Thank you! I didn’t see those, but I did buy some stuffed olives while there.
Ttrockwood “add the romesco with the semi smashed chickpeas, some jarred roasted red pepper, maybe some cucumber slices and a few leaves. They will be totally thrilled!” was a life/cuisine changing post for me.
I was looking for alternatives to chickpeas when I found this.
This Easy Make-Ahead Chickpea Salad With Cumin and Celery is Even Better the Second Day
I have lots of dried beans and wonder if any might stand in for chickpea salad, at least for taste-testing.
Ha! Awesome!
Wow, what a great selection of rancho gordo you have… either the blackeye peas or the other yellow eye would be fine instead of chickpeas, the darker skin beans usually have a distinct flavor that might be kinda weird in a sandwich.
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That sounds delicious…!
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Love the tip for pressing the sandwich! Genius.
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I think I’m late to the party.
Are you planning plated or buffet?
There is no meaningful difference between French and Italian bread. Under the law Italians have some more flexibility with what they can call ‘Italian’ than the French have with ‘French’ bread. None of that matters in the US. True story: my now wife sent me out to get bread for her visiting Italian father (from Trieste by the way, not Turin) when we first met. I brought back three kinds of Italian bread. None were acceptable. I went back and got French bread. Success.
I like your idea of individual frittatas. I’m not sure what you can do to make oatmeal attractive that doesn’t include ranch hands and rough hewn tables. How about metal rings as forms for broiled hash browns to match the shape of the frittatas? You could do broiled tomatoes with bread crumbs and grated cheese as well.
I like your muffaletta idea. Stick with that. How about cutting those little square breads into quarters after you make them? If you’re plating a dab of olive salad in the center of the four on a plate with assorted crudités between? A bed of greens would work nicely as background/salad.
Check to see if you have a local community college with a culinary program. I’ve hired students before to help with final prep and service. It’s cheaper than buying commercial and I have good help in the kitchen to spend time with guests. It helps a lot to have someone in the kitchen that thinks “only 25 people?” grin
This goes to @Ttrockwood’s point about ease of construction. The small rolls/breads/whatevers once split and lined up butted against one another are just as easy to build and give a lot of flexibility in service size and plating.
Vegan for one in my opinion should reflect as much as possible what everyone else gets. I would do a muffaletta with thinly sliced roasted mushrooms instead of meat. A mandoline would help but good knife skills will do for just one. For five I’d buy a mandoline. grin Did I mention that culinary student? grin
Hiring a culinary student might (MIGHT) give you access to their commissary which saves a lot of money on ingredients.
Best of luck.
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Thanks so much for your input!
Buffet. The plan is actually for me to buy sandwiches, and other folks are bringing store bought sides, like salad and chips. I still might buy sandwiches if this starts to seem too ambitious.
It’s a very casual occasion; sort of a meeting with something to eat.
It sounds like more functional and less entertainment than I thought. A little potluck-y as well. Buying makes some sense.
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We love pan bagnat! Make them on Sunday night and slice them up for lunch during the week, so many options but the classic tuna is our favorite.
Good luck!
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Here’s what I learned about our local CC culinary program.
https://solanoadulted.org/event/culinary-arts-i/
Not sure what to make of it. I might sign up! I know someone who teaches the HS Culinary Arts program, and she might be attending. Something to think about.
So many sandwiches I want to try! But I’ve been low carb for 8 months. I’ve wanted the vegan options o be similar to what we are all eating. “Bean” sandwiches have been a pretty good experiment, and I’ve really enjoyed some. Once this event is done, I will try them in salads.
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In my experience commercial cooking skills translate well to smaller numbers including home cooking. Home cooking however often does not translate to commercial settings. It’s a matter I believe of knowing the fundamentals.
At home, cooking for two or three or four, you can prep as you go. Some cookbooks even encourage the practice. Commercially ‘mise en place’ rules. You cannot survive interweaving prep and cooking. At home you can buy single purpose small appliances. Commercially you use a knife (or mandolin).
Even if you never plan to cook commercially you can learn a lot of really cool things in a culinary program. That is, after all, how Julia Child started.
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Any thoughts on whether 25 sandwiches and 25 mini frittatas made in the 24 hours prior is a) too much to attempt alone and
b)not worth it?
P.S. I will definitely be doing the frittatas. I think I’ve found a place with more options for sandwiches we can afford, and they deliver, but it has been great fun pracicing and exploring!
Hi shrinkrap,
The frittatas are easy. I would make the custard a couple of days ahead and refrigerate. You can saute anything you plan to use as fillings (asparagus, onions, bulk sausage, etc.) and refrigerate separately. The night before you mix the fillings into the custard and use a ladle (easier than a spoon and better for even distribution than pouring) to fill the ramekans (or whatever you are using). Remember you can save fridge space by putting the ramekins on baking sheets (or paper/foil cups in muffin tins) on baking sheets and stack them in the fridge. You can make the Ramesco sauce three or four days ahead and gently warm it while the frittatas are baking on the morning of your event.
Sandwiches take a bit more effort. If you set up a production line (think Subway sandwich shops) you can make individual sandwiches pretty fast. 20 min setup, maybe two minutes per sandwich, 30 min clean up. Add more time to wrap the sandwiches so they don’t dry out. If you use the interesting square rolls you posted pictures of above things get easier. You can lay out all the bottom slices on a baking sheet butted up right against each other. Now you can just build all the sandwiches at once and then run a knife between to separate them. Put the tops on and wrap the whole thing in plastic.
Depending on how big the individual frittatas are and how big the sandwiches you should be able to do the whole thing on two to four baking sheets.
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Even easier, distribute the fillings into the cups then fill with custard.
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Good point. Nearly anything will float up into the custard. That said I suspect total time will be quicker with the filling in the custard and a good ladle.
Off topic but to your point I once tried to make a variant of a frittata with a bacon weave “crust.” The bacon weave floated up into the custard and although not what I was shooting for was outstanding. My family asks for it regularly. It was the bacon. grin
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Thank you both! I was using these
…for the sandwiches and frittatas, respectively. I was really pleased with the way the frittatas looked in these paper molds…at least for the first several hours after they were made.
Since a frittata is just beaten eggs and not a lot of runny liquid like quiche, you may be right. Eggs alone won’t splash as much when chunks drop in.
Semantically, I think of ‘custard’ as egg plus liquid, while the beaten eggs for frittata would just be … eggs 
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