Crowd Pleasers

Are you hosting any parties this summer?  Here’s a few idea’s to help you feed the masses! Perfect for Father’s Day coming up this Sunday, a casual buffet or a backyard barbecue. My family always enjoys a big pan of sausage with peppers and onions.

I buy my favorite Italian sausage and cook it up on the grill, because, lets be honest, grilled sausage has the best flavor! When it cools down I slice it into two inch pieces on the diagonal.  Five pounds will feed a ton of people!

For flavor and convenience I always roast my peppers and onions on a baking sheet drizzled and tossed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper in a hot 425 degree oven, this way you can do large amounts and your stove doesn’t get all messy and splattered with grease, and personally, I think the flavor is so much better! You can make this ahead of time, toss everything in a foil pan and heat it up right on the grill when you’re ready to eat for a few minutes just until warm.

Chickens marinated ahead of time in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and lemon peel tossed with parsley, oregano or any of your favorite herbs. I like buying half chickens and then after they’re grilled I just cut them across the center to separate the leg and thigh and wing and breast.  Five chickens will yield you twenty quarter pieces.

Everybody loves a pan of Baked Mostaccioli and it compliments the chicken and the sausage so well! 2 pounds of pasta goes a very long way especially when you are adding ricotta, grated romano cheese and fresh mozzarella to it.

I always like to have some vegetable sides like this pan of zucchini that I roasted with a little bit of olive oil in a 425 degree oven with thin sliced tomatoes and onions.  When it all cools down, drizzle all over with more olive oil and fresh basil, you can eat this at room temperature. Try to find and use the smaller zucchini for inpidual servings or you can just cut them in half.

Eggplant caprese stacks are a wonderful side dish, honestly they’re so good you’ll see them disappear quickly! You can prepare the eggplant the day before or early in the day, slicing into rounds then breading and frying until crispy, then all you have to do is layer one slice of eggplant caprese style with a ripe tomato slice, fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf, then drizzle all over with olive oil.

Place this mediterranean salad on a big platter and everyone will dig in! Tomato wedges, sliced fennel, red pepper strips, kalamata olives, red onion, crumbled feta cheese and drained canned cannellini beans, all tossed together with parsley, basil, lemon juice and olive oil, also delicious at room temperature.

And don’t forget nice crusty Italian bread to either make a small sausage sandwich or just to have it on the side. Party on!