Summer in upstate New York is "dish to pass" season. I always called such things potlucks, but around here, it's dish to pass. We go to a lot of dish to pass parties in the summer. And because I don't have a standard dish that I always bring to these sorts of things, every dish to pass party is an opportunity for creativity. And public failure, of course, but I prefer to focus on the positive.
We're going to a dish to pass birthday party this afternoon. What to bring? Since we have an absurd amount of lettuce in the garden at the moment, a salad seems inevitable. The MiL will take care of that. Because we often go to these kinds of parties as a household, sometimes we'll cheat and only bring one dish. So if I have a particular idea of what to bring, the MiL is off the hook. If she knows what she wants to make, I don't have to worry about it.
A. just brings us. And his enormous appetite.
But this time, we'll be bringing two dishes, because I have part of a beef roast that really should be cooked today. So I have to figure out something to do with that that will be acceptable to a crowd of people. It also needs to be able to sit out on a table outside for a few hours without getting gross. Which means nothing that has to stay hot. I think I know what I'm going to do with it (quickly seared, sliced thin, served cold with a sauce . . . of some kind), but you just never know what I'm going to show up with! Because I'm wild and spontaneous like that.
And if it's a dismal failure, I know there will be lots of other food and no one will know that I MEANT to bring something and then screwed it up. The beauty of the dish to pass: other people unknowingly cover your ass.
I love "carry-in dinners" as they're called in these parts. I always use them as an opportunity to try a new recipe, if it's good I claim it as mine, if it's bad I say, "HM, I wonder who brought that?".
ReplyDeleteHow fun. I wish we did more things like that around here. A horseradish sauce would be traditional and tasty with the roast. Maybe a spicy mustard too.
ReplyDeleteAh, remember those year round Hawaiian potlucks we went to after soccer and baseball games ...the wonderful asian noodle dishes, the little barbecued beef on sticks, the totally inappropriate howley (not sure how to spell that) stuff we brought. Yep, over the years we've lost a plate or two so we didn't have to claim the full dish of leftover food.
ReplyDeleteFun! We call them potlucks in Wisconsin. My favorites are the dinners that feature multiple ethnic meals. Husband usually makes German Potato Salad. We sat next to a Mexican mom at a school event and compared her potato salad recipe with his! Great times, great food.
ReplyDeleteSalad with seared beef slices? Gahh....I need my own personal chef so I can read blogs all day while somebody cooks for me.
ReplyDeleteSounds fun! How did you dish turn out?
ReplyDeleteMaria: I'm told it was good. I didn't eat any. I just seared the beef until it was about medium-rare, sliced it thin, and tossed it with a shallot and mustard vinaigrette. It took all of about ten minutes, and disappeared quickly. Works for me.
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