LIST - Gluten Free for a Crowd

This might be a BIT of an exaggeration, but hey, people are gluten free!

It's that time of year in NYC... the time when everyone is finishing their spring cleaning, prepping for summer, and having parties. And since I'm not in college anymore, normally at parties people feed you! It's a great concept. But hosting a party for a crowd, especially if you are gluten free, can be a big challenge. Why? Take a look:

• If you are like me, you are anal about food being cooked properly and being hot when served. This is hard to achieve with a crowd because you usually have to cook food in batches and it may take a while to serve lots of people
• People like variety, so when cooking for a crowd you tend to have more dishes to offer than if you were just cooking for yourself or your family
• People have their own special diets (like you!) only different. There are vegetarians, vegans, people that don't eat fish, people that don't eat red meat, even people that don't eat veggies!
• Groceries. Cooking for a crowd can cost a lot, especially if you serve alcohol in addition to your meal.
• Dishes. Need I say more?

Now, I am certainly NOT trying to be a Martha Stewart or Sandra Lee type and tell you my time-tested tips. These are things that work for me. If it doesn't work for you, or if it doesn't sound "quite right", then don't do it!

What to Make?

• Don't accommodate wheat-eaters - don't feel obligated to make a dish containing wheat if you're the only gluten-free person at the party. They'll live. If it's a pot luck, they can always bring something glutenny.
• Slow cooking - I am a big fan of making a giant hunk of meat for a party. Anything you can put in an oven or crockpot for hours is awesome. You hardly have to touch it the whole day. 
• BBQ - another great way to cook gluten free (who cooks wheat on a grill?!??!) Just throw some meat and veggies on, get some good BBQ Sauce (like Sweet Baby Ray's), and you're good to go.
• Healthy choices - unless you're having a Super Bowl party, it's always a good idea to make your party as healthy as possible. It'll save you time and money.

Saving Time

• The night before - all this can be done the night before your party: chopping veggies, defrosting/trimming meat, making dessert, making spice blends
• The hours before - all this can be done the morning of your party: cooking starchy side dishes like rice and potatoes, putting everything cold in their serving bowls, pre-cooking veggies and meat, setting up your crock pot or roast.

Saving Money

• BYOB - you never get to old to ask guests to bring some wine or other booze. 
• Do it Yourself - instead of buying the pre-sliced carrots or taco mix from a packet, make it yourself. Fresh veggies are cheaper than the pre-sliced ones, and you probably have all the spices you need to make any blend
• Naturally gluten free - especially if there are only a few guests that are gluten free, don't try to impress with gluten free breads or gluten free pasta. First, you'll probably have one guest that insists the wheat version is "so much better' (annoying), and second it's so much cheaper to keep it naturally gluten free.

Sense the inspiration?

Sample Menu
We made this menu last weekend for 25 people. Only took ~3hrs to prep and cook everything, and probably cost ~$75 (included standard stuff not listed, like plates and napkins).

Sangria - made with Trader Joe's red wine, rum, apples, peaches, pears, blueberries.  Oh, and made in our giant plastic cauldron leftover from Halloween. It was a nice touch.

Appetizers - corn chips w/ guacamole and salsa, guests brought a few appetizers as well

Meat - a giant hunk of pot roast cooked in my crock pot with tomatoes, onion, chili pepper, hot sauce, a little water, and spices (garlic, cumin, chili powder, ancho chili powder, salt, pepper, oregano). Cooked for ~6hrs and shredded.

Sides - spanish rice (cooked with tomatoes, onion, garlic, pepper, and same spices as above), black beans (cooked with onion, garlic, and same spices as above), fajita veggies (zucchini, peppers, onion, mushrooms cooked with same spices as above). Also with standard taco toppings: tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, cilantro, lime

Dessert - gluten free chocolate/raspberry cake, guests brought other desserts (including gluten free brownies!)

RECIPE - GF Beef Stew w/ Cranberries

As some of you may seen from my twitter account (@gfmf_nyc), I got a crock pot for Hannukah earlier this month! I've been thinking about getting one for a while, and now I'm lucky I don't have to make the trip to Target (it's not that I'm lazy, it's just that it's wayyyyy too cold out, and the thought of being out in the cold is terrifying...)

Anyways, along with the crock pot I got a crock pot cookbook, filled with lots of easy recipes that you can setup in the morning (even with frozen meat?!?) and return to 10 hours later with a hot meal ready to go!

I really could have used this tool back when I didn't have a microwave. After working a long day and taking a 45-minute commute home, I would turn to my friendly frozen dinner... but heat it up in the oven! Don't ask me why I didn't just buy one, I was in those post-college minimalist days where you subsist on Cheerios and frozen Amy's dinners 7 nights a week.

As you can see, things have gotten much better.

Which brings me to the stew. Beef stew is by far the most perfect winter food. Luckily, Whole Foods had a sale on boneless beef chuck ($5.99/lb). So mix that with some potatoes, carrots, celery and garlic, and I'm good to go.

Now, there's the issue of cranberries. You may recall I had a few posts about cranberry sauce (see Pt. 1 and Pt. 2), so I have some extra cranberries in the fridge. And I thought that these berries would be a nice substitute for the wine that normally goes in a beef stew (or Beef Bourguignon, as Julia Childs would say).  I totally encourage you to give it a try! You could even use other tart berries (like gooseberries, I wonder??).

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless beef chuck, cut into cubes (stew meat)
1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika

2 celery stalks, chopped into 1" pieces
1 large or 2 small carrots, chopped into 1" pieces
2 potatoes, chopped into large cubes
10 small "boiling" or cippolini onions, whole (or halved if big)
2 garlic cloves, whole
1/2 cup low sodium beef broth (1 cup or more if cooking on stove top)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 cup fresh cranberries

Directions (Crock Pot):
Mix the first set of ingredients (sans beef) together in a ziploc bag. Add the beef and shake to coat. Shake off excess flour and put beef into crock pot. Save the extra flour in case the stew needs thickening later.

Add other veggies and spices. Pour broth over. Set crock pot to cook (time based on how long til dinner!)

In the last hour of cooking, add the cranberries. At the end of cooking, stir and see if the stew is thick enough for your liking. If not, mix some of the reserved flour with a little COLD water, and stir into the stew (I would recommend doing a tsp of flour + 2 tbsp water at a time). Within a minute or two you would see the stew thicken up. Repeat until thick to your liking. Serve!

Directions (Stove Top):
Mix the first set of ingredients (sans beef) together in a ziploc bag. Add the beef and shake to coat.

In a dutch oven (or similar type pan), heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium-high. Add beef, shaking off excess flour. Save the extra flour in case the stew needs thickening later. Cook beef quickly until browned on all sides. Remove beef.

Add another 2 tbsp olive oil to the pan, and turn down to medium. Add veggies and saute for about 8 minutes, until all veggies start to slightly soften.

Return the beef to the pan, and add stock and spices. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook on low for about 2 hours, or until the beef is tender and the stew is thickened. In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the cranberries.
**Alternate method: If you're pan can go into the oven, after adding veggies and such, cover and cook in a 250 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours.