Feeding a crowd - lost for ideas?

Within my circle of friends we often have people over for dinner. Not just one or two people, as a normal french person would do; mostly because everyone lives in such small apartments that anything over 4 people becomes spatially challenging. No, me and my friends seem to have 'large groups' of people; mostly because we have so many friends. I often get asked the question 'What can I cook?' , 'How can I feed 8 people?'

So, after some consultation and personal trial and error, I am giving you a collection of recipes that work for larger than normal numbers and are not too expensive on the pocket.  They are all recipes that I've cooked for groups of people, hence they have been tested on numerous taste testers. The good news is people are still coming back to my place to eat.

Oat Soda Bread

I was browsing through some of my favourite blogs the other day and following my whimsical fancy, clicking here and clicking there as I wanted, I happened upon this delicious looking idea for homemade bread.

Heidi has a blog called 101 Cookbooks and manages to make healthy attractive and desirable. I love it. She was inspired from a friend of hers who made this bread. So I'm simply being another link in the chain for spreading this good recipe and good health around. 

Tuscan Bean soup on Sunday afternoon

It's Sunday afternoon.

My handsome husband is napping and I am sitting looking out our window at the city bathed in the pale wintry sunlight, rereading my recipe notebook. There's a slight fog in the air and it reminds me of my childhood when the slight fog was the smoke from our log fire or in autumn of burning the leaves. It reminds me of Mum calling us in from the garden, fingers tingling with the cold, cheeks pink from the air, to wash our hands for dinner. It reminds me of the warm fire inside, the feeling of safety as the night and cold fell darker and colder outside the windows. 
ahhhh....the good ole days. 
But we're living in good days now too! 
This afternoon for early dinner we will be eating homemade, hot, wholesome Tuscan Bean soup.

Pears poached in red wine

Our friend M. came back over the Christmas period for a surprise visit. It was a good surprise. We had 'the gang' over for dinner, 10 people around our table. It was a good night, one of those nights that becomes a reference point sometime in the future.

'Don't you remember that dinner at their place, when M. came home?'

It was everything a good night with friends should be. A lot of laughter over silly jokes, silly stories to recount and silly stories to create and of course some good food.

These poached pears graced our table for dessert. I found them in the market that morning. Cold, firm and deliciously blushing. They added the magic to the end of our evening. 

Herb and Mustard Crumbed Pork

After the cold snap before Christmas we now have above average temperatures in January and the snow seems but a distant memory. Paris saw the worst snow for 20 years. I was happy to watch it from the window of my 15th floor apartment. Friends came for dinner that very same night and one of them had walked from work (no bus) for one hour just to get here. She arrived with frozen feet (no snow boots) but my NZ possum and merino socks saved the day (thanks Mum).
After the long celebrations over Christmas and New Year it's time to fill our stomachs with something hot and light(er). We ate this last week and it filled all the right criteria for a mid-week January dinner.  

Making a come-back with Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

I know, I can hear you muttering from here, 'Where has she been?'  It's been a while and of course I have some very good and valuable excuses. (I've had a long time to think of some!)

We live a life of adventure. Since my last post we have moved apartments which seemed to consume every spare moment of September and October. First the packing, then the unpacking. We moved into an apartment double the size so we spent many hours choosing and buying furniture to fill it up with. And if that wasn't enough we had severe problems with our internet connection and rather unsympathetic customer service that didn't help. 

I'm tempted to say 'That's France for you' but I'm not going to. 

Tarte aux Mirabelles

I was pleasantly surprised (but I shouldn't have been) to see Mirabelles, small delicious golden stone fruit, in all the shops on our return to Paris after our holiday.  The season started while we were in Italy so I missed seeing their debut.  I remember from last year how they come into the markets and fruit shops near the end of summer/the beginning of the school year and when friends came to visit they were armed with bags of mirabelles as gifts. The season is short - mid August until mid September so you really have to make the most of it. Last year I made Mirabelle and Ginger jam. It was delicious on brioche for breakfast. 

This year I'm making tartes.