I Need to Cook for 30 Friends

ON THIS WEEK’S episode of Dinner SOS, test kitchen director and host Chris Morocco and recipe developers Sarah Copeland and Anna Stockwell help caller Maggie prepare to cook for a crowd of 30 people.

Maggie invited almost 30 people to stay at her home in upstate New York for a week for her husband’s 15-year college reunion. To accommodate the 21 adults, seven toddlers, and four dogs, they’ve also secured two additional rental houses. Chris admits that large-scale hosting gives him hives, so he taps two experts of seemingly effortless entertaining and knowledge of the upstate food scene—Sarah Copeland and Anna Stockwell.

Sarah and Anna are incredible recipe developers and cookbook authors, but they’re also neighbors and friends. Sarah and Anna present three strategies. One is to bake and cook ahead, enlisting the help of a few capable friends to also prep in advance. The second is to lean heavily into pantry items that provide the foundation of easy dinners, like pastas, olives, dolmas, and tapenades. The third is to build out two main event meals with lots of little sides and to delegate the rest. No matter which strategy Maggie chooses, Sarah stresses the importance of being well-stocked to avoid having to run to an under-resourced or far away grocery store.

Sarah and Anna then share recipe ideas—from Sarah, a red lentil dal with citrus and herbs that’s makeable in advance and very budget-friendly; and from Anna, cold roast salmon with a salsa verde that’s designed to be served at room temperature or cold. Plus, they share even more tips for hosting, like having a sauce on the table for people to spoon over whatever to make it feel fancy and make everything more flavorful, getting kids involved to make cookies or a fruit crisp or crumble (kids are great at mashing together the crumble topping and don’t need to rely on a precise recipe), and what kitchen gear to have on hand (Anna says lots of sheet pans and Chris recommends deli containers for leftovers).

Listen now to hear how Maggie fares during college reunion week and which strategies she found worked best to feed her small army of friends.

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