I would precook, as per the article you cited. Slightly undercooking, of course, and chill.
Then layer in the heating pans, in smaller amounts, according to your approximation of when people might arrive.
Or, if you are unsure about how this would work for you, or if you are very particular about the result, then make something else more suitable for long holding.
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One would bake this particular raviolis if one wishes to serve a large number (i.e. 25+) of people over a long period of time. As was cited in the linked article.
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Clever. Iāve seen ideas (in the US) for stovetop as well as sheet pan ravioli, tortellini, gnocchi etc that skip the boiling step and work quite well.
With such a large batch Iād be a bit concerned about edges drying out, or pasta getting overcooked - but then Iāve also been to large gatherings where that wasnāt a priority / concern, and the pasta was kept warm in a slow cooker (again, favorite US appliance, lol).
Have you heard of breaded/ātoastedā (actually fried or baked) ravioli? Itās a midwestern US ācreationā - the sauce is then on the side for dipping. I didnāt know it existed until someone from St. Louis joined my team. Itās pretty tasty, and works great for a crowd setting. Totally different dish, though!
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I can absolutely envision this scenario. Why do we all collect friends who, while hailing the meals we present, have no clue about the rudiments of how to get food on the table?
There is a saying, we like people because; we love them in spite of.
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In this situation, you might have better results sticking with dishes that donāt need to be prepare a la minute. A baked pasta holds up well, tastes good even served lukewarm, and wonāt require so many contortions to make work! Just an opinion.
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The key is keeping fresh ravioli or tortellini or tortelli or Agnoletti moist" ā¦
I am not a professional chef, so I would never be in that position to cook for 25 people. Nor are there 25 people in my family ā¦
Good luck ā¦
The dumplings I have in mind is ashak. I gave a test yesterday with a batch in oven for 15 minutes, I guess the oven was too hot, some of the edge of the dumplings dried out, even Iāve covered with a foil.
This method works, but need some fine tuning between the heat, time and quantity. Of course, the ideal is still cooked with boiling water.
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The fried baked ravioli looks good. Will keep for future reference. Thanks!
Thanks everyone. Since the cooking will happen Friday and Saturday. Iāve shopping and other dishes to prepare including dessert to do as well. I will rather change the menu to more simple stuff.
Iāve been guest chef for a cafĆ© since September, one or two weekend a month. Menu carte blanche and owners like to have different themes each time. This will be my third time cooking, theme is Berber cuisine. So far the compliments are positive for the cooking. Complaints are more the waiting time or the serve size. Can be stressful if a lot of people are placing orders the same time. So far itās fun, one of my biggest challenge is the kitchen is not very well equipped and very small, so Iāve to play around with the restrictions. Also Iām still trying to find the right shoes.
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Baked ziti or lasagne are no failures and can be eaten hot or room temperature.
What about a vegetarian and a chicken cous cous ?
Cous cous can be prepared very easily and the vegetable stove top, chickpeas (garbanzos in remojo, soaked overnight) and the chicken stove top too, and sliced in chunks with a chicken stock.
Easy and delicious. And the veggies sautĆ©ed in Evoo or roasted in oven ā¦
And serve separately the toppings for the cous cous ā¦
Hummus, Tabuli, Ba-ba-gha-nug, Crudities with a variety of Dips both a cow milk cheese and goat milk cheeses, and a vegan salad with almonds and walnuts, a veggie lasagne, an aubergine āMELANZE DI LECCEā which is aubergine slices made like a lasagne without the pasta sheets; phyllo filled with spinach and feta, a ratouille, and perhaps a type of beef roast or a roast turkey or chickens ā¦
I would keep it simple. Good luck.
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Impressive!
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Not always. Iāve had fried ravioli, which is crisp. Ravioli are basically dumplings, and fried dumplings are hardly uncommon.
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Agreed - that sounds exciting. Iād love to hear more about it if you feel like sharing. And if you donāt feel like sharing with your big, at times dysfunctional, HO family, thatās quite alright. Congrats on this new gig.
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Sure. Itās a newly opened cafĆ© owned by artists mainly for organizing cultural events. They have the concept of asking passionate home cooks to come to cook for them. I wanted to impress the first time and proposed an ambitious menu with 3 savoury dishes including Peking duck rolls and 2 desserts on the menu. I was alone in the kitchen. The owners underestimated the number of people attending. What I had prepared before the service was gone in the first 20 minutes. Things had to be assembled, most of the stuff were cooked, in fact, these little things took more time than I thought, think Vietnamese spring rolls, and there were quite a lot of distractions. Also not enough servers took the finish dishes to the clients. At one point, many clients came directly to us to ask to be served before the others, we had to deal with them than cooking. Luckily I had 2 other persons to joining me in the kitchen. Clients were satisfied once the food arrived, they were forgiving, knowing we were not professionals. My friends told me it took 45 minutes for the order to arrive on the table, but honestly I had no idea of time.
The second time, the long waiting was more or less corrected. I precooked everything, including pickled fish. Unfortunate people decided if they want to order by reading the menu and understand things in their own terms, if nobody explains to them. The best dish sat around with few orders, as the the major concern of pickled fish: was it raw or cookedā¦?
Now I know ice cream doesnāt sell (at least in September), chocolate flan and lemon tart were hits. Of course, people love duck and prawns as ingredients. Vegetables dishes sold less than meat dishes.
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So cool! Glad you are having fun with it!
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Assume you are making the ashak yourself, so its fresh pasta?
What if you par-boiled them for 4-5 of the 6-7 mins required time, then spread out to cool on a sheet pan with some oil so they donāt stick.
Then you could dunk them in a pot of boiling water for a minute, which would just finish cooking them as well as heating them up. Iām envisioning a pasta / udon /fryer basket here.
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Yes ashak is homemade.
Actually I read a few sites on precooked pasta, I think they usually talk about dry pasta, one suggests the use a deep fryer machine to cook pasta (with water) to time it. One needs to cool the pasta completely after the first cooking and put a lot of oil so they wonāt stick together.
On bigger profession package, i see precook time indicated
As for fresh pasta, they are a bit different, but I think the precook method is possible. Thanks for the suggestion!
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@naf, what an awesome concept. Love that your cooking talents get to shine. Cuisine is art too. I hope that you are enjoying the experience!
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