Responding to the Pressure

As if cooking for Melissa and I weren't enough, we had Melissa's whole family for SSSS today.  We went out to a restaurant near our town last night to celebrate Brutus Buckeye's and MIL's birthday.  They all slept over, so I had a table of seven to feed this morning.

This crew severely limits your menu options.  FIL and K can't eat nuts, which axed one of the dishes I planned to make before knowing that the family was staying over.  And Brutus Buckeye won't eat bananas, melons and other soft, "mushy" food, so several side dish options were out.  For the side dish, I decided to go with the tried and true cinnamon bruschetta with marscapone and strawberries, which all seemed to like.

Melissa also decided that she wanted muffins, so I made my first attempt at baking.  She found a recipe from Barefoot Contessa that she wanted me to use.  Personally, I can't stand Barefoot Contessa - I think she's incredibly pretentious - but this recipe seemed simple enough.  I went for it and, with a little help from Melissa, think I nailed it.  Everyone else seemed to like them to, giving the muffins 5 stars.

For the main course, I originally planned to make a frittata, but decided that wouldn't work with so many mouths to feed.  Instead I found a sausage and leeks casserole recipe that sounded good and went for it.  I was able to prepare it the night before and just throw it in the oven this morning, which was nice because it gave me more time to entertain the guests.  I cut back on the heat just a little by reducing the cayenne a tad and using monteray jack instead of pepper jack, and cooked it covered for most of the time to prevent the top from burning.  Everyone, including myself, seemed to think it was pretty damn good!  The leeks added a nice subtle flavor and the spice was just right.  The consensus was 4.5 stars for the casserole.

All in all, this is a good and mostly uneventful meal despite the pressure of a full table.  Finally!

Thanks to Brutus Buckeye for the presentation assist.