a cooks illustrated chicken piccata dinner for 26

oranges, salad, looking down serving table

Started the day shopping for my meal for 26 people (22 chicken eaters, 4 vegetarians), and got to the grocery store and didn't bring my recipes.  so, went to my cooks illustrated iphone app, and looked up the recipes, and yep, forgot onions.  Also, researched carrots, and found a simple recipe for roasted carrots.

Menu:
chicken piccata for the meat eaters,
stir fry vegetables with tofu and lemon and capers for the vegetarians,
rice pilaf with vermicelli,
"seasonal vegetables", which means whatever is cheap at the grocery store, and they had organic carrots for 2 lb for 1.50, so we had roasted carrots
Organic salad/spinach mix.  (one of the Earthbound , 1 lb boxes)
Oranges for dessert

John stirring roasted carrots

Food purchased:  10 lb Foster Farm frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bag lemons (6 large)
2 small lemons for slicing
1 bag oranges (6 lb) (dessert, quartered)
1 lb vermicelli
2 qt organic chicken broth
jar capers (needed 10 Tb)
6 lb carrots
1 lb salad mix
4 yellow onions
1 red pepper, 1 green pepper
1 lb firm tofu
4 oz mushrooms

Had on hand: garlic, butter (3/4 lb), cumin, coriander, olive oil, salt and pepper, cornstarch, 1/2 cup milk, rice (used 7 cups basmati).

lemon sauce

 Recipe: Lighter Chicken Piccata from Cooks Illustrated, Published April 18, 2007.  serves 4

I'm not going to put the recipe here, because it is theirs, but I did a x5 on the recipe, which came out to 10 lb of chicken.  We took the frozen chicken breasts, partially thawed them in water quickly (there were 17 in the package), and cut into 41 pieces.  some of the larger pieces we cut in 3, the rest in two. (cut horizontally, so they were thinner).
Also, didn't have parsley, so skipped the parsley in the recipe.
I used 2 frying pans, and sauteed the cutlets, until just done, and put in 250 degree oven.  Took about an hour to get all 41 pieces done.  Then made the lemon sauce.

needed to put it in 2 1/2 pans to fit all the chicken.

Simultaneously, Tom made the "rice pilaf with vermicelli"  which they said served 4. recipe published March 1, 2000. We did a x 5 of this recipe, and had a bit leftover.  Modified the recipe, by putting it in the rice cooker at the end, rather than cooking on the stove, to accomodate the 7 1/2 cups of rice, 16 oz of vermicelli, and 16 cups of water.

We also did "roasted carrots" serves 4-6 from November 1, 2010 Cooks Illustrated.  We did a x4 of recipe,  and there was just enough (with all the rest of the food) for our 26 servings. 6 lb of carrots, 8 TB of butter, and salt and pepper.  Took just about an hour to roast to sufficient done-ness.

In the last half hour, we also chopped the peppers, onions, mushrooms, sauteed with garlic and added cubed tofu, some lemon, capers for the vegetarian option.

so, the 3 of us started cooking at about 4 pm, and dinner was ready at 6:30,  We also did a lot of the dishes as we went along, also set tables, put water in the refrigerator, and Tom took off for the last 1/2 hour to run an errand.   Not a leisurely cooking time though.

starting the new year

I guess it might be a fiber kind of year.  Notice in the picture at right, we are all wearing scarves.

Randi (3rd from left) hosted a nuno scarf making "alternative to football" New Years day party, complete with hot buttered rum for our potluck lunch (with amazing curry soup, and feta walnut apple salad), and cheese and crackers and cosmos for afternoon enjoyment. 

So we had fun, got wet, (felting can spread water all over) and played with silk and wool .