help out?
Grilling, is perfect! Meat and veggies! Have the men do it. Pasta. Salad's with canned beans. Cold cuts melon cheese plates, bread. Prepare some lasagna or ziti style lasagna trays and freeze. Frozen ravioli is a good tip.
As Zoe and Darioalb mentioned: think assembly, think cold cuts, aka salumi. Tell everyone they should have a good, hearty lunch, then make evenings easy: salumi, make your own salad items, cheeses, good breads, and of course, vino. Maybe one night a pasta dinner or grilled meats, but dinner for 16 is like Thanksgiving or Christmas every day. I wouldn't do it on my trip, and I love to cook.
Thank you! Great ideas. Simple is key.
I shouldn't have implied that there won't be many helpers... there certainly will be. Just need ideas and coordination.
I assume you will have a car? Research area market days and get your veggies, bread and cheese there. If you have access to a big one like Florence's mercato, even better. Ask whoever owns the property for market suggestions.
Some simple ideas:
1. Roast chicken with rosemary, olive oil. You can even put some potatoes in the pan to roast with the chicken. Or serve with a side of simple pasta.
2. Pasta with a veg like broccoli or asparagus. Toss the asparagus in the pasta water for last few minutes of cooking or even better, grill veggies after brushing with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss pasta with some olive oil (and possibly the pasta cooking water), add the veg and grate some pecorino romano over top.
3. Something like a fajita salad. Improvise on the spice mix but then place cooked chicken or beef over lettuce and diced fresh tomatoes and cheese.
4. Porchetta...roasted pork roast with spices rolled up inside or you can do pork roast that has been rubbed with a mix of mustard, thyme, rosemary and slivers of garlic.
Benefit of some of these dishes is that the leftovers make great sandwiches.
The possibilities are endless...after all Italians love good food too.
I'll come be your cook :).
Just say no. Let everyone have a night. As easy or complicated as they want. I love some of the earlier ideas as to salumi, cheese, bread, salad, etc. We've done that on multiple times. Italy has some of the best possible solutions for easy dining.
As others have said, make your main meal at lunch, and dining outside under the shade overlooking the hillside will make a fine dinner - no matter what you serve.
