Anyone fixed spaghetti for a crowd?

[CJMickeyMouse]

We are going to have a dinner this year for DS's cross country team. I plan to make the sauce ahead and put it in a crockpot to stay warm.

Does anyone have tips on how to handle the noodles? Can they be kept in a crockpot as well? We have a huge stock pot, but I would guess we will have to fill that three times or so to end up with enough noodles. Obviously we want everyone to be able to eat at the same time, so I need to find a way to keep the cooked noodles fresh.

Any suggestions/ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Mishetta]

As long as you wet the noodles with your sauce, it can stay in the crock pot on low.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Thanks, Mishetta.....

But our family is firmly set in keeping the sauce and noodles separate. There is no way DS would approve of mixing them together before they hit the plate.

Hmmm... maybe I should just make lasagna or spaghetti pie instead......

 

[Lanshark]

If you don't wet the noodles they will stick togethr. How about baked ziti. It's easier then lasagna and can be made ahead of time and warmed up.

 

[poohandwendy]

I worked for the Olive Garden years ago and we often did large spagetti dinners. I have no idea what facilities you will have at your disposal, but you can precook the noodles (slightly undercooked) in mass quantity and then refrigerate them. The day of the event, you can dunk the noodles into boiling water (using a metal collander that will fit into a large pot) to 'freshen' them up. It takes only a minute and then you toss the hot pasta into a large serving containers (you can serve it in large disposable, heavy duty foil pans over a sterno flame). You would need someone to 'man' the pasta to keep up with the demand. Like I said, I have no idea what facilities you will have , but I hope this helps.

 

[katerkat]

I always do baked ziti for a crowd. That way you can do a pan of meat sauce and a pan of plain sauce, etc. Much easier and faster!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Thanks everyone!

I will have to run all of these idea past DS. The team is not THAT big... I would guess 30 people tops.

It will be in our home, which severely limits facilities! We have plenty of room, but could definitely use another stove with a big burner.

We'll make it work... hopefully DS will agree to ziti instead!

Thanks again for the input!

 

[Towncrier]

When I had to cook spaghetti for a group of 60 scouts, I did what poohandwendy suggested. I precooked the spaghetti (remembering to put a splash of olive oil in the boiling water to coat the pasta), then doused it in cold water. I packaged the cooked pasta in gallon size ziplock bags. We ended up freezing the bags of cooked spaghetti and used them in the ice chests to keep the rest of the food for the campout cold. When I needed to reheat the pasta, I just put the ziplock bags of frozen pasta in the boiling water. I would have used a collander, but the water at the scout camp was a bit "murky", so I thought it best to keep the pasta separated from the water.

 

[ducklite]

I'd also suggest using penne pasta rather than speghetti--it's a LOT easier to eat.

Anne

 

[FOJMO]

Originally posted by CJMickeyMouse
But our family is firmly set in keeping the sauce and noodles separate. There is no way DS would approve of mixing them together before they hit the plate.

I understand this COMPLETELY! I can't stand when I eat dinner somewhere (someone's house or a restaurant) and they put the sauce on my spaghetti noodles. I always ask for the sauce "on the side". I don't like a lot of sauce on and some people just POUR it on (way too much)!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have 2 plain spaghetti eaters here & dh is one of them. Make sure you have butter for folks that can't eat (heartburn in dh's case)/don't like tomato sauce.

Precooking and having boiling water ready sounds fantastic! I may have to use that one.

Good Luck!

 

[wdwnutze]

My son had his cross country team at our house a couple of years ago for a spaghetti dinner. We used a big lobster pot to cook the pasta(we cooked it all at once). We kept the sauce and meatballs in the crockpot and put the pasta in a foil pan with lots of butter (to keep it from sticking)and kept it covered with foil. Don't froget the garlic bread! Good luck and remember, they are high school kids, they eat anything!!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Thanks, everyone! I knew I could get answers on the DIS!

wdwnutze is right... I am sure they will eat anything. They will be more interested in goofing off and sitting in the hot tub!

We do plan to make garlic bread too... that will be a cinch since it cooks quickly.

Whether we decide on spaghetti or ziti, I am armed with a lot more info than before, thanks to you guys!

 

[KrnB]

My track team in college used to have spaghetti feeds the night before a meet. We always used to have 4 big pots going at the same time. I love TownCrier's idea though - wish we would have thought of that back then.

 

[Keli]

We fixed a giant batch of muskacholi (have no idea how to spell it, lol) for Ashli's graduation party last may. We also served cheese garlic bread, chips, drinks, brownies, cookies, etc. It went over really well with the kids. They ate a ton of it and several said how good it was. I was surprised that a pasta dish would go over so well with teenagers and I was really happy that it did.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Anyone care to share recipes? I have found a couple for ziti but I would love to hear about your "best" tried and true recipes!

Keli.... I won't try to spell that either but I would love to see how to make it! LOL!