Friday Night meal for an aufruf

simchamommy

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 12:35 pm

I'm having 20 people for friday night dinner for an aufruf. I want to prepare as much as I can in advance, so any menu ideas (things that can be frozen) are much appreciated.
do I have to make soup?
Appetizer before the soup?
any other ideas for a nice meal without tooo much pachke?

thanks!

elmos

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 2:17 pm

Do you normally do fish I would serve fish on a plate witha salad either gef. with a green salad or slamon with noodle or green salad.
Soup depends how cold it is by you and if you will have soup eaters

are you serving family style or plated mains??
noodle kugels freeze fairly well apple kugels freeze well
you can always season or bread the chicken freeze it and than bake it fresh on friday.
You can prepare a roast thursday and slice it I am not sure what ideas you want because it really depends if you are serving family style or plated mains eithr way I think 2-3 salads like cole slaw cuk and a macaroni or pot salad always look good on the table

simchamommy

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 2:48 pm

I was thinking about 2 slices of deli roll on a plate with mustard sauce for an appetizer
still not sure about the soup
the rest of the meal will be family style - no room for plating - I have a small kitchen!
how many whole chickens for 20 people?

ra_mom

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 5:19 pm

imak wrote:

The appetizer sounds nice.
I suggest going with a soup since it's warm and filling. A lot of people come to the Seuda hungry, as they were too busy to eat much on Erev Shabbos. Besides it's easy and cheap to prepare, and can be made and frozen ahead of time.
You can do an easy and filling split pea soup if you'd like.
5 whole chickens for 20 people. But that's exact and I would really make some extra.

sbs

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 5:45 pm

do you and your guests usually do a traditional friday night meal?
then I would skip the deli roll appetizer and do a salmon or salmon wellington appetizer, (it's salmon in pastry dough with spinach) I've frozen that and it was great, served with dill sauce on the plate
then, I would do soup, can be frozen in advance, knaidlach can also be frozen in advance
for main dish, make chicken fresh, you can make potato kugels in muffin tins so they can be served individually, noodle kugels can also be made that way, as well as any other type of kugel or muffin and they can all be frozen.
I like to serve a big salad or veggie for people that want something healthy, needs to be made fresh
most desserts can be frozen in advance

Motheroftwins

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 8:00 pm

If you want to do something pretty, you can serve gefilte fish, plated and on each plate take a cucumber, cut it into 2 inch pcs and take out some of the middle with a melon baller - to make a small bowl, use this for chrein and put 1 on each plate.

You can also start with meatballs/rice as an appetizer if you want something hot instead of soup.

Are you looking to serve any roasts or only chicken as part of the main dish? What about anything with ground beef?
I agree with the potato kugel muffins or you can make apple kugel muffins
If you dont want to to do potato kugel, you can do roasted potatos or borekas
I would try to get at least 1-2 salads (maybe a cole slaw and a veggie salad)
String beans or a diff green veggie for the main course as well.
What are you doing for dessert? Individual things are great for large crowds - what about the 3 colored ices/sherbert from Susie Fishbein. cookies can be made in advance and frozen. - are you plating the dessert or also just planning on having cookie platters or something similar pre-plated you can just put on the table and ppl will help themselves?

simchamommy

Wed, Nov 10 2010, 5:40 am

Here's what we've got so far:
2 slices deli roll nicely plated.
soup
some type of chicken
individual carrot kugels
potato kugel
apple crunch?
string beans

what else should I add
dessert: I'm thinking one of those chocolate decadence type desserts plated but I'm open to more dessert ideas too

Motheroftwins

Wed, Nov 10 2010, 10:19 am

For dessert you can either do a decadent choc something or if you are pre-plating them you can put 3 diff things on each plate - a pc of brownie or blondie, a mini pecan pie, a mini cup w choc mousse in it, a little apple turnover (SOO easy to make), a scoop of ice cream, etc. you can also get those syrups - either choc or raspberry flavor etc to drizzle on the plate.
I would also get some fruit - melon and grapes and serve those on platters

ra_mom

Wed, Nov 10 2010, 10:36 am

imak wrote:

I can't get those dessert syrups here - anyone know how to make something similar?

You can make your own chocolate syrup very easily and pour it into a squeezable bottle (like an empty mustard bottle.)

elmos

Wed, Nov 10 2010, 11:02 am

If you want to have fish to offer people but don't fel like making it the appitizer I have seen people put out bite size pieces of gef. fish or others with nice toothpicks in the piece on the table so after challah anyone who wants can take one piece.

I def. think you should add some salad to the main course it doesn't have to be fancy but many pople like raw veggies

shaini

Wed, Nov 10 2010, 5:39 pm

Your menu sounds really good, what I've seen done many times when I'm out for meals for dessert is to individually plate up one nice but not too large dessert, say something like motheroftwins suggested (I would probably go with the brownie as you can definately make this ahead and freeze) with a fruit (strawberry) coulis around the outside of the plate as was suggested, with a scoop of ice cream also on the plate, then you can serve a few platters of cut up fresh fruit and/or platters with chocolates, really special biscuits etc for people to nibble on while they chat before benching.

I also agree with the suggestion of more salads.

Enjoy!

shaini

Sat, Nov 13 2010, 6:14 am

Elmos,

Fruit coulis is really just a fruit syrup. I've posted a recipe I found on the internet for your info but I haven't tried making it.

Raspberry Coulis

Ingredients
serves 2

120g raspberries
75g icing sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Method
Puree raspberries with sugar to a coating consistency. Strain through fine sieve if you want a fine finish.

You can find images of how to use this on the internet.

Hope this helps.