Interactive Italian Dinner Party, Version 5

[Varmint]

So, who provided the vision for the menu and the directions for all the cooking (wink, wink).  How many were there ultimately?  How did it pan out logistically? 

You've got a brave bunch of eaters in your office!

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Much of the menu came from Mario Batali. I made tweaks here and there. The chocolate cakes are so cliche, but they're still damn good -- plus, one of my colleagues wanted to learn how to make them, so I just did it. I was going to serve them with hazlenut gelato, but I got lazy.

We had 24 people eating, and they offered a lot of help. The guests made the ravioli, buttered and floured 24 ramekins (twice!), made the cake batter, plated the dishes, served, cleared and even washed some dishes. The flow worked perfectly.

The smartest thing I did (other than renovating my kitchen!) was to rent the china for 6 of the 7 courses. That's 144 plates, and it only cost me (or rather, cost my firm) $56. That made the clean up very easy.

I also learned to love my hood even more. There were a couple of occasions where my skillets got so hot that they briefly caught fire from some of the volatile oils in the food (not entirely unintentional). The hood sucked up the smoke like a champ.

[hathor]

Almost makes me want to come and work in an office again...almost...! What a fun time. Isnt' great when you have a whole kitchen full of happy people? And what a rush to have your brand new kitchen function just the way you dreamed it would. Complimenti!!!

p.s. the summer truffles in Umbria have been particularly abundant this year, wish I could send some your way because I'm sure you would appreciate them. Ciao!

[Varmint]

p.s. the summer truffles in Umbria have been particularly abundant this year, wish I could send some your way because I'm sure you would appreciate them. Ciao!

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And the problem with shipping them is . . . ?????

[hathor]

U.S. customs has a real problem with stinky, un-processed food. and I have a real problem with U.S. Customs...!

[LindaK]

Wish I'd found this thread before your dinner, but you obviously came up with a great menu without me.

I have only one question: Varmint, how did you ever do a dinner with this "interactive" format before your kitchen renovation?? I was one of many lurkers on that thread, and if I remember your "before" pictures correctly, the floor plan was a maze.

I can't believe you've never done filled pastas. Call them what you will (agnolotti, ravioli, etc.). Do them. They're easier than you might think. Be bold

-- Maybe my top pick of "new" things people might not have tried. Savory flans. Parmesan flans made, of course, with good reggiano. But you can do spinach, RR pepper, squash (although that would be out of season). Flans are a major treat in, at least, Piedmont. I'll send you a great recipe (from Kramer's "Passion for Piedmont"). They're fun to make as a group also. Easy. Can't miss.

Filled pastas may be easy but boy are they time consuming. I brought ~200 agnolotti to a birthday dinner party last night, and if I add up the active time needed to prepare filling, make pasta, roll pasta, fill pasta, I think it comes to about 4 hrs. Maybe with extra hands the rolling/filling would have gone faster, but still tough for a party like this. Coincidentally, I used the recipe for "three meat filling" from Matt Kramer's book for the agnolotti, with only minor tweaks. It's really delicious, But, and I quote: "There's no pretending that fashioning agnolotti isn't a lot of work...'You know that someone really loves you if they make you agnolloti' ."

However, the leftover stuffing was put to good use for tonight's dinner as a stuffing for the zucchini I picked from the garden this afternoon.

His flan recipes have always looked good but I've never tried them. Now I think I have to.