"The way" to handle pasta in that sort of quantity for holding is to slightly undercook it, put it in large aluminum catering pans, oil and toss immediately, sauce it (reserving some sauce for service), cover it with foil, and hold it in a low oven for as short a time as possible. Remember -- just a tad more al dente than usual. It's very much a "left over spaghetti" thing. Some people actually like the way the sauce bakes into the pasta. Others, not so much. In any case, remember to toss the spaghetti before serving.
You sound like you know your way around Italian-American food pretty well... A good rule of thumb for butter/wine sauce is to allow about 1-1/2 cups of sauce per pound of uncooked pasta -- or maybe a little more. In your case, you'll be saucing the broccoli as well, plus saucing the pasta before holding it, then saucing it again at service -- so let's figure 2 cups per pound just to be safe.
Quantities of anything per guest, as always, depend on the nature of the group. Firefighters eat more than bridesmaids. The rule with pasta as a side is 1/8 lb uncooked for light eaters, to 1/4 lb for heavy heaters. If you figure 6 people to the pound, you should be more than safe.
Figuring 90 - 100 average people total, that's 16 lbs of pasta. Figuring butter and wine as the only liquid ingredients (no olive oil), butter/wine ratio at roughly 2 butter to 1 wine, buy 12 pounds of butter (24 cups) and 3 bottles of white wine (14 cups). Figuring butter at $3/lb (semi-wholesale), wine at $3.00 a bottle, and pasta at $2.50/lb, you're looking at just under $70 for pasta, butter and wine.
Good luck,
BDL
Last edited by boar_d_laze; 04-19-2008 at 11:05 AM.
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