Menu for Large Dinner Party... Suggestions Welcomed!

Once again, Husband has organized a conference in town so we are having the after-conference dinner at our house. There will be some vegetarians but as far as I know, no vegans. There will be about 30 people to feed!

What do you think of this menu? I will be cooking everything except for the sushi tray and desserts which will be bought.



appetizers:
fruit (25 lbs. ripe local)*
quiche (blue cheese)*
crackers & mini bagels*
cheese, cream cheese*
deli meats, lox
seven-layer dip, salsa, corn chips*
sushi tray
potato chips & dip*

main course:
BBQ pork ribs (32 lbs.)
sauce on the side*
pot o' beans (pinto)*
potato salad*
eggplant lasagne (serves 16-20)*
garbanzo bean salad*
green salad*

dessert:
cheese cake*
other cake*
4 dozen cookies*
ice cream*
(maybe a) fruit pie*

*vegetarian

drinks:
beer
wine
Jones sodas
Knudsen spritzers
juices
sparkling water bottles
still water bottles

Anybody want to roll up her sleeves and come help?

If I lived closer I would love to come & help. It all sounds just wonderful, don't wear yourself out to much.

Wow!! Will you marry me? That sounds like a great menu! yum.

How about the marinated fresh local tomatoes, fresh mozarella and basil salad??

Originally Posted by GailC

How about the marinated fresh local tomatoes, fresh mozarella and basil salad??

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Great idea! We have fresh basil in the garden, too. Is that the appetizer with slices of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, sprinkled with basil? I think I've seen something like that...

Well what I do is use a vinagrette dressing and slice the tomatoes and use either the small robin egg sized mozarella or slice the bigger cheese if you can find it. I then use like one inch sized basil leaves or cut them smaller. This only has to marinate for a few minutes.

You might want to consider some of the fresh fruit like blueberries or peaches for instance as a topping for the cheesecake.

Also is locally smoked fish available for an appetizer??

I would just go to cooks.com and search for tomato, basil, mozzarella. There are a number of recipes, some are very simple and the others add variations. Usually, I just slice the tomatoes and the mozzarella and overlap them. I drizzle olive oil over them, salt and pepper and top with basil.

Can you hire someone to help you while you are serving and cleaning up as you go and after? I do that for the Passover Seder, which is by far my biggest dinner with lots of ritual food.

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

Anybody want to roll up her sleeves and come help?

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....I have raise my hand my friend!

You are incredible, I could never do that. Other things with the basil could be pesto with good bread, and basil tomato salad, which is the basil, tomatoes a little onion, olive oil, goes good on a good Italian bread. Might be messy. other thing you could probably make or buy is hummus. easy on bread and crackers. You can see I love carbs!

The only thing that jumped out at me were the BBQ ribs. I absolutely love them and will serve them to guests. Some people simply don't want to use their fingers when they are out in public. 32 pounds might be a tad too much to serve given all of the other food you are serving. 1/2 pound per person might be more reasonable - everyone will nibble a rib or 2 tops anyway.

You are going to be one busy person! *yikes*

Let me know if you want the BBQ ribs recipe; it is very good! The ingredients include coffee, tomato, lemon, and fresh herbs. In the sauce I also use the broth from baking the ribs (before marinating). I use a charcoal BBQ grill and will do it all ahead of time, then reheat for the dinner.

Yes, I will used local smoked salmon for the bagels! Great ideas!