Food for last minute guests

Seraph

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 5:38 am

I just got a call from someone who needs a place for shabbos... I already cooked for shabbos, and for the main course and fish I generally just cook enough for the people coming, no leftovers. What do you do if you have last minute guests and you have just enough peices of chicken? Cut them in half? chicken thighs and legs cant be cut in half. Neither can some peices of fish.
Do you have one person who doesnt take, because they're "not hungry", or do you make more of other dishes that you still have time to make?

Raisin

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 5:44 am

I always cook the chicken last thing, for this reason. I have a microwave so I can defrost extra chicken if I need to. I guess if you are really stuck you or dh will have to be not hungry all of a sudden, but it can be embarrassing for the guest.

Raisin

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 5:46 am

Oh, and I always have exactly the same amount of leftover chicken, no matter how much I cook, and how many unexpected people turn up. 8)

greentiger

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 5:58 am

I would add more -even if it is simple stuff like making tuna salad so there is enough fish or shnitzel instead of chicken pieces. It can be very uncomfortable when there is not enough food. If you do decide to take less for yourself, then maybe serve from the kitchen so the guest won't know what you do and don't have.

Another suggestion, would you be able to ask the guest if they would just mind stopping on the way over at a shabbos food store and getting a piece or two of ready made chicken?

RachelEve14

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 7:02 am

I would probably run to the makolet and grab some more chicken and cook it quickly. For the fish, there is a real easy recipe using tuna in the spice & spirit book. It's called tuna squares I think, it's tuna with a red sauce but I always leave off the sause. YOu can put it together in about 2 min. and it takes 45 min. to bake, so then just serve 2 types of fish.

drumjj

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 7:25 am

I never have that issue bc I always seem to make too much however much I try not to. but if I dont I would either run to the shop and buy more chicken or just pretend im not hungry and make some more little bits and pieces and salads and stuff

Helani

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 9:14 am

I always make sure I have enough extra for at least one more person, because we had a couple of people who would literally call 15 minutes before shabbos asking if they could come for a meal. Not to mention couple of times when I would get an extra guest on Shabbos or Yom Tov with no previous warning at all. I learned my lesson. I also try to keep a kugel or something in the fridge that could be defrosted by the main course.

Rutabaga

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 9:26 am

I don't usually have last minute guests. I do, however, always cook a little extra. I like to serve Shabbos leftovers at least once a week for supper. If I'm doing all the hard work to make Shabbos, I feel like I earned myself a break. So if I have an extra guest, then that would just mean cooking an extra meal during the week.

Fabulous

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 9:33 am

My dh is a huge fan of potato kugel and shabbos food in general. I do make a much larger kugel and often chulent and kishka in order to serve it to him for lunch on Friday. I do not think that that makes it not likavod Shabbos. I know he loves kugel but I don't make it for a side dish on Tuesday. I make it for Shabbos and give it as an Erev Shabbos treat to look forward too. Maybe I'm wrong but it really goes over well in my house.

Fabulous

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 9:34 am

Whoops, posted in the wrong thread. Meant to post in the tasting before shabbos post. Sorry, saw Rutabaga's post and it could be in both, so I just assumed it was in the other.

Raisin

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 9:37 am

also, cook extra chicken breast peices. leftovers can be turned into stirfry, sandwiches, chicken pot pie, etc. Leftover legs and wings are not so appetising second time reheating.

yOungM0mmy

Sat, Sep 06 2008, 6:47 pm

I try to always have a couple of packets of deli meat in the freezer, so that if someone comes home from shul, by the time we get there, it will be defrosted and I can make a deli platter really easily. You can even combine one pack deli and whatever chicken you have.
I also have cans of tuna, so I would make tuna salad, add some paprika, corn and pickles to make it fancier, and do like an ice cream scoop on a plate, so its not just plain mashed tuna. I also have a packet of lox in my freezer, so if I have enough time, like if I find out the night before, I can defrost that and do like a flower of smoked salmon on the plate...

dora

Sat, Sep 06 2008, 10:51 pm

Often dh brings home someone from shul for a meal, someone that has no place to go is happy with whatever is served. Of course we make such a guest feel welcome and not obvious to him that last minute changes were made to the meal. I always cook extra and have a jar of fish in the fridge. With lots of home made challah and dips everyone is almost full. We also have a rule for these times: FTL, Family Takes Last.

flowerpower

Sat, Sep 06 2008, 10:55 pm

I make enough of everything. I can serve another whole shabbos sunday night. The last few guests we had, invited themselves close to shabbos and it was fine.

DREAMING

Sun, Sep 07 2008, 12:31 am

we don't have guest very often. This morning, dh asked me if he could bring a last minute guest. I said yes. we will share whatever we have. B"H this week dh bought a bigger challah than usual, plus we had matzah.
I only had one chicken bottom which I divided. guest got one part and dh and baby shared the second part of it.
I was also happy because earlier in the week dh had brought ice cream cigars that we didn't end up finishing then so we even had dessert!

I couldn't believe I was so relaxed but you know - in a way it was so much better than advance notice because this way I wasn't nervous, I didn't cook or clean more than the usual adn it was totally relaxed since I couldn't do anything anyway.

catonmylap

Sun, Sep 07 2008, 2:13 am

I would pull some chicken out of the freezer and make it if I had time or make more side dishes.

This week with fish and soup, we hardly touched the chicken.

We had a last minute thing this week-when I got to shul, dh tells me that we are doing kiddish this week, and I went home to get stuff. Luckily I had baked cookies last minute(oddly for no particular reason, we totally forgot about the kiddish), so I brought those, and a spread I had made, 2 drinks, and a package of crackers.
And we had one of the those cakes in a bag lying around, so I took it too. It was very impressive for not remembering..