Well I knew that Boston Cream Pie would be a lucky addition. It looks like my menu research is at end. I had a last few minute things I wanted — especially plain vegetable table sides — actually I wanted them almost just exactly how you get them out of the Asian diners, but I also wanted a few extras, like baked beans and pan baked Fava beans. Then I wanted to amplify the meats with some lamb and pork chops to pull off a tray and possibly also braised chicken parts to pull from a tray and fried fish to pull of a tray. The rest of the meats (and fish) should just be pull from the tray. Everything else is there for you. I omitted flatbreads thinking there are already enough kinds of pull from the tray breads. That might have been my fatal mistake.

So my consult asked me that if I was going to put it together in the real by myself would I hire a caterer for the remainder to bring their own recipes for the remainder of the trays and vegetables or if I would continue to hire overtime conventioner chefs to put together a recipe list from websites? So actually I had to be honest. I would get together a few extra caterers to cover this last part.

So I have to be authentic and true to the original plan details, which are these. In which case, my platters are done. If we do this — we being me and a lot of people I can’t account for on this blog or anywhere — work friends and friends of friends — then, we are basically saying a set up for December 21st. And I was not going to allow anyone to bring food, but we have too many diet issues on the total menu, so yes, we are allowing people to bring food and also asking that we might clone some of their dishes at the last minute for other persons. We would put this together in restaurant at table and also a la carte buffet style, but it’s a banquet dinner so that’s about all there is.

The only other thing that I was hoping to do was get together some gaming entertainment for the day, because otherwise, it would be a weekend convention thing but there’s no point to trying that with the numbers. So I have no ideas for what to suggest is entertaining besides food in this case. I would hope that we could find someone we all like to entertain us on a widescreen video, but seriously, I don’t trust myself. And reruns are false love. So I’m stuck for good entertainment that doesn’t ruin the long day dinner.

 

55 Lamb Recipes, from Chops to Roasts to Kebabs | Bon Appétit

Big Menu. I couldn’t forget the Boston Cream Pie.

Boston Cream Pie – Recipe – FineCooking

Boston Cream Pie | Epicurious

I’m going for broke and I’m beginning on my extra meats for the big menu now, whether it’s the weekend yet or not. (And it’s not…. All three: big menu.)

 

Summer fruit-stuffed roast pork with sherry gravy – Taste Australia

 

Cherry Pancetta Sage Stuffing Roast Pork Loin – Taste Australia

 

Coriander-fennel crusted pork roast with pickled blueberries – Taste Australia

 

Now I’m done with adding in the necessary pasta to handle all the options to the banquet.

I need some more centerpiece meat or centerpiece meat situation (whole meat sides) to make those delicious sides seem as good as they are.

So that is the work for the weekend. That and whatever filler is left.

Pasta Puttanesca recipe | Epicurious.com

 

Pasta Carbonara | Bon Appetit

 

Pasta Bolognese | Food & Wine

(But these are also in penne pasta, so I favor that where the spaghetti is at option, it is optioned with either penne rigate or else rigatoni.)

 

 

 

(Liguria is the Province of Rome of course.)

From Bon Appetit to Epicurious to Food Network, this is the definitive recipe for Pesto & Spaghetti. So it’s mine for my list.

 

Ligurian Pesto with Spaghetti Recipe | Bon Appetit

 

I’m also fond of the idea of using penne pasta for some of the pasta sides, and since this recipe is a slight, very slight variation from the standard Ligurian pesto recipe, I include it on my banquet menu list. Both are together on the list.

 

 

Classic Basil Pesto & Penne | An Italian in my Kitchen

So let me get on with the pasta. This is a bit last minute. Everyone is rather surprised to learn that there won’t be any lasagna at the banquet lists. There won’t be. There’s no time. I guess I should have started months ago and kept it a secret for something like that. I really didn’t feel motivated to try this until mid-November. I’m impulsive, what can I say.

So for pasta adjuncts to the ricotta stuffed shells and manicotti which are already en-list and that I want to keep, I will be adding, a pasta bolognese, a pasta carbonara, a pasta puttanesca and a green basil pesto pasta. I haven’t decided if it’s all going to be in spaghetti or not. But also on this list is the beef pappardelle. I’m guessing that when I ask for advice, the advice will be — all in spaghetti. I am really trying to plate pasta dishes as a side to the consumption of the main meat with a the side fillers. So the pasta is almost bread and so I’m not trying to be too featuresque with it.

So far, this is the only recipe I have to dedicate to this ambition. This is just the recipe for the hand-made pappardelle. The actual beef pappardelle recipe is below this.

 

Hand-cut pappardelle recipe | BBC Good Food

 

 

Beef Ragu Fresh Pappardelle | Food Network

My general home situation, tells me that if I had to get this all together and thought I might make it true, even in a wild sense, I’d have to close up my decisions pretty soon. They’re giving me through the weekend to be on time and maybe through next week, to be okay with time.

So I have to step things up. I thought I’d have until the middle week of December about. So, that’s how far off my pragmatism is. Anyway.

So I need to put ham on our poultry menu. I want the ham to figure off the centerpiece with important intentions for sustaining all the serious side dish and appetizer offerings.

Since I’m thinking big, it’s no time to stop now, with so little time to make all the rest of the decisions for the menu close. So I’m choosing 5 of all the recipes on this list — whole hams being the target.

#3 — Honey-Bourbon Glazed Ham

#4 — Smoky Glazed Ham with Red Pepper Jelly

#6 — Crispy Fresh Ham with Rum Sauce

#9 — Chile Brined Fresh Ham

#10 — Pomegranate Jalapeno Glazed Ham

I realize now I need a skosh more pasta to swallow all this savory ham. So I will add that too. But I have through the weekend.

 

Best Ham Recipes | Food & Wine

This is a list of 250 TERRIFIC Thanksgiving-Specific Recipes.

However, I am going to use them for my Christmas Banquet Menu project.

I call this my Fairy Godmother – Fairy Godfather (I think you would need both to actually complete my entire plan by now), Wish List Expansion.

I haven’t by far finished. I have been thinking of vegetables, more sides, more bread, more dessert and certainly of course, more centerpiece plate dishes — principally ham. Right now, this project is up to a large turkey and side plate smaller geese and duck.

I don’t consider it complete. It’s a fairy tale banquet surely is what I know I mean. But besides that, I gave up on trying to bring it together to realistic. So by now, I am into my expanded lists — within reason. I could see that a very large catering restaurant and banquet hall or convention site could handle my entire program quite easily.

So let’s move on.

Out of this list, I have chosen the following for my Banquet Menu.

#14 — Herbed Turkey Breast

#20 — Chunky Apple Cake

#22 — Baker’s Dozen Yeast Rolls

#30 — Glazed Sweet Potatoes

#42 — Triple Fudge Brownies

#55 — Royal Broccoli Souffle

#62 — Onion French Bread Loaves

#71 — Cheese Butter Bread

#73 — Bourbon Ham Meatballs

#82 — Bacon Collard Greens

#92 — Wild Rice Stuffing

#95 — Parmesan Risotto

#99 — Cranberry Pineapple Upside Down Cake

#100 — Thyme Roasted Carrots

#105 — Pumpkin Harvest Beef Stew

#107 — Cranberry Brie Pinwheels

#118 — Mashed Cauliflower au Gratin

#122 — Sugar Cookies

#124 — Carmel Pecan Apple Pie

#129 — Honey Pecan Pie

#134 — Bacon & Broccoli Salad

#137 — Quick Buttermilk Cornbread

#146 — Butter Pecan Fudge

#148 — Sparkling Cider Pound Cake

#167 — Barbecue Meatballs

#169 — Dill and Chive Peas

#180 — Cheddar Cream Corn

#181 — Sweet Potato and Carrot Casserole

#184 — Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

#188 — Slower Cooker Spiced Mixed Nuts

#195 — Seeded Butternut Squash Bread

#212 — Cranberry Date Bars

#213 — Pumpkin Spice Cookies

#216 — Spinach Parmesan Casserole

#220 — Spiced Pickled Beets

#226 — Cherry Brandied Baked Brie

#245 — Cinnamon Sugar Apple Pie

Now I also have a few more salads to add to the former days’ salad lists. There are a total of 20 prepped salad sides for my salad a-la carte buffet when that list is finished. And rather than make another separate post, since it continues from the salad lists of yesterday and the day before, I thought I’d put that link at the bottom of this post with the list of my choice for the Banquet Menu.

There are going to be more sides of everything and more mains though, so I declare this a science fiction menu.

Herbed Turkey Breast

Here’s Every Thanksgiving Recipe You’ll Ever Need | Taste of Home

 

Completion of Prepped Salads List from Food & Wine Italian Salads

Italian Salads | Food & Wine

#5 — Garlicky Caesar Salad

#6 — Fennel & Red Onion Salad with Parmesan

#12 — Eggplant Caponata

#14 – Mushroom Salad with Mint

#16 — Shaved Fennel Salad with Anchovy

#17 — Antipasto Salad

#19 — Arugula Salad with Ricotta Salata

#21 — Fennel and Aged Pecorino Salad

#23 — Spinach Salad with Bagna Cauda Dressing

#23 — Spring Peas and Greens with Cacio & Pepe Dressing

#25 — Lemony Chickpea Salad

 

 

I guess people might be wondering if there are going to be desserts on my banquet menu. Yes there are. But also snacking desserts, like this.

Also on this link page are recipes for Candied Maple Pecans and Candied Spicy Pecans — so I am including all three types of candied pecans to my menu list.

(There are quite a few additions yet to be posted of all kinds of recipes.)

 

Candied Pecans with Cinnamon Sugar | Boulder Locavore®

I’m seeing this is an excellent presentation for the center stage bird. He’s a turkey and also ready stuffed. I”m hoping to get him up to 24 pounds. I will leave the presenters at the banquet hall to set it up into motion for serving; I’m just the menu girl.

There are going to be more and other entree proteins. But I’m beginning with the center attraction. So now that’s also done, except for the apps that belong with the beast.

 

Classic Roast Turkey With Herbed Stuffing and Old-Fashioned Gravy recipe | Epicurious.com

Banquet menu ideas for Christmas/December, recapping, were small breads (including this), squash and potato mash (I will probably get more mashed veggies together for the buffet on that), and of course the stuffed pasta. That is all so far. This is my first day on the project. I don’t know if I will work on it every day consecutively, so I will always say “for my menu,” or, “for the banquet menu,” to reference what will be finally recapped, sometime probably before December 10th.

 

Buttermilk Biscuits with Butter and Honey Recipe | Bobby Flay | Food Network

Okay, I have two buttermilk biscuits — these with honey and the ones above with black pepper!

So the smaller breads are crescent rolls, biscuits and croissants. Basically.

 

Buttermilk Biscuits With Honey Butter recipe | Epicurious.com