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[dritailn]

At the end of next month I have been put in charge of an activity for my church. We will be serving 80-100 people. I have a committee of 8-10 people to help out with it, and we usually like to go a little bit overboard. We have done some pretty fun things and by making everything ourselves we are able to save a lot of budget.

We are planning an Italian dinner where we serve 3-4 different kinds of pastas. We are looking at a marinara with spaghetti, Pesto with linguine and a lemon Parmesan with angel hair. I don't think, considering the crowd, that I can eliminate the spaghetti with marinara, but I'd like to change something around to break of the monotony of long pasta. Ideas for sauces that are good and generally not too technical to make are surely appreciated.

Another thing I am curious about is cooking for 80-100 people. What pitfalls should I look out for in adapting a recipe to feed a lot of people. The church kitchen has two very large cooking pots that can handle all the pasta, but is there special consideration for cooking, or just regular times in boiling water apply?

Thanks,
Dustin

[Wisconsin Limey]

The best way to serve that large a group is to cook the pasta half way, i.e. very al dente, then combine it with the sauce in a hotel pan or Nesco roaster and finish in the oven.  (Covered with foil.)

Just be sure to take it out of the heat before it is tender.  It will continue to cook so pull it when it is al dente.

It is easier to do with thicker pastas like mostaccioli that are harder to overcook.  Don't do angel hair, go with thick spaghetti or fettucini.  The thinner pasta may be perfect when you serve the first diner but it will have turned to mush before the last ones go through, remember, you have to serve it hot!

[Zalbar]

Minestrone soup!

Should hold hot forever!!

[Smurfe]

Have you considered lasagna or maybe manacotti? Would probably be my go to's over long noodles. Can be made well ahead of time. Easy to re-heat if ovens are available.

[labradors]

Baked Ziti!

[Oschmedly]

During the time frame that you are looking at and to stay within a budget, I would look at pasta primavera.  Keeping to the vegtables that are in season during this time frame. 

[dritailn]

The best way to serve that large a group is to cook the pasta half way, i.e. very al dente, then combine it with the sauce in a hotel pan or Nesco roaster and finish in the oven.  (Covered with foil.)

Just be sure to take it out of the heat before it is tender.  It will continue to cook so pull it when it is al dente.

It is easier to do with thicker pastas like mostaccioli that are harder to overcook.  Don't do angel hair, go with thick spaghetti or fettucini.  The thinner pasta may be perfect when you serve the first diner but it will have turned to mush before the last ones go through, remember, you have to serve it hot!

Thanks for this tip, I think this is what we're going to want to go with, technique wise, but I'm not sure I have the concept down. I think I understand the basic concept, but what I'm not sure is the time frames that I should be expecting here. When I cover with foil and put in the oven what time frame should I be expecting it to finish? Just a ball park estimate would be fine, I can experiment ahead of time to fine tune. Also what oven temperature am I looking at?

What we're currently looking at is a Spaghetti with Marinara, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Pesto, but I'm still not sure what type of pasta we want to do it with. We wanted to get a little more creative, but I'm not thinking the pallets of the people we're serving are going to be terribly adventurous.

Also we want to serve a salad as an appetizer with bread and oil/vinegar, what kind of salad would you all recommend, and tips for mass salad prep?

One more thing We want to serve home made gelato. We've done about ten different batches in three sessions (for some reason my girlfriend had four ice cream makers sitting around her place). I don't think we'll be serving competition gelato by any stretch, but I think what we're coming out with is going to please most people. The only real problem that we're having is with the sweet cream flavor. It tastes too eggy. We think it might be from sitting in the fridge overnight, but we're not sure. We did one batch with 2 egg yokes with 2oz sugar to 16oz milk, 8 oz half and half, and it turned out great, no overnight set, but it seems like it picked up a more eggy tast the next day. We did another batch that had 1 egg yoke with 2oz sugar to 16oz milk and 8 oz whipping cream, let it sit in the fridge overnight and then put it in the ice cream maker, it seemed to have a stronger egg taste with half the egg in it. We were told that "authentic" gelato has egg yolks in it, which I'm sure it does, but it just doesn't seem like the stuff I was getting in Italy had such a strong egg taste. The original recipe calls for 4 egg yolks, which just seems extreme, help?

The recipe we are basing off of can be found here...
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gelato/Detail.aspx

Thanks guys,
Dustin

[Wisconsin Limey]

@dritalian

Timing is a matter of experience.  It is a combination of oven temp and efficiency coupled with starting temp and pan size.  The bigger the pan, the longer it will take to heat up.  The colder the starting product, the longer it will take to heat up.  Half baked pasta in a 6" deep pan can take an hour once covered in foil and placed in a 350F oven.  I would put in in 2 hours before serving and pull it when done and keep it warm on the stove top.   A big pan full of pasta will retain it's heat for a long time in a warm draft free place.

The key is:  Make sure it is done on time or early!

Mass salad prep is a matter of opening a few bags of prepared salad and dumping into a large bowl for self service or pre-loading 100 small bowls.  It is also a good idea to offer at least three different salad dressings, Italian, French and one other of your choice.

Try this recipe for gelato, the technique of beating and folding in the heavy cream adds a wonderful gelato like texture.

[dritailn]

Haha, it was a lot of fun. We were in WAY over our heads, but the activity turned out the be a resounding success.

The people were used to having light hours devours type food for these activities. The pasta was slightly mushy, we burn part of the risotto, the beans were runny and the gelato wasn't done on time. But it didn't seem to effect people attitudes and excitment level. The atmosphere was good, we put flowers and table cloths on the tables, and people raved about how good the food was.

Very valuable for our personal education. Thanks guys for your help