Cooking for a Crowd amount - 4 to 6 people

Ingredients

6 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1.5 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1 Teaspoon of dijon mustard

Fresh salt & pepper

2 gem lettuces

150g of wild rocket

4 figs - halved or quartered

200-250g of crumbled gorgonzola cheese

8-10 slices of prosciotto/parma ham

Method

1. Mix together the vinegar, olive oil and mustard in a bowl and season with plenty of salt and pepper.
2. Slice the hearts of the gem lettuce’s into pieces and add to a place with the rocket. Pour over the dressing and mix it all together with your hands so that the juices flow all over the salad.
3. Scatter the figs, gorgonzola and prosciotto on top of the salad before adding any possible seasonings or herbs.

Once this is done you have finished cooking for a crowd and are now ready to feed one! Enjoy!

Preperation time - 15 minutes

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.

Ingredients

500g of Halloumi Cheese (cut up into roughly 40 pieces)

125g of Mushrooms

360g of Baby Cherry Tomatoes

3 diced and deseeded Mixed Peppers

4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon of Thyme leaves

1 Tablespoon of Honey

Juice of 1 Lemon as well as zest

Salt and Pepper

Method

Put the diced Halloumi into a nonmetallic mixing bowl and preheat the grill. Wash the mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes and add to the bowl.

Mix the olive oil with the honey, thyme, lemon juice and zest before drizzling the sauce over the halloumi and vegetables. Give it all a good toss and leave to soak for 5 minutes.

Randomly thread the contents of the bowl through soaked wooden skewers.

Grill for 5-7 minutes, turning when you like until the vegetables are cooked and the cheese is browned. Make sure to serve warm. Once this is done you have finished cooking for a crowd and are now ready to feed one!
Preperation time - 20 minutes
Cooking time - 5-7 minutes

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.

Cooking for a Crowd amount - 15 to 20 people

Ingredients

400g of fresh chestnuts
250g of Italian salami (whole)
Two onions
Six heads of fennel
150g butter
One litre of chicken stock
One kg of risotto rice
One bottle of white wine
Three bay leaves
Freshly grated parmesan

Method

Preheat your oven to 230°C/450°F/gas mark 8. Slice short incisions into the fresh chestnuts then add to a roasting tray and put into the oven. After 5 minutes remove and shake the chestnuts, leave to cool before deshelling and chopping them.

Peel the salami and then dice it into 1/2cm chunks. Chop the onion and fennel finely (making sure to trim the tops off of the fennel, to keep to one side.) Melt approximately 30% of the butter into a pan and add the salami. Cook until the salami has turned crisp, add the fennel, onions and leave to stew on a lower heat whilst boiling the stock in a separate pan.

Now is the time to add the rice to the salami, onion and fennel pan, mix it all together so that the rice is covered. Add the bay leaves and the bottle of white wine. Reduce the heat on the pan and allow it all to slowly boil. Stir occasionally until the rice is sticky and the wine has been absorbed. Add the stock a bit at a time and stir at regular intervals.

Allow the rice to cook for a while and chop the tops of the fennel finely. After twelve minutes add the chopped chestnuts to the rice and continue moistening with stock until the rice is done. Once that is cooked add the fennel, butter and cheese, giving it a stir and serve immediately.

While the rice cooks, chop the fennel tops very finely. After 12 minutes add the chestnuts to the risotto and continue cooking, moistening with stock, for another eight minutes or so until the rice is tender. Add the fennel tops and the remaining butter, then season. At the last minute stir in the cheese and serve immediately. Once this is done you have finished cooking for a crowd and are now ready to feed one!

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.

Cooking for a crowd amount - 15-20 people

*Unfortunately pheasant breast doesn’t stew, so it is roasted before being added to the gorgeous sauce!*

Ingredients

750g cannellini beans
Two onions
Ten cloves
Eight medium carrots
One bulb of garlic
Two chillies
Four pheasants - 1.2kg (2lb 12oz)
50g butter
One tablespoon of flour
One bottle of red wine
Three bay leaves, One large sprig of parsley & thyme
Two litres of chicken stock
Two cotechino sausages, salsa verde, mustard fruits (to serve)

Method

Put the cannellini beans in cold water and leave to soak overnight. Next day drain the cannellini beans again cover with fresh water and bring it to the boil.

Add the chillies, garlic, cloves, one onion and 6 carrots to the cannell ini beans. Leave to simmer for 150-180 minutes, checking until tender. Once the vegetables have cooled, remove them. Dice the carrots, remove the garlic from its bulb and discard the onion and chillies.

Pre heat the oven at 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7 and season the inside of the pheasants. Carefully put them on a roasting tray and baste them with the butter. Roast the pheasants in the oven for 20 minutes.

Once cooked remove the pheasants and allow to cool (whilst leaving the fat inside the tray) Dice up the other onion and two carrots. Sprinkle into the roasting tray and put it back into the oven for 10-15 minutes until brown.

Take the roasting tray out again and leave until cooled, remove the breasts and legs of the pheasants & cut up the carcasses. Place back in the tray alongside the vegetables and sprinkle the tablespoon of flour over it all.

Return to the oven for 10 minutes until the flour is browned. Remove and add the bottle of red wine into the tray whilst scraping the juices. Put all the contents of the tray into a big saucepan, adding the bay leaves, parsley, thyme and chicken stock. Bring to the boil before allowing to simmer for two hours. Strain the stock into a separate saucepan & reduce it until approximately a litre remains. Taste for seasoning.

Put the cotechino sausages in a pan with cold water and slowly bring to the boil. Allow the sausages then to simmer for 15 minutes. Cut up the pheasant breasts into five pieces, chopping the thighs into sections of three. Place into a large fireproof dish with cut up sausages and mix with the cannellini beans. Pour the sauce left over it all and simmer for ten minutes. Once this is done you have finished cooking for a crowd and are now ready to feed one!

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.

Cooking for a Crowd Preperation Time
Thirty minutes preparation and Three hours cooking.

Ingredients

For the stew
Two tablespoons of vegetable oil
Three oz diced shin of beef (cut into large pieces from the bone)
Two sticks of celery
Two carrots
Two large onions
Three garlic cloves
One teaspoon of tomato puree
One tablespoon of plain flour
Freshly ground salt and pepper.
A half litre of real ale.
Two hundred ml of dark beef stock
Two bay leaves
One sprig of fresh thyme

For the dumplings
150g of beef suet
150g of self-raising flour
Freshly ground salt and pepper.
One tablespoon of horseradish (optional)
Water to bind

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160C/Gas2/320F. Warm up a large pan on the hob. Add some vegetable oil and when hot enough add a third of the beef, cook on high until browned. Once browned remove the beef and put into a bowl. Do this again to the other two thirds of beef, cooking it separately so you don’t overcrowd the pan. Once cooked you should have all of the beef in one bowl.
2. Add more oil to the pan before chopping the celery, onions and carrots.
3. Finely slice the garlic before adding it to the casserole. Stir the vegetables until browned.
4. Once browned add the tomato puree to the casserole and stir. Then add the flour, salt and pepper until it is all incorporated.
5. Add the beef stock and ale to the Casserole.
6. Let the casserole simmer before adding the browned off pieces of beef. Cover the dish with a lid and carry on allowing to simmer.
7. Time to make the dumplings! Put the flour and suet together in a clean dish. Mix the two together with your hands and then add salt and pepper. ( If you wish to use horseradish, here is the time to add it)
8. Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and add some water. Mix again until it becomes firm that comes off of the side of the dish easily.
9. Remove the dough from the dish and put onto a clean board before adding some flour over the top. Roll the dough into a rough sausage shape. Cut the dough into table tennis size balls and carefully place them into the casserole.
10. Put the lid back onto the casserole and put into the preheated oven for 150-180 minutes, checking every 30-60 minutes.
11. After a couple of hours move around the dumplings, add some thyme and bay leaves & leave to cook for another 30 minutes at least. Once the beef is cooked it should fall apart when touched and the dumplings should be fluffy & light.
12. Once cooked serve the beef stew and dumplings in large bowls, Once this is done you have finished cooking for a crowd and are now ready to feed one!

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.

Avocado, Chicken & Bacon Salad

Beef & Ale Stew with Dumplings

Figs, Prosciutto and Gorgonzola Salad

Halloumi and Roasted Vegetable Skewers

Salami, Fennel & Chestnut Risotto

Salmis of Pheasant

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.

Cooking for a Crowd amount - 4 to 6 people

Ingredients - For the Salad

Six rashers of smoked back Bacon
Three peeled, stoned & sliced Avocado
Six Chicken breast fillets (100g)
Drained sunblush Tomatoes (150g)
Three bags of Spinich, Watercress & Rocket (145g)

Ingredients - For the Dressing

Three tablespoons of Olive oil
Three tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar
Three teaspoons of Wholegrain Mustard
Pinch of Salt,Pepper & Caster Sugar

Method

Cook the chicken breasts under a grill set to medium heat for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, occassionally turning until the skin is crisp. Add the bacon 5 minutes before the chicken has been cooked and cook until crisp. Cut up the bacon and chicken and place in a bowl to cool.

Whisk the dressing together in a bowl. Add the avocado, tomatoes & salad to the chicken & bacon in a large bowl, toss the salad well before drizzling the dressing over the top. Once this is done you have finished cooking for a crowd and are now ready to feed one!
Preperation time - 5 minutes
Cooking time - 15 minutes

©2008 Cooking for a Crowd. All Rights Reserved.