Weddings and Making Food for Large Parties
I was asked to do some appetizers for a friends wedding September, the wedding was a big one aprox 200 people so I needed to make a huge batch of bruschetta and some herb butter for the bread.
Having never done food for that many people it was a bit nerve wracking but in the end what I did came out perfectly and everyone raved about it.
The bride picked out a specific recipe for the tomato and vinegar mixture so I used that calculating how much I would need to make for such a large group. In the end she ended up getting pre made toasted bread and while not the best decision it was the smartest for the wedding. For a smaller party though I would recommend getting fresh bread and toasting it yourself for a softer and fresher taste.
Here is the link to the original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/bruschetta-recipe.html
The only change to the recipe was we did not use the fresh bread or butter because of the time crunch of the wedding. Usually for this recipe I would definitely use that for smaller parties. Because of the amount I needed to make I also eyeballed portions of this, I tried using a conversion technique for the recipe but in the end I used a lost less of some of the ingredients than the conversion said to. But the main ingredients stayed the same.
The mix of tomatoes and balsamic vinegar was very very tasty I made it over a period of two days, the wedding was on a Saturday and I started work on the mixture on Friday.
One thing to think about when doing something with tomatoes, they already have a lot of liquid in them so you should, if you want less liquid cut the tomatoes and drain them OR use less of the liquids in the recipe. I did not have time to drain the huge amount of tomatoes I was using so we ended up just doing the recipe then I ended up draining off a lot of the vinegar mixture into separate containers to use later after it had soaked in the tomatoes for awhile. There was still plenty of liquid left even after draining off about 30-50%. And I used the excess stuff I drained off in other things at home for about a week or two! YUM...
Herbed whipped butter
For the butter I researched several herb butter recipes as well as how to make whipped butter so it would not turn hard as a rock again after I did the mixtures. I opted to use a small amount of half and half since again I was making this for 200+ people the amounts were a lot more than for say a dinner party. Some of the recipes called for oil but I just thought half and half would be a better mix.
For a small dinner party I would use 2 sticks of butter(salted), fresh basil chopped (about 2-3 tablespoons), 1-2 teaspoon chopped and lightly sauteed shallots, and 2-4 tablespoons half & half.
Soften the butter to room temperature while it is softening chop the basil and shallots. Put the shallots in pan and heat over a medium flame just a little bit to soften them to more of paste and bring out the aroma and flavor; put them over to the side to cool. Put the softened butter in a stand mixer mix in the half & half one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the softness you want. Add all of the shallots and slowly mix in the basil by hand a little at a time tasting it after each mix to see how it tastes.
After I got it to the softness I wanted and the nice fresh basil and shallot taste I spooned it into pretty jam jars with nice labels with the soon-to-be married couples names and the date of the wedding plus what was in the jar.
Having never done food for that many people it was a bit nerve wracking but in the end what I did came out perfectly and everyone raved about it.
The bride picked out a specific recipe for the tomato and vinegar mixture so I used that calculating how much I would need to make for such a large group. In the end she ended up getting pre made toasted bread and while not the best decision it was the smartest for the wedding. For a smaller party though I would recommend getting fresh bread and toasting it yourself for a softer and fresher taste.
Here is the link to the original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/bruschetta-recipe.html
The only change to the recipe was we did not use the fresh bread or butter because of the time crunch of the wedding. Usually for this recipe I would definitely use that for smaller parties. Because of the amount I needed to make I also eyeballed portions of this, I tried using a conversion technique for the recipe but in the end I used a lost less of some of the ingredients than the conversion said to. But the main ingredients stayed the same.
The mix of tomatoes and balsamic vinegar was very very tasty I made it over a period of two days, the wedding was on a Saturday and I started work on the mixture on Friday.
One thing to think about when doing something with tomatoes, they already have a lot of liquid in them so you should, if you want less liquid cut the tomatoes and drain them OR use less of the liquids in the recipe. I did not have time to drain the huge amount of tomatoes I was using so we ended up just doing the recipe then I ended up draining off a lot of the vinegar mixture into separate containers to use later after it had soaked in the tomatoes for awhile. There was still plenty of liquid left even after draining off about 30-50%. And I used the excess stuff I drained off in other things at home for about a week or two! YUM...
Herbed whipped butter
For the butter I researched several herb butter recipes as well as how to make whipped butter so it would not turn hard as a rock again after I did the mixtures. I opted to use a small amount of half and half since again I was making this for 200+ people the amounts were a lot more than for say a dinner party. Some of the recipes called for oil but I just thought half and half would be a better mix.
For a small dinner party I would use 2 sticks of butter(salted), fresh basil chopped (about 2-3 tablespoons), 1-2 teaspoon chopped and lightly sauteed shallots, and 2-4 tablespoons half & half.
Soften the butter to room temperature while it is softening chop the basil and shallots. Put the shallots in pan and heat over a medium flame just a little bit to soften them to more of paste and bring out the aroma and flavor; put them over to the side to cool. Put the softened butter in a stand mixer mix in the half & half one tablespoon at a time until it reaches the softness you want. Add all of the shallots and slowly mix in the basil by hand a little at a time tasting it after each mix to see how it tastes.
After I got it to the softness I wanted and the nice fresh basil and shallot taste I spooned it into pretty jam jars with nice labels with the soon-to-be married couples names and the date of the wedding plus what was in the jar.
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