Here I go with another cooking issue! Thanks for your help!
A friend has asked me to be her "caterer" for her husband's surprise birthday party this weekend. She's not organized and hates party planning anyway, but the surprise aspect means she has to farm things out. She's holding it in a church hall so I will have a full kitchen, and I have all the equipment for a buffet (chafing dishes, heating trays, etc.)
The guest list includes some vegetarians but mostly meat lovers. One of the items she's set on is a spiral ham. I've never done this (not much call for it in my Jewish home!). I don't keep a kosher kitchen so that's not a problem - but I wonder if I can make the ham ahead and should I just slice it and put the slices in the foil pan that goes in the chafing stand? I don't know if those pans would hold the weight of the whole ham (ballpark 8 pounds) with people slicing it as they go along. That would also hold up the buffet line, I think. But would the ham dry out?
Secondly, I had suggested some oven roasted veggies (which I do a lot), and she added some veggies to that. So I will have 2 pans of that. I usually do them with olive oil, dill, and salt/pepper. Since she wants so many, I was thinking of dividing them into 2 different groups rather than 2 pans of the same thing. How would you divide them? I thought maybe sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, butternut squash with the dill mix, and then a second pan with more "Italian" style (eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, broccoli, mushrooms) with Italian seasoning. She's insistent on squash and mushrooms but I don't think they have to be in the same batch. Is there another herb you would substitute or another way you would mix up the veggies for both taste, color and general appeal? If asparagus is on sale, I could add that.
I usually do these at 375 but some sources say to go hot (450-475) for less time to get crispy veggies without mushiness. I have to juggle other things in the oven at the party but can do things at home if they'll keep well for a half hour drive and a 1.5 hour cocktail hour/prep time before dinner is served. Thoughts?
Many thanks!
ETA: Let me clarify - no these are not the only dishes, just the ones I have questions about! We have sweet & sour meatballs, lasagna, honey mustard chicken, 2 quiches (one veggie, one bacon/mushroom), green salad, a rice casserole, plenty of appetizers and dessert. And the chafing dishes with Sterno fuel will keep things hot over pans of hot water. Sorry I wasn't clear!
So far this is very helpful - keep the ideas coming!
Fennel - brilliant! Double pans - wish I'd thought of it! ;-)
And someone else told me to save the glaze and drizzle it over the sliced ham at serving time too, or to add some maple syrup to a brown sugar glaze. Does this sound right to you all? Makes sense - just collecting opinions!
If you warm a spiral ham for an extra nano-second on the oven, they dry out.
Roasted veggies are fine, but surely this is not the only food, right?
Cause it screams needin buns, salad and a meatless pasta to me!
I hope you can warm these pans in the hall kitchen cause nothing's going to stay hot enough for 2 hours!
D. you were wondering if the foil pans would hold the weight - all you have to do is double the foil pans - in other words put one foil pan into another foil pan and that will give it the stability it needs to hold the weight of the ham. When we had an event catered this is what the caterers did and it worked beautifully. Hope the party turns out very well and you are a very good friend to do all of this.
in regards to the veggies.. I do like roasted potatoes.. but in my case,
I like to quarter them, add freshly chopped garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper olive oil and roast covered for part of the time, then uncovered so that they can brown and crisp.... towards mid way thru, you can add carrots and or fennel (another yummy treat) that not everyone thinks about cooking..
The italian style veggies I would do zucchini (both yellow and green) onion, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and maybe throw in some carrots sliced thin. I make those and drizzle olive oil, garlic and onion powder and a little bit of pepper and some italian seasoning. I don't think I would do dill on those.
the other one with just potatos. you could do scalloped or just a pan full of baked potatoes. they can be made ahead and kept warm in a crock pot.
as far as the ham goes if you can cook it there do that. i would do like you said and slice and put the ham in a chafing dish. you don't want people trying to slice it as they go.
as far as the sqaush thing goes. I would not do that at all with the veggies you have mentioned. its a totally different consistency.
You are ambitious! I don't know about the veggies, aside from getting them prepped with oils/seasoning in advance then just putting them in the oven when you get there.
I'd cook anything you can in the crockpot. For Easter, we put a ham in the crockpot - with 7UP poured over it, brown sugar packed onto it, whole cloves stuck in and pineapple slices on top (with the juice in the crock pot for good measure).
You can also do your meatballs that way too.
This way they stay warmed for the 30 min drive in the crock pot - you can even serve in this if you like. It will stay warm enough through serving. Just plug in when you get there to keep the heat and cut right before serving.
Good luck!
I wouldn't slice the ham too far ahead it could dry out.
Spiral hams are super dry. I'd suggest making a regular old ham with the bone in, slicing it and arranging it in the AM and serve at room temp. You can google ham glazes. I also put pineapple rings all over my ham before heating. I hang them with cloves. Makes it taste fantastic and the cooked pineapples are delish!
