Things you would only cook for yourself (or a couple) - and things you would only cook for a crowd

I made cheung fun (again) today, which reminded me of the few times I’ve made fresh pasta at home, and thought - this is DELICIOUS, but I’ll never make it for more than 2/a few!

So - for me, so far, homemade / handmade noodles across a few cultures are only for myself, haha!

What would be on that list for you - turns out wonderfully, but fussy or intensive or time consuming and you’d never want to do that for a big group.

Anyone else have these (selfish?) thoughts?

Then there’s the inverse - things that are only worth making for a crowd, or are a pain to convert for 1-2.

Recent example for me is cupcakes - I had to make a single vanilla and single chocolate, and it was one of the most annoying things I’ve done in a while.

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Pici, a form of handmade pasta. Just flour and water, kneaded and rolled into strands. Simple, no? Easy? For the experienced.

I have tolerance for making enough for 2. 4, if I really like them.

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Wow, yeah!

I was looking up eriste (a Turkish pasta) recipes because I’m hooked on a dish at a neighborhood place, and all the articles had stories about groups of women making these things together. Makes so much sense!

There are so many indian dishes that were traditionally made in groups and/or massive batches, only a few times a year (still are in some cases) because of the effort, monotony, length of prep, seasonality, or what have you.

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I have thought about having a dinner party and having guests participate making enough for the group. (Notice I didn’t specify ladies since I don’t want to be sexist…)

eta, one afternoon my grand daughters arrived unannounced while I was starting to make this pasta. I gave each a splat of dough and they each made enough for a bowl. They wolfed it and were particularly excited to have made their own “spaghetti”. They were 7 and 5 at the time.

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Only for a family gathering - pesto rice salad. This often gets requested for gatherings in other family homes.

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I’m always just cooking for myself, and I often cook to “feed the freezer” for quick defrostable meals when I haven’t taken anything else out - so a pot roast, beef stew, chicken corn chowder, etc. are made in full quantities and then frozen in individual portions.

For gatherings, I usually make something like a Make Ahead Thai Pasta Salad for the group (always requested at our holiday potluck at work). I got it in an Email recipe exchange LONG ago on AOL, so I don’t have a link (other than when posted on CH).

Make-Ahead Thai Pasta Salad

Serving Size : 6-8

8 oz spaghetti, uncooked – broken in 3" pieces
4 cups assorted chopped vegetables – such as red bell pepper, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, and broccoli
3 green onions – sliced

Dressing
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons brown sugar – packed
1-1/2 Tablespoons fresh ginger root – grated
2 Tablespoons hot water – or more as needed
2 cloves garlic – minced
1/2 tsp chili paste or hot sauce (sriracha) – up to 1 tsp.
1/3 cup cilantro – chopped (or 1T. dry) (I OMIT, because I despise cilantro but you could use some chopped parsley)

Cook and drain the pasta. Rinse well with cold water. Once cooled and fully drained, combine the pasta, veggies and green onion.

Carefully whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the pasta and veggies, toss well to coat.

Chill for up to 24 hours before serving.


NOTES : LLW Notes: This recipe has the dressing ingredients doubled, as the original one didn’t seem to have enough to fully coat the pasta and veggies (quantities already adjusted to double amounts in the recipe above so don’t do it again!).

Oh - and if it seems a bit “solidified” when you take it out of the fridge, you can add a bit of very hot water to it after it’s been sitting out for about 15 minutes, and toss it again. The hot water will help loosen the chilled dressing. :slight_smile:

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Too much work- tacos for a crowd. At least at my house. Just sayin’

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@LindaWhit
Oh - that looks fabulous! And close to an old Jane Brody recipe I used to make for crowds and loved.

Thank you for this fabulous recipe and for jogging my brain!

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