Crowds

Lately I've been trying to make a large pot of stew once per week that can be stored in four half-gallon jars; we heat one jar's worth and divide among four people each morning for breakfast. This stew was better than most I've been making, and is dead easy (at least considering how much you get). I adapted the recipe from "Cooking Provence," by Antoine Bouterin

16 chicken thighs
1 medium turnip, or 1 bunch turnip greens, chopped
1 large rutabaga, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped, or one celery root (celeriac), trimmed and chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped

This recipe is based on the one by Cooks Illustrated; it produces a creamy, delicious, "restaurant style" hummus that is unlike the usual grainy dip that often emerges from the home food processor. I'm using canned beans here to illustrate quantities, but I usually make my own and don't measure so precisely--it's the technique that matters most, and adding enough salt, and not adding too much garlic. ;)

--2 small garlic cloves
--1 1/2 tsp. salt

--2 25-oz. cans chickpeas, drained (Westbrae works well; if you use another brand, or make your own, you'll have to adjust the salt)

4 long pans

½ cup olive oil
½ cup minced garlic, or 6 onions, diced
Salt and pepper and thyme
--Saute (short for garlic, long for onions)

Add 4 diced (unpeeled) butternut squash
~4 cups water

Cook covered till tender, then uncover and evaporate liquid. Add
4 bunches kale, steamed/blanched and chopped.

Boil 1 gallon milk
8 bay leaves
--just till small bubbles appear. Let cool a few minutes.

Cook 12 pounds pasta (wheat or rice) in salted boiling water until it's barely cooked and still needs another couple of minutes.

Remaining ingredients:
2-3 sticks of butter

Makes three cakes; cut each 5x8, to produce 40 pieces per cake.

If you use only 1/6 of the amount of ingredients listed, you will have enough cake batter and frosting for a 9x13" sheet cake, OR two 9-inch cake layers (you'll need about 1/5 of the amount of frosting in order to have enough for a layer cake). Bake for slightly less time for a smaller cake.

Adapted from recipes by Smittenkitchen.com and Cooks Illustrated

All ingredients should be room temperature.

24 ¾ cups (6 lbs 3 oz) cake flour
4 T. baking powder
3 T baking soda
2 T salt
3 lbs (12 sticks) butter, softened

Makes 2 long pans, enough for 70-100 servings, depending on how you cut it and how hungry folks are! You could probably stretch the batter into 3 long pans if necessary, for less-tall cakes that bake more quickly.

If you want to make a single 9x13" sheet cake, just use 1/4 of the ingredients and bake for slightly less time.

10.5 cups (1575 g.) All-purpose flour
6 cups (1350 g.) Granulated sugar
3 cups (340 g) Dutch process cocoa
6 Tbs. Baking soda
3 Tbs. Salt

~8 cups water
2 1/4 cups Canola/vegetable oil
1 cup + 2 Tbs. White vinegar
6 Tbs. Vanilla extract