[Sca-cooks] general info wanted

[devra at aol.com]

Having run our first feast, we all lost our min.... I mean, were inspired to try something different next time. (What am I saying, next time? We just did this last Sunday!)

We thought that we might have a non-seated meal, with five courses, coming out to the sideboard about 45 min apart, so that there was continuous food in smaller quantities. We thought we might do a traveling meal, with courses from the Middle East, Greece/Rome/Italy, France, Germany/Poland/Russia, finishing up with England. And we'd like to do a lot of cold stuff, because the kitchen is VERY small.

The portions would be more like appetizer-sized than meal sized, because there'd be a lot of them - maybe 5 dishes in each course. And some of them, like the hummus, and the pita bread, and the herring in cream sauce, and perhaps the mushroom pierogies, would be purchased. (Costco, ya gotta love it.)

So my question is: how much TOTAL quantity of food per person would be advised? I know about the 10 ounces of veg and 8-12 ounces of meat, but when you cook a dish with both in it, it gets harder to calculate...? If a dish normally serves 6-8 as a main course, would one recipe of it be enough for appetizer-size for 50, or would you need 2-3 recipes of it?

Here's my first, very tentative idea for a menu: (V=vegetarian, H=hot)

1st course - Middle East:
hummus with tiny pitas - V
Imam Bayildi (eggplant stuff) - V
feta and/or goat cheese
pickled or stuff eggs (very small or cut up with toothpicks)
peeled, cubed melon - V
stuffed dates - V
Pomegranate syrup in water 

2nd course - Greece/Rome/Italy:
bread - V
pork and apple casserole from Cato - H
spinach tarts - V
spiced chickpeas - V
baked fish in egg sauce - H
stuffed grape leaves - V
Posca drink - vinegar, grape juice, water 

3rd course -France:
haven't any ideas yet

4th course - Germany/Poland/Russia:
bread and butter - V
mushroom pierogies, either baked or boiled - H
herring in cream sauce or wine sauce or mackerel in mint sauce
a soup? - borscht??
a sweet - blini??
a beverage (tea with lemon was suggested, but tea is not period, I think)

5th course - England:
cold sliced roast beef with horseradish, mustard, grape, green sauces
tarts in ember day - onion tarts - V
daryols - cheese custard tarts
Digby's cakes (any number of recipes)
applemoyle
rice pudding
cider

I realize that this is a very ambitious menu for a small group to undertake, but several things could be purchased rather than made, and most of the dishes are cold or room temp. Also, many many of them could be made in advance and frozen. Or we could do 4 courses, and leave out the French...

Opinions, suggestions, brickbats, etc, gladly solicited. 

Devra the Baker

________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com