It was a couple weeks of lots of people and lots of food. One of the groups was all women, so I got to make a bunch of food that I don’t make for the men (too bad for them). Breakfasts for them included a large fruit tray, yogurt, granola, and one special recipe that I thought would be good. One morning I made Panettone Bread Pudding, and it was a big hit. For large groups, I prefer a bread pudding to French toast. The other morning I made Peanut Butter and Jelly Baked Oatmeal (without the egg). There wasn’t a crumb left of it. There was one person who couldn’t eat eggs, so I made additional things, when necessary. One of those items was a brie, asparagus, ham quesadilla. Those may become a regular item for the lodge. They disappeared! My new favorite tortilla is whole wheat and corn combination. I put on a layer of brie, some thinly sliced ham, a layer of Swiss cheese, then slices of peeled asparagus that I blanched for 3 minutes, then a final layer of Swiss. I browned them in butter, and is your mouth watering yet (mine is, just thinking about it!).
The last group was about 20 people, and the last night I made a huge prime rib. It turned out perfectly, and one of the guys wanted to carve, so I was extremely happy about that, since carving isn’t high on my list of things I like to do. The first night that group was there, I made 19 lbs of pork butt. I used the Pork Ribs and Beans recipe. Since I couldn’t use a slow cooker, I used a huge roasting pan and covered it well. Getting it done, the way I wanted it, was a real challenge. I started cooking it at 9:45 am, at 325. At 3:00 pm, I started getting nervous, because it wasn’t far enough along. I switched the oven to convection at 375 for 1 1/2 hours. At that point I cut the pork off the bone, put it back in the juice, and covered it. It stayed at 350 until they ate around 8 pm. I wasn’t there, but made a meal that would hold. Luckily, the meat was falling apart by the time they ate. And by the time they left this week, there was only about a cup of meat left. It was scrumptious. Here’s how it looked right before I put it in the oven.
The whole menu that night included pico de gallo, guacamole, cornbread, and cole slaw.
I can barely remember the first group that came, or what I cooked, but it’s always fun to be there. There was a lot of team-building going on with the last group, which is apparently code for “blow-up stuff in the dump.”