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April 22, 2002
Mediterranean Mega Madness
Last Thursday, my friend Dana and I cooked an enormous Mediterranean feast for nine people.
Dana has two things which made this project especially fun: The nicest kitchen of anyone I know in Boston and a love for cooking that matches my own.
Step 1: Menu Planning
We'd talked about doing something like this for a while. The key was to come up with something that was above and beyond what either of us could do on our own. Frankly, I'm not sure I could have done half of this by myself:
Starters:
Fresh Bread
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Black Olive Tapenade
Spanokopita (Spinach and Feta Pies)
Greek Salad
Main Courses:
Chicken and Garlic Stew
Moussaka (Casserole with Lamb, Eggplant, and Potato)
Dessert:
Hand-made Baklava
Not what I'd call a "light and healthy meal".
Step 2: Prep
We got almost all of the shopping done a few days in advance. The night before, Dana cooked all of the eggplant for the Moussaka, peeled all of the garlic (8 heads worth) that we would need, and chopped the nuts for the Baklava. I went over to some other friends' place and watched a movie (I didn't know she was starting that far in advance).
Step 3: Cooking
Guests were supposed to show up at 7, so we started cooking at 12:30 or so. We took a break for about 15 minutes, but other than that, we were cooking right up until around 7:30. I thought everything came out really well. With that many people and that much food, not everyone will like everything you make, but everyone was full and happy when they left (or so they claimed).
It was a blast. A dinner like that is far too much work to do on a regular basis if you're not getting paid, but it was a whole lot of fun. I still can't believe I actually made baklava. That is so cool.
Posted by buddha at April 22, 2002 05:00 PM
Comments
Also fun: picking a theme and letting people bring a dish. We had an excellent East/North African-inspired dinner party a few months ago, and a fondue party more recently. Of course, you end up with far, far too much food this way, but then everyone gets leftovers.
Or you can be like that woman who wrote an article in the NY Times (February-ish?) about how she picked a potluck theme, chose recipes, and gave a recipe to each of her guests to cook and bring. (She then brutally critiqued the renditions in a national newspaper -- "Meg is a charming girl, if only she'd lay off the paprika" -- but declared the evening a success.) Seems a little fascist to me, but Type A's might like it. ;)
Posted by: Xy at April 22, 2002 09:42 PM
Fascist dinner parties seem like a bad idea to me. Besides, I have lots of friends who like eating a lot more than they like cooking. But with the right group, the potluck could still be pretty fun.
Maybe we'll try something like that next time.
Posted by: dan at April 22, 2002 11:27 PM
hmm. am i the only person who was disappointed when dan said, "dana has two things which made this project especially fun," and then proceeded to describe her "kitchen" and her "love of cooking"?
very diplomatic, my friend.
Posted by: matt[0] at April 24, 2002 03:43 PM
another thing dana has: an engagement ring. very off limits, my friend.
Posted by: dan at April 24, 2002 09:10 PM
of course. you know i know that & didn't mean any
disrespect (to dana). you're a different category.
figured i'd pick on your word choice some.
Posted by: matt[0] at April 25, 2002 01:58 PM
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