Fun Playing With Comfort Food For A Crowd

This past weekend, we traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to "guest chef" for the annual Cincinnati Area Mensa Regional Gathering. We've been doing this for the last few years, and it is always great fun. We prepared to serve about 150 people a Winter Wonderland, "Comfort Food Cafe."

We prepped and froze most of the food in advance. Thursday morning, we packed up the car and headed to Cincy. We arrived at the event hotel and unpacked. Volunteers arrived to "slice and dice" various produce and snack items, and other volunteers to wash the dishes, which are packed up clean, but stored in a garage all year.

It was during this latter process that we encountered a truly "Dinner Impossible" scenario. As noted, all of the group's Hospitality supplies are stored in a member's garage - well, apparently raccoons got into the garage this year, because their pawprints were everywhere. Items stored in plastic boxes were still pristine, but all of the cardboard storage boxes (for chafing dishes and roasters) had to be pitched, and the contents thoroughly sanitized; the group bought some new Rubbermaid storage boxes to re-store those items in after the event. It made for a more stressful start to the event than any of us was really prepared for. Thanks to a couple of terrific volunteers, though, we got everything ready to go by Friday morning, when Bob and I would begin to prep Friday's dinner.

We made two soups in advance and reheated them on butane cookers. The recipe for Bean and Barley soup came from Steve Sando's wonderful new cookbook, Heirloom Beans.


Rancho Gordo's Bean & Barley Soup



The second soup was Split Pea Soup, as made by my mother for her wedding anniversary every year while she was able-bodied. You'll see the secret ingredient in a moment.


Pea Soup With . . . Slices of Hebrew National Frankfurter!

This is how a Jewish cook solves the dilemma of wanting meaty smokiness in pea soup without using pork. As a kid, I remember picking at the soup - and picking out all of the hotdog slices, which were of course the best part!

I made the third soup on site. Since it required a lot of dairy, I was concerned that it wouldn't freeze well.


Creamy Pecan Soup



We made three entrees. First - Cheesy Corn Bake, a recipe posted on the Cleveland.com Food & Wine Forum by cookbook author Linda Griffith, and a variation on a recipe from her wonderful book, The Best of the Midwest.





We offered two meat choices.


Mom's Meatloaf

My mom, of course, made the best meatloaf. Very simple - seasoned with salt, pepper, sweet paprika, garlic powder and onion powder, with egg and matzoh meal. She topped it with Ragu sauce (I used Hunt's for this project), and baked it covered. It received rave reviews.

Unfortunately, I failed to snap a photo of the Chicken Paprikash. A real shame - it was the first time I ever made this, and it came out perfectly. All 18 pounds were consumed.

We served these mains with noodles.



And a salad bar, which I also neglected to photograph.

For desserts, we offered two crockpots of "Chocolate Mess":


Chocolate Cake Mix, Eggs, Oil, Sour Cream, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Chips

We offered vanilla ice cream and butterscotch toppings to accompany the Mess.

And, it wouldn't have been a Winter Wonderland without some Snowballs!


Peanut Butter Snowballs



All in all, a warm and cozy repast.

I also photographed some of the other food offered over the weekend. Saturday's lunch was Katie's first time as a Hospitality Meal Manager, and with a little help from Virginia, she pulled off a lovely meal.


Virginia's Creamed Spinach Soup


Virginia's Mild Chili Soup


Vegetarian Refried Beans


Shredded Chicken with Taco Seasoning


Ground Beef With Taco Seasoning


Fixins




Virginia's Cucumber-Egg Salad

I was too tired to photograph Virginia's Saturday dinner - Creamy Chicken Soup, Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup, and three entrees: Pulled Pork with Apricot Sauce, Rice, Beef Stew and Mac & Cheese. Virginia also made a beet and egg salad, and provided a salad bar. Death by Dessert followed a few hours after dinner.

I also slept through both breakfasts catered by Ernie & Nita, who served about 160 made-to -order omelette's.

A fun and filling weekend was had by all!

Fun Playing the One-Armed Chef

I've posted before about my exploits as a would-be Chef, feeding up to 175 people at a time at various Regional Gatherings and other parties - here is last December at Cincinnati, and here is last Sept-Oct in Elyria. We'd been planning this Fall's Cleveland RG for months - then my August accident happened, putting a "tear" in my plans. Fortunately, my dear friend Virginia immediately volunteered to be my "right arm," together with her husband Phil (himself nursing a terrible hip). My husband Bob agreed to supplement my still-working left arm - and awaaayy we went! Virginia supplied three wonderful soups, which I did not get to photograph, and which we served with Friday's dinner. Bob made two soups, which we served with Saturday lunch. BLT soup, recipe from Paula Deen:

  Lettuce Cooks Down

Onion & Bacon Already Cooked Down

Garden Heirloom Tomatoes Await the Pot

Yum! But wait - there's more!

Heavy Cream is added just prior to service

 

 I admit, I didn't think it would work (cooked iceberg lettuce!) - but it was delicious! Another item we pre-prepped was Chocolate Covered Bacon with Almonds. We learned this one courtesy of Iron Chef Michael Symon and his new show, Dinner Impossible (though Michael later told me that this was a Cory Barrett invention). Even though my right arm was still in a sling, I was able to help with this dish by chopping the almonds in the food processor, them sprinkling them on the bacon with my left hand!

  Milk Chocolate is Gently Melted 

Almonds are Chopped

Bacon is Crisped in the Oven

Another Yum! 

 As Served

Speaking of service, we ran a little late getting Friday's dinner out. So, all I could get was a lone shot of the service line, before the hordes descended:

   

 Right to left, we had Salad Bar, Whole Wheat Cous-Cous, Peas & Garden Mint Salad, Hummus with Pita Chips, Garden Stuffed Tomatoes (made by Bob and looking kinda like the image that follows), Chinese BBQ Pork Buns from Cleveland's Koko Bakery, and Virginia's 3 Soups (Pumpkin Cheddar, Creamy Chicken, and Garden Miscellany). 

  Test Batch Sample of Stuffed Garden Tomatoes I also neglected to get a shot across the room at the 18 Qt Roaster filled with Potato Perogies made by the grandmas of St. Josephat's Church in Parma, accompanied by sauerkraut, red cabbage, and sauteed onions donated by Mary Ann, who didn't even attend the gathering! We kept the snacks coming after dinner, including a freezer full of ice cream treats and a hotdog cooking machine. I collapsed into bed after 2am - I did NOT photograph breakfast, which Virginia was kind enough to prepare with the help of Al and his 15 loaves of quick breads. Saturday's lunch included the BLT soup shown above, and this irresistible tomato soup featuring more of Bob's heirlooms:

   

Garden Azoychka (Yellow) Tomato Soup

  We also served a "make your own sandwich" bar and some salads.

   

This delightful Ham Mousse was donated by Robert - who was in his 30th year attending Cleveland Regional Gatherings. He had supplied an identical platter for Friday dinner.  

Again, the food line started with a salad bar.

  Here, in addition to some spicy peppers from our garden, and Robert's mousse, you can see a delightfully sweet and sour bean salad, which helped to answer the question - what to do with a #6 can of green beans? I would like to credit EGullet's own CaliPoutine for sharing her recipe with me - I regret I didn't get a close up photo of the finished product, but it was really delicious, as well as cheap and easy. Thankfully, Saturday dinner was catered by the hotel (though I honestly thought our food was better!). That meant that after dinner, all we needed to do was set up more snacks to hold the masses into the evening and on! That and get the homebrew rootbeer floats going - a Cleveland RG tradition I am proud to be responsible for!

   

Salad bar converts into bain marie to keep cheese, dip and crudites cold.

   

 Of course, there is also dessert! Colleen D. made these 4 lovely and tasty cakes for us, and Mary Ann made the brownies. The cookies came courtesy of Virginia and Barbara from the Akron group!

  And yes - there is more Chocolate Covered Bacon at the rear left.

  Last but not least - a lot of people ask me - "What do you do at a Mensa Gathering"? Well, in addition to playing with our food, sometimes, we get a little silly. Saturday afternoon, a lady who had been a great help with prep on Friday returned, and dropped off a bag of vegetables from her farm, and another bag with gorgeous gourds. One gourd, in particular seemed to fascinate people. Unable to resist any longer, Bob decided to play with his non-food food - and created the following:

   

Silly, isn't it? And hard to believe it was over so fast. Well, the pain and swelling in my feet late Sunday confirmed that it was indeed over. And Monday was Rosh Hashonah already! Eeke! What to do? Play with holiday food, of course! Stay tuned!