Food for 20?

Question

Hello there, I have to cook food for 20 people of different age in a week. (no kids)
I want to cook something good but not expensive.

Any good and easy ideas, please?

sorry I should mention that: 1) My boyfriend and I are going to meet a group of people in house of one of them, where they take turns with cooking. I have no idea what is their oven like, what pans they have got... (I need ask them)
2) I have only few pots
3) We will be making only one main meal and maybe some good cake at home in advance.
4) We will be travelling there by train and bus so can't carry much

Answer 1

take them all out to the fanciest restaurant is suppperr cheapp.. ohh crap i forgot the name hmm.....oh yea McDonalds ahaha jk

Answer 2

A few suggestions:

A good potato bar. Most ovens can accommodate 20 potatoes, then bowl up a variety of toppings, cheese, sour cream, peas, maybe ham cubes, etc.etc.

Taco salad is easy, fun, good and again everyone can make their own. Lay everything out buffet style. Browned beef, cheese, salsa, sour cream etc.etc. chips....

A ham with mashed potatoes, salad, green beans and ice cream.

BBQ chicken breasts with cooked corn and mashed potatoes. Bake the chicken in oven (should fit) and have fun.

Hope these ideas help.

Answer 3

Here some oven stuff which will keep the stove top in order:
1st course: Lasagna - you can make a tray or two a day or two before.
2nd: Roast a few chickens or even a turkey... make it a
pre-Thanksgiving party. Bake either yams or potatoes.
3rd.: Salad - two or three big bowls of mixed green salad.
LAST... Get a gallon can of fruit salad and spice it up with a some sweet vermouth and a the juice of one large lemon.

Answer 4

Pasta Bolagnese...so good...so easy so filling...you need some good bread and good salad. This recipe doubles or triples easily...and I serve it w/ Taglatelle from Trader Joe's.

For sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine
1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1 cup milk
freshly grated nutmeg to taste
1 cup dry white wine
a 28- to 32-ounce can whole tomatoes including juice

Make sauce:
In large heavy saucepan heat oil and butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté onion, carrot, and celery, stirring 2 minutes. Add beef and pork and cook, stirring, 2 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Add milk and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until most milk is evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes.
In a blender or food processor coarsely purée tomatoes with juice and stir into sauce. Cook sauce at a bare simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 1 hour and 15 minutes (sauce will be thickened) and season with salt and pepper. Sauce may be made ahead and cooled, uncovered, before being chilled, covered, 2 days or frozen 1 month.

In an 8-quart kettle bring 7 quarts salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente (about 6 minutes for fresh, longer for dried) and drain in a colander. In a heated large bowl immediately toss pasta with sauce.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Pizza bagles - toast bagles, spread tomatoe sayce with italian spices on them, sprinkle with onions, ham and bell pepper, top with mozarella and bake till cheese is melted.
German Hamburgers - hamburger meat, finely chopped onions, salt, pepper, one minute oats, eggs-mix it all up and shape hamburgers, fry. Serve with mashed potatoes and carrots ( cooked in salt water or broth, then tossed in butter and flavored with salt and pepper)

Answer 6

COBY'S POT ROAST FRENCH DIP SANDWICHES

The First Day:

3.5 lbs top round roast
6 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
Grillmaster steak seasoning
1 large non-stick pot to sear meat
3 tablespoons cooking oil or olive oil
1 pkg onion soup mix
2-3 cup baby carrots
roasting pan (just big enough to fit around roast and carrots
tinfoil (to wrap up roast and carrots and place in fridge to make french dips the next day)
for the next day:
3 pkgs Au-Jus mix
soft hoagie rolls - 1 pkg (depends on how many people)
Parmesan cheese
butter

Serve with:

Caesar salad and Roma tomatoes
hot carrots
beverage

The First Day:

Preheat Oven to 500°F.
Rinse off roast with water and pat dry with paper towels.

Make a deep cut in the roast and insert a sliver of garlic into the slit. Make these cuts all over the roast, inserting a garlic sliver in to each slit. Rub the roast all over with the steak seasoning.

Add oil to the non-stick pot and place roast in pot. Sear the roast on medium-high heat on all sides and ends until golden brown.

This should only take about 3-4 minutes at the most. Turn off burner.

Place contents of the onion soup mix in the roasting pan with 3 cups of water. If possible, place the roast fat side up and turn over in the soup mix a few times to get pieces of the onion to stick on to the roast. Add the carrots around the roast and cover with roasting pan lid.

Place in the oven and set the timer for 7 minutes per pound. In this case, a 3.5 lb roast will take 24.5 minutes to make it medium rare - crisp on the outside and pink in the middle.

After the timer goes off, turn off the oven and don't open the oven door. Let the roast sit in there for another 2 hours, then remove the roast from the oven and let the meat cool.

Remove carrots and roast and place in foil in your fridge. Pour the pan drippings into a bowl and cover, put in refrigerator.


The Following Day:

Go for a nice brisk walk in the cool air to build up your hunger for these hot robust sandwiches!
Turn the oven to Broil. Cut roast into very thin slices. Remove roast beef drippings from refrigerator and skim off fat. Use the remaining liquid as part of the liquid used when preparing the Au-Jus packages according to package directions (or make your own beef gravy).

Use a good sized pot for Au-Jus and to hold all the beef slices. Add sliced roast beef to Au-Jus and let simmer for about 1/2 hour. During this time, slice open hoagie rolls, spread butter on rolls and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on rolls. Place rolls on cookie sheet on broil in hot oven and watch carefully as the butter starts to bubble and the cheese just starts to turn golden brown. Pull them out of the oven immediately when this starts to happen. Turn off oven. Turn off stove.

Add as much roast beef as desired to the hoagie rolls, slicing them at a diagonal. Warm up carrots in the microwave. Pour some of the Au-Jus into a mug or cup and dip your sandwich in the Au-Jus and Enjoy!