Help I am having a brunch lunch!

[Heidi3]

I am having a huge (60 people) brunch lunch open house in 3 weeks and I need some great ideas for easy to manage ...wonderful food...now there is one huge issue..my oven is not in great shape way too small and I can not buy another one before this event...I have access to a friends and my kids for keeping stuff warm but but it is not convientiant and as far as tossing stuff in and cooking it ...well there is not much hope... I will have a NEW COOKTOP :icondance :icondance :icondance and would really like to do as much stovetop cooking as possible!!...I have a toaster oven! LOL...and a microwave (not the one that catches me on fire! that is going to the Salvation Army today!!!). I also have a couple of days before that I am off work and can do all my prep work...so help....you guys have such good ideas ...

what I have so far in my mind is the center will be this amazing smoked turkey I get in Portland I am going to get three of them ..... I will also bake a couple of cakes and some bread because it is a tradition for me to do this for these wonderful people....but what else?...I was thinking asparagus will be in season here so will copper river salmon....oh there are so many options I need a theme...help!

[Pau]

What about some quiches? Spanish tortilla? ....

[not2late]

What about fondue or bagna cauda? You can arrange the pots in the four corners of the room (so you won't have a traffic jam in the middle). You can even have a chocolate fondue 'station'---just need to supply pieces of pound cake and fresh seasonal fruit.

For the main foods, what about kedgeree? It's stove top prep and it tastes good.

http://thefoody.com/fish/kedgeree.html

http://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_kedgeree.htm

[Pau]

BTW the recipes I have are not low carb :no .... but I´ll write them if you need them.

[MotherOfGizmo]

I was going to say quiches, but you don't want to put anything in the oven :sadblinky

[weiner]

Make salads. Fake "potato" salad, cauliflower/broccoli salad, macaroni salad. Have some little smokies in a crock pot.

[LindaJay]

Quiche is usually served at room temp -- so you could do quiches, if you time it right. I have taken them for brunch at work (crustless -- the good part is that crust doesn't get soggy!) -- made the night before, chilled, then let them come to room temp.

Of course, my personal fave -- wedges of smoked gouda with a big thick slices of pepperoni! There's never any left over!

[Origam]

Scrambled eggs with lots and lots of yummy stuff in it.. like crumbled sausage, three color bell peppers, lots of diced onion, some sharp cheddar or mozzarella. Yum!

French toast sticks? Get some of the big texas toast bread and cut it into strips and make them the way you'd make french toast. Serve with warm maple syrup (you can warm the syrup in the microwave easy).

How about getting some of those huge tortillas like they use in Mexican restaurants and make some quesadillas with chicken, jack cheese, green chilies and some green enchilada sauce? Fry them until golden brown and let the guests enjoy?

Mom used to make a steamed apple that was kind of like a baked apple. Cut off the top of the apple, scrape out some of the meat (just enough to make a good sized hole for putting stuff in), put in cinnamon, nutmeg, and any other spices you like, put a dab of butter on top of each one and place the "lid" on. Put in a steamer, fill the bottom of the steamer with apple cider of apple juice and let steam for about 30 minutesor until the apples are tender.

Oi.. I'm making myself hungry. Sorry they aren't all Atkins friendly.. but I assumed when you said cake anything goes. :yes

[Desertthorn]

Bouillbase. Yours is awesome. Cook it on the camp stove out side. Salmon for 60, even in season is going to require a bank loan, so I would think smoked turkey and grill some veggies maybe. The quische is a great idea, you can serve it warm or cold. Tell everyone to bring a salad, then you won't have to worry about refrig space. Desert can be cheesecakes.

[Heidi3]

great ideas..oh I was only going to get one whole salmon and then poach it and serve it cold with the turkey....

oh I love our communal soup Desertthorn..but with out you and the gang on the beach it would not be the same...thanks for the kuddos but it was communal I just make the stock!!!

I have to interject a story...Desert and I had a party on the beach where we made a pot luck Bouilliabase...I made a HUGE pot of fish stock with all the right flavors and every brought some type of firm fish or seafood to put in ....it was absolutely amazing.....we sat on the beach with steamy bowls of it and looked at the water ....everyone was quiet!!!! there were a huge group of us and even the kids were elbow deep in the bowls ...and no noise....just chowing down ...I am thinking the pot was so clean when we were done that no one had to wash it!!!!....

[not2late]

Nursey, I had relatives near the Chesapeake Bay, so every fall we would go for a family crab boil: big blue crabs, fresh sweet corn, potatoes, steamed together in a big pot (outdoors). My uncle used beer and alot of Old Seasoning. Then there were the usual "sides": potato salad, coleslaw, fried green pepper rings, etc. I put "sides" in quotes, because they were really "in-betweens"---you ate those foods while waiting for the next batch of crabs to cook. The tables were set outside and had a weeks worth of newspapers spread on top. By the end of the boil, every table had a pile of empty crab shells in the center of it.

[Desertthorn]

I loved that soup. It was like ambrosia from the sea. Lets do that again like this time next year.

[Heidi3]

Nursey, I had relatives near the Chesapeake Bay, so every fall we would go for a family crab boil: big blue crabs, fresh sweet corn, potatoes, steamed together in a big pot (outdoors). My uncle used beer and alot of Old Seasoning. Then there were the usual "sides": potato salad, coleslaw, fried green pepper rings, etc. I put "sides" in quotes, because they were really "in-betweens"---you ate those foods while waiting for the next batch of crabs to cook. The tables were set outside and had a weeks worth of newspapers spread on top. By the end of the boil, every table had a pile of empty crab shells in the center of it.

YUMMMO!!!! we always eat crap on newspaper here then you roll it up and toss it...we did clam bakes as kids and I was going to try one this summer but we will see I maybe I will wait until Lynne comes home so she can dig the pit for me!!!! LOL

ok Lynnie! we can do the soup and we will do a clam back and the curry and......?