Julio's Delicatessen

A few months ago, some friends of mine suggested that we put together a fundraiser for our church that would entail me cooking for a large number of people.  They asked me “what’s the largest number you could cook for?” I thought for a minute and answered “I don’t know, maybe 40.”  A date was selected, plans were made, and we began trying to sell 40 seats for the event (which was planned to be both a fundraiser and an occasion to honor our long-serving Treasurer).

Things began to evolve and the event took on a life of its own.  The list of attendees reached 70 people at one point, though I believe we ended-up serving 66.  We also raised several thousand dollars for the church and threw a great party.

The menu included:

• Braised Beef Short Ribs (click for a PDF of the recipe), adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home
• Baked Salmon with Chive Sauce
• Ratatouille, based on the recipe Thomas Keller developed for the movie Ratatouille
• Garlic Chive Mashed Potatoes
• Balsamic-Glazed Asparagus

Two days before the event I did all of the shopping (30 lbs of short ribs, 35 lbs of potatoes, 400 spears of asparagus, etc).  The day before the event I brasied the short ribs, assembled the ratatouille, and prepared the salmon marinade.  The morning of the event I bought and cleaned the salmon, made the sauce of the salmon, chopped the herbs for the vinagrette that accompanies the ratatouille, and cleaned the asparagus.  As a result, things were very organized by late afternoon.  I had the help of two outstanding cooks (thanks, Brian and Edwin!) for the few hours before the meal was served.

Some additional photos (including the beautifully-decorated tables that Davidson and Nancy put together) are below.  I didn’t take any photos of the event for obvious reasons, but as I get more I’ll add them to this post.

Short rib

Salmon

Ratatouille, asparagus, and potatoes