Entertaining Ideas
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Success - three course sit down for large group
I hosted DH's colleagues/spouses tonight for a formal sit down dinner. There was a lot of organized prep work prior to people arriving but after they arrived - it was a piece of cake. I'm so glad I did the single serve. I posted on here a few weeks ago when I asked about ideas. Thought I'd share how it worked out for us.
With the weather being cold here, we set up a table outside the door to the garage (since it is off the kitchen) and was able to use that as my 'cooler/fridge'. This helped me be able to prep most items and we could just set them out on the table until we were ready for them.
Appetizers (we did drinks/appetizers buffet style)
- veggie cocktail (in a tall shot glass I filled it half way with a ranch/cucumber dip and added a tall thin carrot + slice of green pepper + tall/thin slice of cucumber). I prepped these this AM and then covered with wet paper towel + tented foil to keep them fresh.
- shrimp cocktail (in small parfait type cup (as seen at pier one) I put cocktail sauce and then put three shrimp on the rim). Again, I covered with wet paper towel and tented with foil to keep moist/fresh.
- Sweet meatballs (served in a foil container/chaffing set-up to keep them warm) with mini little forks.
Sit Down - I had the table already set including water glasses poured, sliced baguette on the table covered + mini dish next to each setting with dab of butter + garlic herb butter)
Caprese Salad (I stacked it tomato - mozzerella + basil and swirled the plate with EVOO + sprinkle of sea salt and pepper). I prepped these about 1 hour before guests arrived and then tented with foil. They were on two platters so DH held the platter and I served.
Shepherd's Pie (Alton Brown's recipe + a few tweaks served in individual casserole dishes. I placed a holiday paper napkin on the charger to protect it from the heat of the casserole dish. As DH cleared the salad plates, I put the casserole dishes on a cool serving tray. Again, he held the tray while I served). I put these together in AM so that the cooking smell was out of the house by evening. Then I just popped them in oven shortly before serving the salads.
Dessert (2 white chinese soup style spoons on a plate each with a bite of ice cream from Jeni's: Brambleberry Crisp and Milk chocolate + vanilla cake ball). I prepped the ice cream part and put them on plates in the deep freeze in the AM. I added the cake ball right before serving. Again, DH cleared the casserole dishes while I put the cake ball on the ice cream plates.
The End!
It was so easy - I mean there was a lot of prep work before people arrived but it was organized and the best part was that both DH and I were able to enjoy our sit down meal without feeling like we were rushing around. My menu was planned for 12 adults.
With the weather being cold here, we set up a table outside the door to the garage (since it is off the kitchen) and was able to use that as my 'cooler/fridge'. This helped me be able to prep most items and we could just set them out on the table until we were ready for them.
Appetizers (we did drinks/appetizers buffet style)
- veggie cocktail (in a tall shot glass I filled it half way with a ranch/cucumber dip and added a tall thin carrot + slice of green pepper + tall/thin slice of cucumber). I prepped these this AM and then covered with wet paper towel + tented foil to keep them fresh.
- shrimp cocktail (in small parfait type cup (as seen at pier one) I put cocktail sauce and then put three shrimp on the rim). Again, I covered with wet paper towel and tented with foil to keep moist/fresh.
- Sweet meatballs (served in a foil container/chaffing set-up to keep them warm) with mini little forks.
Sit Down - I had the table already set including water glasses poured, sliced baguette on the table covered + mini dish next to each setting with dab of butter + garlic herb butter)
Caprese Salad (I stacked it tomato - mozzerella + basil and swirled the plate with EVOO + sprinkle of sea salt and pepper). I prepped these about 1 hour before guests arrived and then tented with foil. They were on two platters so DH held the platter and I served.
Shepherd's Pie (Alton Brown's recipe + a few tweaks served in individual casserole dishes. I placed a holiday paper napkin on the charger to protect it from the heat of the casserole dish. As DH cleared the salad plates, I put the casserole dishes on a cool serving tray. Again, he held the tray while I served). I put these together in AM so that the cooking smell was out of the house by evening. Then I just popped them in oven shortly before serving the salads.
Dessert (2 white chinese soup style spoons on a plate each with a bite of ice cream from Jeni's: Brambleberry Crisp and Milk chocolate + vanilla cake ball). I prepped the ice cream part and put them on plates in the deep freeze in the AM. I added the cake ball right before serving. Again, DH cleared the casserole dishes while I put the cake ball on the ice cream plates.
The End!
It was so easy - I mean there was a lot of prep work before people arrived but it was organized and the best part was that both DH and I were able to enjoy our sit down meal without feeling like we were rushing around. My menu was planned for 12 adults.
Re: Success - three course sit down for large group
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Sounds amazing! I know you are feeling proud of your accomplishment. Now that you've done that, you are good for anything. Making serving portions is the way I do it, too, to assure enough food. So glad it went so well!
*going to start mentally prepping for my 22-person sitdown steak dinner...*