tammylc

Here's how you make Jambalaya for 40 (28 meat eaters, 8 vegetarians, and a bunch of assorted kids). Spent $110 on... 3 lbs onions 2 celery hearts 4 red pepper 4 green peppers 1 bunch parsley 2 qts chicken stock 1 qt veggie stock 5 lg cans diced tomatoes 2 lbs andouille sausage 34 chicken thighs 6 lbs rice 4 pkgs tempeh 1 bottle liquid smoke 4 heads lettuce 3 pkgs grape tomatoes 1 pkg frozen peas 2 lg cheesecakes 1 jar sour cherry preserves In addition to the above ingredients, I used some garlic and spices that were already in the kitchen and a bunch of thyme from the common house herb garden. Trader Joe's rocks. Got most of my ingredients there really cheap, not to mention the cheesecakes, which everyone raved over. I can't *make* a 3 1/2 pound cheesecake for $8 - I'll be buying that for common meal dessert again for sure. Dinner was good. The liquid smoke definitely helped make the vegetarian version have more of the spirit of the meaty version. I shouldn't have put back the extra package of chicken that I had in my cart - I know there were people who wanted more than one chicken thigh per person, and I was worried about budget - didn't realize how little I'd spent until I checked out. And I should have bought more lettuce - even throwing in the extra package I had at home, they were still pretty skimpy salads. I decided not to go the baked route, and for the meat version I instead cooked the rice separately and combined it at the last minute. Worked really well, and we didn't have to worry about it taking too long to cook, or getting burnt on the bottom, etc. For the veggie version, we just cooked it on the stove, since we were only cooking it for 8 people. It burnt a little on the bottom, but that was okay. Cheap and pretty easy. We weren't stressed for time at all. I think this'll go into my regular repetoire.

Thanks again, everyone. We really only got to one place of your recommendations - Jaleo, and it was pretty good. At least, I thought it was good, but everyone else thought it was entirely unmemorable, except for SteveKLC's desserts, which were phenemonal. Thursday night we just wandered into the Crystal City Shops and went to King Street Blues, where one of our group had been on previous trips. Good basic food. My husband's ribs were fall-off-the-rib tender, and the sauce was good, but the ribs themselves were a little on the flavorless side. I had a passable meatloaf that was redeemed by a mound of very good garlic mashed potatoes, and what must have been an entire head of perfectly steamed broccoli! They were amazingly accomodating of the kids, bringing over a big piece of cornbread for the one year old to munch on while we were figuring out what to order. Friday was a field trip to Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium, and since I'd failed to ask for suggestions for the Inner Harbor -and- we were short on time -and- it was raining, we ended up at California Pizza Kitchen. 'Nuff said. The trip back from Baltimore was hell because of an accident on the highway and at least an hour of stop and go traffic, with one of our party having a migraine that got steadily worse... So there was no going out that night. Instead we looked through the tourist/restaurant guide in the room and found a Thai Restaurant whose only recommendation was "We Deliver" in big letters. Luckily for us, it was really quite good. The restaurant was Top Thai, and we tried the pad thai, green curry and beef stirfried with basil and chili oil. The next evening was our night for one nice meal, and we chose Jaleo over Oyamel - I would have gone with Oyamel, but I was overruled. We ordered a bunch of tapas, then a bunch more when we were still hungry, then some excellent desserts. Highlights were the two rice dishes we tried - the black rice with cuttlefish, and the rice with mushrooms and smoked cheese, both of which were excellent. The marinated anchovies, roasted sweet onions and rosemary lamb chops were really good. There was much debate over which of the desserts was the best, but I have to say that my "Basque cake with semolina cream, cinnamon-vanilla sauce & ice milk" was one of the best desserts I've had this year. But as I said above, no one else was much impressed. Might have been that we were all distracted by the three kids, two of whom were having overtired meltdowns periodically. The restaurant was certainly kid-accepting, if not entirely kid-friendly, but we should have planned to eat at 5:30 instead of 6:15... And that was it. Good trip - it was really all about having fun with friends, not the food. My next trip to DC in two weeks will be more about the food. Minibar on Friday, and The Taberna del Alabardero on Saturday - I'm bringing my stepmom to do childcare! Thanks again.

Thanks to whoever changed the title! And thanks for all the suggestions. We're heading off to the airport in an hour or so.

I'd go with Eve or Zingerman's Deli. Eve is bistro/wine bar, slow food/natural/seasonal/local ingredients. Good. Zingerman's is the best deli in the midwest - Alex describes it pretty well. What I might do, if I were you, is go to Eve for dinner, then wander over to Zingerman's (it's just around the corner) and check out the retail store. Grab a loaf of bread for the next day, sample some cheese, maybe get desert at "Zingerman's Next Door" if you didn't like Eve's offerings. The thing to know about Zingerman's is that they will let you sample *anything*! Want to try some 150 year old balsalmic vinegar? Just ask.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. We're leaving tomorrow, so I just wanted to bump this up in case anyone had anything last minute to add. The key here isn't the availability of kid friendly food (as only one of the three actually eats table food), just somewhere that can handle a group of 6 adults, 1 four year old and two babies, y'know? Crystal City-specific suggestions are especially sought, since I'm not sure how willing we're going to be to go very far. I'm thinking Jaleo for our one sorta special meal - there's a Crystal City location, right? Do I need/do they take reservations for an early Saturday dinner? Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions. I just did some looking, and there are a bunch of baked Jambalaya recipes out there, so I'm not the first person to think of it. I'll report back on how it turns out!

Well, if anyone's still reading this thread, I'm looking for advice. I've put Jambalaya on the menu for Sunday dinner, and I'm looking for thoughts on methods. I need to make both veggie and meat eater versions. I can't use shrimp or shellfish of any kind due to allergies, so I'm planning chicken and sausage for the meat Jambalaya, and probably tofu and some sort of fake sausage for the veggies. Most recipes I've seen for Jambalaya have you cook the rice in the liquid in a pot on the stove. That seems like it wouldn't work well in quantity. So my current thought is this: Cook the sausage, then brown the chicken (thighs and legs on the bone, I'm thinking) in the sausage fat. Saute the veggies in the same pan. Add my liquid, bring it up to a boil. Distribute chicken and sausage and rice in casserole pans (we serve family style, so there will several small casseroles), top with liquid/veggie mixture, put in the oven and bake. Do you think that would work? It's sorta like baked chicken and rice, just with extra stuff... How long do you think it would need to bake? Any other ideas or suggestions?

Long time no posting! But the baby has been keeping me from visiting eGullet as much as I might like. But I just got a PM from someone who'd been missing this thread, so here's the latest installment, from a meal I cooked a couple of weeks ago... Back to the kitchen for my first head cook shift post-Liam. I paid one of the neighbor kids to play with him in the common house while I cooked, and that worked really well. She's still too young to babysit on her own, but the "mother's helper" thing worked great and was $7 well spent. The menu was ham for the meat eaters, stuffed squash for the vegetarians, and scalloped potatoes, carrots, salad and pie for everybody. All told I think I spent around $150 dollars on food, for 44 adults/teens and 16 or so kids. I had my assistant go shopping at the farmer's market yesterday morning, and we saved a bunch of money that way, not to mention getting nice fresh local produce. Here's what it takes to cook dinner for 60: 1 8-lb ham 1 gallon apple cider 15 acorn squash 2 loaves Zingerman's bread 6 onions 2 celery hearts 1 lb walnuts 1/2 lb pecans 2 pkgs Craisins veggie stock from bouillon paste 15 lbs potatoes 6 leeks 1 1/2 gallons milk 1 lb butter 7 lbs carrots 1 bag of mixed greens 2 heads of lettuce (leftover from last night's meal) 7 tomatoes (leftover) 1 cucumber (leftover) 5 cheap storebought pies The timing was tricky, but in the end it all came out perfectly. I cooked the squash and cubed the bread last night. Started cooking around 3:30 today, cleaning and slicing potatoes in the food processor. When my assistant cooks came at 4 pm we finished the potatoes, sliced up the leeks, and set to layering the potatoes in 8 bakers. Got them in the oven by 4:30, four to an oven. Brought the ham over to my house to heat up in the apple cider - not enough oven space in the common house. Took a break to nurse Liam while my assistants sliced the onions and celery and sauteed them. Mixed up the rest of the stuffing - bread, nuts, craisins, poultry seasoning, pepper. Added the cooked veggies and mixed it all up with veggie stock to moisten. Stuffed 30 squash halves. An hour had elapsed in the cooking of the potatoes. Took off the lids and consolidated all the potatoes in one oven, raising the temperature to make sure they'd be done in time. Loaded the squash halves into the other oven. Put together the salad. Set the tables. Sliced and plated the ham. Plated the squash. Took the scalloped potatoes out of the oven. Plated the carrots. Sliced the pies. Took some excess liquid off the potatoes. Got them to the tables, and called for a kid to ring the bell and let the hordes descend at 6:15 on the button. It was fun. And tasty! The ham was still a little cold in the middle, but it was pre-cooked, so no biggie there. The scalloped potatoes had too much liquid and too much black pepper - easy things to fix if I do it again- but were done (my biggest worry - they were in the oven for about 90 minutes all told) and tasty. The squash came out great and was a big hit. Carrots were perfectly done and wonderfully sweet - that's what fresh from the market will get you!

Thanks busboy - those look great. Anybody else?

I'm going to be visiting DC in the beginning of November with some friends. We've got either two couples with a 6 month old and a 1 year old, and possibly one other couple with a 4 year old. We all love good food and good restaurants, but obviously our eating out habits have got to change with all these kids in tow. (Last time I was in DC it was Citronelle and Maestro - this'll be a big change!) Anyone have any suggestions for places to eat while we're in town? We don't need kids menus (the four year old is pretty flexible and the other two don't eat regular food yet), just somewhere that won't mind a bunch o' kids in tow. It's just too easy to default to chain hell when you're not sure where to go, and I'd really like to avoid that. We're very omnivorous and like all kinds of food. We'll be staying at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington/Crystal City, but will be in DC proper as well. We won't have a car, so need things that are within walking distance of Metro stops. Thanks!

Different strokes for different folks. I quite like many courses and combinations of weird ingredients. Caviar and quail eggs would elicit cries of joy from me, not a call for a barf bucket. "Better" is in the eye of the beholder. You know what you like. You can get what you like in plenty of great restaurants. Eat at those, and leave the multi-course tasting menu restaurants for those of us that appreciate them.

Also, Ann Arbor is only about 30 minutes away, so a visit to Zingerman's Deli wouldn't be out of the question and is highly recommended - www.zingermans.com. Or look at any one of the many Ann Arbor threads on the board to see if there's something else that makes it worth the trip. If you decide to make a visit to Ann Arbor, let me know - I love to show people around and introduce them to our culinary highlights...

Tomatoes Apizza is a must. Naples style thin crust pizza from a CIA trained chef. Really, really good. The Citysearch entry with map: http://detroit.citysearch.com/profile/5275484/ Order the white with extra garlic. You won't regret it.

We like Szechuan West on Stadium. You said you're willing to drive - are you willing to cross international borders? Windsor has quite a thriving Chinatown just off the exit from the bridge. BBQ duck and squid in shop windows and everything... Wah Court on Wyandotte has great dim sum.

Having eaten Grant's food twice now, I'd say that it all sounds very appetizing. He takes the oddest combinations and makes them absolutely sing. Food as toys - sure! His food is filled with a sense of whimsy that I think is utterly delightful. Is any of this really so far away from "Breakfast at Citronelle," Mark?

I frequently pick up a bottle or two of ice wine when passing through the duty free from visiting relatives in Canada. Price is usually around $50 CAN, which is a steal. Although Iniskillin is the big name in ice wine, I was really disappointed in their Vidal - just like others have said, it was cloying and overly sweet. I have a bottle of Reisling from them in the basement that I'm hoping to enjoy more. But one of the best dessert wines I've ever had was the `1999 Vidal ice wine from Reif - incredible nose of pear, light and crisp, sweet but not syrupy, perfect balance of acid and sugar. Pears and kiwi on the palate. And a finish that lasted for a good five minutes. I've not seen it again at the duty free, but when I make it up to Niagara wine country, I'll definitely make a stop at Reif and hope their latest bottling is as good.

I lust after that too. Sooooo good.

White. Because I'm an acidophile who loves wine that tastes like I'm licking rocks, and well, those characteristics are just more common in whites...

Yep. Common descriptors for VA include - paint thinner, acetone, vinegar - anything in that family.

What you describe as the "paint thinner" in your wine is often referred to as "volatile acidity" or VA. It is considered a flaw in the wine and thus you probably would have been safe sending it back. It can have a tendency to "blow off" after the wine's been open for while, which seems to be what happened to you - too bad it was boring anyway. Doing a search of the wine board on volatile acidity would surely provide a little more depth than I'm capable of, iff'n you're interested...

Trying to get all my cooking committments done before I have a baby, so I'm on deck again this Tuesday. Having decided simpler is better, and because asparagus has come into season, I'm making one of my favorite dishes - a pasta with portabello mushrooms, asparagus and Boursin sauce from Food and Wine's Quick from Scratch Pasta book. It's a recipe I've made many times and it's fast and easy, so this should be an low key cooking night. One of my assistant cooks is taking charge of dessert, so I don't even need to think about that. I need to hit Zingerman's bakehouse tonight or tomorrow for bread. So the only thing I need help on this time is the salad. Last time I made a variation of one of my standard house salads - spinach with goat cheese, pecans and dried cherries, with balsalmic vinaigrette. In honor of spring, I was planning to use a nice spring mesclun mix, but I'm trying to decide what else to do with it. I could just do a green salad, but since it's a vegetarian dinner, some cheese or nuts for the extra protein seems advisable. I often make the spinach salad with fresh strawberries, which my husband adores, but I don't want to do goat cheese again. What do y'all think of mesclun/feta/strawberries? Any other ideas? Thanks!

Yep, or something with ground meat. It'll be at least 4 months before I have to decide, though...

I did use plenty of olive oil. I don't know why the non-stick pans worked better, but it's not the first time I've had that effect - I think the regular pans suck up some of the oil, somehow, where with the non-stick ones it beads up and has more of a deepfry effect. I did the night before pre-prep at my house, because the cleaners were still busy cleaning and I didn't want to mess up the kitchen. Plus I love my own kitchen and never get to cook there any more! Chicken texture was fine - I didn't know there was such a rule about yogurt marinades... They were perhaps a little overcooked - when I checked them at 15 minutes they were still really pink, so I gave them 10 more minutes when 5 probably would have been enough. Lessons learned for next time (although if I do this menu again, I'll probably do some sort of meat kebab, just for variation).

Thanks! Lying down with feet up right now.

Well, that was certainly a success! Got lots of kudos on this dinner. I had two very competent and experienced assistant cooks, which made everything go very smoothly. And thanks of course to you eGulleteers for all the advice and ideas. My advance planning made things relaxed and non-rushed in the kitchen. Even so, I'm utterly exhausted - doing this intensity of physical work while 8 months pregnant is a real challenge for me. I have two more meals to cook before I go on maternity leave from community work, and I'm going to a) plan simpler menus and b) keep my condition in mind when I'm working out the distribution of duties so that I spend less time standing and cooking and more time sitting and chopping vegetables or doing other seated tasks. This was a much more complex meal than my last one, and the costs reflect that. And the fact that this meal had meat in it raised the price - the chicken alone came in at around $30. Total budget was $118.65, and I fed 37 adults and 11 kids. Quantities Falafel 3.17 lbs falafel mix Bulk from Whole Foods - there was no yield indication anywhere, so I had to guess. This ended up being pretty much exactly 8 cups of mix, which made 144 mini-muffin sized falafels. I had enough mini-muffin pans to cook 48 at at time, so did three batches. We played around with time and temperature, but there wasn't any real substantive difference between the batches that we cooked at 350 for 15 minutes versus 400 for 11 minutes. The bigger difference in crisping came from the muffin pans, with the non-stick ones performing better on crisping than the non-non-stick. People really liked that the falafel were baked. Thanks Rachel, for this great idea! Chicken Kabobs ~6 lbs of Amish chicken, cubed 500 ml whole milk yogurt (organic) 2 lemons, juiced (organic) Cumin Pre-chopped garlic (from the pantry) We prepped and marinated the chicken skewers the night before, so all we had to do today was throw them in the oven. Hummus 8 15-oz cans chick peas (organic) 2 c tahini 1 1/2 c lemon juice (some organic, some not - I realized last night that I hadn't bought enough organic lemons and just picked some conventional ones up at a produce market today) Pre-chopped garlic, salt, olive oil (from the pantry) Tabouli 2.25 lbs bulgar, soaked the night before so it could chill overnight ("natural") Dried mint 4 bunches parsley (organic) 3 bunches green onions (organic) 2 cucumbers (not organic - organic cucumbers cost $3.49/lb!!!) 2.43 lbs roma tomatoes (organic) 2 c lemon juice (some organic, some not, as above) Salt, black pepper, and olive oil (from the pantry) Cucumber and Yogurt Salad 8 cucumbers (not organic, see above) 2 500 ml containers whole milk yogurt (organic) Cumin Pre-chopped garlic, salt (from the pantry) Other things I bought: 10 packages of pita bread from the Middle Eastern store at 95 cents/package 2 trays of baklava for dessert, at $10/tray