Cooking for the Masses

A friend from Berlin sent me an email the other day asking if I had any tips for cooking for large numbers of people. He's making the food for a retreat for 30 or so people and is on a budget.

I love a good challenge so I put on my thinking cap to see if I could come up with some not so traditional ideas for how to feed 30 people in the woods in a non-traditional way. Given it's a fairly vegetarian heavy, non-traditional group.

Hamburgers und Wurst the usual go to foods for Summer BBQ were the first things to be stricken from my list. When you are cooking for a bunch of veggie-leaning, radical faeries in Wansee they just don't cut it. Also if you have more then 8 or so people grilling becomes a lot of smokey work and you need a damn big BBQ. Not to mention all the environmental questions that are raised by using toxic starters and all that charcoal.

So here's my idea: Indian Food.

It's inexpensive, easy to prepare, delicious and the perfect way to take advantage of all the bounty of the season.

A big pot of lentil stew can be made in advance and the left overs (if there are any) can be easily retooled several different ways.

Carrots, Potatoes, Kale, Tomatoes, Squash and Fresh Herbs are all at the market right now. Lentils come in many forms so feel free to go to a good Indian grocery store and pick out a selection and mix and match. One day you can make it without greens in it, the next you can add Kale or Spinach or Arugula. And just in case you need more than once recipe for Lentil stew, here's another.

You could even serve fried eggs on top of lentil stew for breakfast.

Spicy Chickpeas with tomatoes, ginger and Indian spices are a staple of every Indian restaurant, usually called Chana Bazi and served with puffed Poori bread. It's so easy to make and so delicious. Just remember that chickpeas if you buy them dried can take forever to reconstitute and cook so leave them to soak for at least 24 hours and then expect as much as 8 hours more on the stove top. Or better yet buy fresh beans like Cranberry Beans and make a more local and fresh version and not have to worry about all the bean soaking!

These stews are well suited to being made in advance. This means you have less to carry and once you get to the beach/country you don't have to spend all your time preparing food you can just reheat and enjoy!

It's probably cheating, but if you had a plug where you were going a rice cooker would be the one luxury to bring with you as a big bowl of Brown Basmati rice is the perfect base for all those lentils and cranberries. You might also want to buy some wonderful Indian breads like Paratha my favorite whole wheat Indian bread.

Cool cucumbers and yogurt are a perfect side to Indian Food - Raita recipes abound, but here is one of my favorites. I like to use lots of fresh mint and substitute Greek yogurt for the watery regular stuff - I love the thick richness it adds.

Lastly, no Indian feast is complete without chutney! I love Peach Chutney but feel free to swap out peaches and use plums, nectarines or apricots, whichever strikes your fancy. Here's me doing my best Martha Stewart impression from when I was in my video phase.

Cole Slaw is the perfect summer salad for so many reasons, it's got a nice crunch a wonderful balance of sweet and acidic and it keeps for days so you can reuse it. Also it's very forgiving, it doesn't need to just be cabbage and carrots, adds some green beans or kale! There are so many variations, but my favorite right now is this Asian Coleslaw with a ton of fresh ginger.

Pasta Salad, Potato Salad, are two traditional picnic items that really do deserve their place at the table. If you want to keep with the Indian theme it's easy to add turmeric and cumin to a potato salad to give it an Indian flare or you might want to just make your favorite grandmothers recipe to give all those in your group who might be looking for a break from Indian.

Corn on the cob, barely cooked green beans and simple smashed new red potatoes (skin on) with butter, also simple and easy crowd pleasers.

For dessert there is nothing better than Fresh Fruit, but if you feel the need to make a baked good the easiest and tastiest way to go is to make a Crumble. Use whatever selection of fruit is in season, apricots are great because they have that wonderful sourness to them. Crumble is another great way to use some of that Greek yogurt from the main course. A dollop on top and you've got yourself one tasty treat!

To save time buying a jar of lime pickle or mango chutney, which here in NYC come in huge jars and are pretty reasonably priced, is always a time saving option.

Just remember you don't want to spend your entire time away in the kitchen!

I hope these suggestions inspire you to rethink Summer cooking for large numbers and gives you some options that will allow you to break away from the hamburger and hot dog rut.

This is the logo for the event my friend is cooking for. Love it! Wish I could be there! Enjoy.

Blueberry Ginger Crumble Squares

Here's what I have discovered about my recipes that I post here. They change. So if you see a recipe and think: "Wow I have to make that" and print it out it's always a good idea to check back in a few days or even a week to see if it has changed at all. Last night I made the Kale Salad which I thought turned out really well but I realized when I made it I changed it a bit from the recipe as written so I went back today to edit it and add my observations and variations from having just made it.

I will say I really liked it and am amazed it took me so long to realize how delicious raw kale is.

This Blueberry Ginger Crumble Square recipe was inspired from my trip to Toronto where I was reintroduced to date squares again and then on the day I left went into a coffee shop and they had blueberry squares which got me thinking, the blueberry squares for sale had a very thin layer of blueberries almost like a jam and was heavy on the crumble, I like crumble don't get me wrong, but I really love blueberries and wanted to create something that would work as a treat with a mid afternoon cup of coffee or as a stand alone dessert with whipped cream to top off a meal.

Even though I felt these were successful I want to try making them again because I made them this first time by cooking the blueberries first to make a kind of pie filling. It works fine but I want to see how tossing the sugar, flour, ginger, lemon juice with the frozen berries works .

Also I see this kind of dessert as perfect for frozen berries and am not sure if I had fresh berries I would want to bury them between two layers of rich crumble. The problem arises with how to deal with frozen berries, should they be thawed first and then drained or what? I'll keep you updated with my experimentation but for the time being here is the recipe that I made and know works just dandy.

Blueberry Ginger Crumble Squares

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line a 10 x 10 square tin with parchment, use 2 pieces in opposite directions to form a cross of sorts, with a good couple of inches over hang. This is optional but makes getting them out of the tin to cut easier and reduces the risk of the first piece falling apart.

In a large heavy bottomed pot add: 8 cups frozen wild organic blueberries, 1/2 cup cane sugar, 3 T all purpose flour, 1T Lemon juice and 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger, turn the heat to medium high bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer stirring often.

Cook for 8-12 minutes or until the mixture has thickened to the texture of pie filling (frozen berries give off a fair amount of liquid so not to worry that there isn't any added, if you were to do this with fresh berries I would probably not precook it I would just toss all the above ingredients together and place in the uncooked crumble base. Also I did not thaw my berries I use them frozen straight from the freezer).

When the filling has thickened take off the heat and put aside to cool.

Using a standing mixer or by hand combine:

2 cups rolled oats, 2 cups ground walnuts (lightly toasted), 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup cane sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed, 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), 4 T cream cheese, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt mix until combined. The dough will be moist and sticky. Divide the dough in half (I find if you wet your hands it makes working with the dough easier). Press half of the dough into the prepared pan.

Pour in the blueberry mixture and crumble the remaining dough on top.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the top has browned.