I’ve been invited to a party this upcoming weekend, a sort of pre-Halloween get-together. The party is also a potluck dinner. I’ve been to several of these before. In the past I’ve brought shepherd’s pie, which went over reasonably well, and brought cookies a few times. This time I want to bring something hot, main-course kind of meal, and preferably something that can be eaten without needing much in the way of utensils or plates.
For food-allergy reasons, whatever I bring has to be gluten-free and soy-free. And it needs to be something I can make at home over the course of a few hours before the party.
Any suggestions or recipes anyone would like to recommend?
How about a fritatta? Cook some sliced taters in a skillet, pour in anything you want, dump some beaten eggs over the top, and pop it in the oven. Warm, main course-y without being heavy, holds up well under party conditions, can be eaten with your hands if needed, incredibly simple to make, can be adapted to suit any dietary restrictions except vegan.
Boeuf Bourguinon? Beef, onions, carrots, wine, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper. I use Tony Bourdain’s version normally. It is also great if you turf in unpeeled new red potatoes to bulk it out =) Just do not add the flour to make the roux [if you use mashed potato flakes to add a bit of thickening it works out just fine. It can also go quite nicely served over rice based faux egg noodles, I get them at of all places a chinese grocery.]
Me, being the utterly clueless type who can’t even fry water (ETA: and can’t even be bothered to try), I always gets something from the deli at the supermarket. Whereas I usually shop cheap, when I (rarely) go to a party and bring something, I go to the deli at Whole Foods. Pricey, but they have vegan goodies, and everything has the ingredients posted. I especially liked the stuffed acorn squash, which they tend to have around this time of year.
You can make gluten free lasagne, just sub in either leaves of spinach or slices of eggplant or zucchini for the pasta sheets. It is really good either way. I personally like it done with spinach.
Senegoid- I prefer making something home-cooked. I’ve cooked for this group before, I enjoy cooking, and the hostess of the party specifically asked me to cook something.
Everyone else - good suggestions, I’ll look into these ideas and see what’s practical for me to make.