For two years our neighbors have been talking about hosting a progressive dinner. Definition: a social occasion at which the different courses of a meal are eaten at different people's houses. We decided to pull the trigger, and three brave souls stepped forward to provide the appetizer, dinner, and dessert. So here was the timeline for the evening:
House #1: 7:00 Appetizers
House #2: 8:30 Dinner
House #3: 10:00 Dessert
Based on my home's location (and my willingness to do so), I was responsible for dinner (House #2). The three hosts got together to plan a coherent menu for the entire evening. For dinner, we decided to go traditional: meat, starch, and vegetable. We were restricted to choosing a meat that would be able to slow roast with a flexible serving time. We needed space to cook meat and vegetables, and I only have one oven. So, meat would need to go in the slow cooker, and veggies in the oven. Beef short ribs was the final call, and while risotto is the logical starch, it was impossible to do ahead of time. Oven baked Polenta would do the trick, although I was a little skeptical of timing and consistency of cooking it in the oven. Last, the vegetable.... timing again would be the concern. We decided there was no way around leaving early from House #1 to put vegetables in the oven. Brussels sprouts were a logical choice... and they also happen to be my recent addiction.
Once we knew what we wanted to cook, I needed to find the right recipes, the right flavors that work together, and the right portions. Did I mention we were serving 16 people?
Here are the recipes:
Slow-Cooker Southern-Style Short Ribs from Fine Cooking.
I followed the recipe exactly, just increased the quantity and added a few tips below to prep for the party!
I figured about 1 lb. of meat per person (ended up with about 15 lbs), so I tripled the recipe for sauce, and split it into three slow cookers, with 5 lbs of meat in each one.
The choice of BBQ sauce is key! It is the main ingredient in the sauce, so I would recommend a mild, slightly smokey sauce rather than a sweet one.
I let them cook for 6 hours before removing them from the slow cooker. I de-boned the meat, and separated the sauce from the fat using my handy-dandy fat separator (an essential tool in this recipe). I discarded the fat, poured the sauce back into the slow-cooker, and returned the meat to the pot and set to warm. This was at 7:00 - right before we left for House #1. They stayed warm in their sauce until we sat down for dinner at 8:30.
I put the polenta (below) in the oven right at 7:00.
Oven Baked Creamy Polenta
6 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (NOT the stuff in the green container)
Preheat over to 350. Spray a 2 1/2 quart baking dish OR 9 x 13 cake pan with non-stick spray. Combine chicken stock, corn meal, butter, and salt in the dish and whisk together.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and stir in cheese. Return to oven and bake for 5 more minutes. If you are not yet ready to serve, reduce heat to 250 to keep warm.
This recipe serves 6-8. I made two pans for a group of 16 and had a little leftover.
I left House #1 at 7:35 to get home and tend to the polenta (stir it) and put the brussels sprouts in the oven (see below).
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
4 lbs brussels sprouts, cut in half
1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1/2" dice
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
Increase oven temperature to 400. Spread brussels sprouts out among three 10" x 13" rimmed cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with bacon, Toss together to coat and spread into a single layer. Cook for 30 minutes, rotating pans and stirring brussels sprouts
.
I put them in the oven at 7:45pm and reduced the temp to 250 at 8:15pm and kept them in there until serving at 8:30.
Serves 12-16 people
We served everything family style. If you could follow all of that, well done! I wanted to provide a map of the evening - knowing the organizational piece is potentially more intimidating than the actual cooking. It was a lot of food, but organized in a way that made it pretty easy. But the best part of it all, was how amazing everything tasted! I believe 90% of the taste was the ambiance. Being in a warm home among a solid group of friends, filled with the sound of laughter and the clinking of wine glasses. We were all so happy to just be together (especially without our kids in tow, for a change)! It was instantly obvious we need to make this an annual tradition.
House #1: 7:00 Appetizers
House #2: 8:30 Dinner
House #3: 10:00 Dessert
Based on my home's location (and my willingness to do so), I was responsible for dinner (House #2). The three hosts got together to plan a coherent menu for the entire evening. For dinner, we decided to go traditional: meat, starch, and vegetable. We were restricted to choosing a meat that would be able to slow roast with a flexible serving time. We needed space to cook meat and vegetables, and I only have one oven. So, meat would need to go in the slow cooker, and veggies in the oven. Beef short ribs was the final call, and while risotto is the logical starch, it was impossible to do ahead of time. Oven baked Polenta would do the trick, although I was a little skeptical of timing and consistency of cooking it in the oven. Last, the vegetable.... timing again would be the concern. We decided there was no way around leaving early from House #1 to put vegetables in the oven. Brussels sprouts were a logical choice... and they also happen to be my recent addiction.
Once we knew what we wanted to cook, I needed to find the right recipes, the right flavors that work together, and the right portions. Did I mention we were serving 16 people?
Here are the recipes:
Slow-Cooker Southern-Style Short Ribs from Fine Cooking.
I followed the recipe exactly, just increased the quantity and added a few tips below to prep for the party!
I figured about 1 lb. of meat per person (ended up with about 15 lbs), so I tripled the recipe for sauce, and split it into three slow cookers, with 5 lbs of meat in each one.
The choice of BBQ sauce is key! It is the main ingredient in the sauce, so I would recommend a mild, slightly smokey sauce rather than a sweet one.
I let them cook for 6 hours before removing them from the slow cooker. I de-boned the meat, and separated the sauce from the fat using my handy-dandy fat separator (an essential tool in this recipe). I discarded the fat, poured the sauce back into the slow-cooker, and returned the meat to the pot and set to warm. This was at 7:00 - right before we left for House #1. They stayed warm in their sauce until we sat down for dinner at 8:30.
I put the polenta (below) in the oven right at 7:00.
Oven Baked Creamy Polenta
6 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (NOT the stuff in the green container)
Preheat over to 350. Spray a 2 1/2 quart baking dish OR 9 x 13 cake pan with non-stick spray. Combine chicken stock, corn meal, butter, and salt in the dish and whisk together.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and stir in cheese. Return to oven and bake for 5 more minutes. If you are not yet ready to serve, reduce heat to 250 to keep warm.
This recipe serves 6-8. I made two pans for a group of 16 and had a little leftover.
I left House #1 at 7:35 to get home and tend to the polenta (stir it) and put the brussels sprouts in the oven (see below).
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
4 lbs brussels sprouts, cut in half
1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1/2" dice
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
Increase oven temperature to 400. Spread brussels sprouts out among three 10" x 13" rimmed cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with bacon, Toss together to coat and spread into a single layer. Cook for 30 minutes, rotating pans and stirring brussels sprouts
.
I put them in the oven at 7:45pm and reduced the temp to 250 at 8:15pm and kept them in there until serving at 8:30.
Serves 12-16 people
We served everything family style. If you could follow all of that, well done! I wanted to provide a map of the evening - knowing the organizational piece is potentially more intimidating than the actual cooking. It was a lot of food, but organized in a way that made it pretty easy. But the best part of it all, was how amazing everything tasted! I believe 90% of the taste was the ambiance. Being in a warm home among a solid group of friends, filled with the sound of laughter and the clinking of wine glasses. We were all so happy to just be together (especially without our kids in tow, for a change)! It was instantly obvious we need to make this an annual tradition.
 |
| Per usual, not the best photo of the food, but we were all so hungry, we plated then devoured! |
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| We busted out the fine china....like real grown-ups. |
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| We clean up pretty well. |
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