[shtuck711]

We are catering a party for 800 guests ($100 ticket) and the customer has her heart set on doing something with chicken.  Does anyone have a suggestion for an upscale chicken dish that would be executable for such a large group (this is a plated meal).  Thank you so much.

 

[french fries]

Chicken tajine with preserved lemons and green olives (with couscous).

Coq au vin (with boiled potatoes or noodles). 

Poulet basquaise (with rice). 

Ginger/lime/honey/fish sauce braised chicken & onions (with rice). 

 

[berndy]

Chicken with morels would be my choice.

 

[lagom]

Is the ticket price what you are getting for the food?

 

[kuan]

Is the ticket price what you are getting for the food?

Ooh good question.

I would add, on site or off site?

 

[cerise]

$100 per person doesn't sound like you have a lot of wiggle room for an elegant dish.  Chicken Marsala with risotto and a seasonal vegetable, is one idea.  A dish that most people can relate to, is the way I would go - & considering price.

 

[flipflopgirl]

$100 per person doesn't sound like you have a lot of wiggle room for an elegant dish. Chicken Marsala with risotto and a seasonal vegetable, is one idea. A dish that most people can relate to, is the way I would go - & considering price.

HUH?

mimi

 

[shtuck711]

The ticket price is what our customer (a non-profit) is charging people to come to the event.  Our price is still undetermined and will be based on what we end up serving.  Last year we charged 48/person.  The event is off-site in a convention center.  We will have ovens but no stove top (although we wheeled one in last year).

 

[koukouvagia]

Chicken roulade with a French sauce. It looks elegant and what you put inside it or on it could vary. Pre assemble them and pre sear, then finish off in the oven on site.

I like to stuff with spinach and pipperade and drizzle with fontina spiked bechamel.

Or stuff with sausage and serve wth a mushroom brown gravy.

$100 per person doesn't sound like you have a lot of wiggle room for an elegant dish. Chicken Marsala with risotto and a seasonal vegetable, is one idea. A dish that most people can relate to, is the way I would go - & considering price.

I can't get a plate of chicken for 100 bucks in your restaurant?

 

[shtuck711]

Great suggestions....thank you!​

 

[teamfat]

Chicken fricassee ?

 

[cerise]

The ticket price is what our customer (a non-profit) is charging people to come to the event. Our price is still undetermined and will be based on what we end up serving. Last year we charged 48/person. The event is off-site in a convention center. We will have ovens but no stove top (although we wheeled one in last year).

That helps. I factored in a whole dinner (2 possible side dishes, wine and/or libations, appetizers, salad, dessert?), manhours, shopping/prepping/cleanup. An oven dish could be spatchcocked cornish hens w/ a sauce (chimichurri ? etc.) served w/ a rice dish. Coq au vin was mentioned. It made me think of coq au Riesling too. Still thinking.

 

[meezenplaz]

Im currently in the Coq Au Vin or Chicken Masala camps as well. When you said 

you had ovens available at event site and wanted elegant, I was leaning toward 

Chicken Cordon Bleu, ham-swiss-spinach-red--pepper stuffed. And using half size

hotel makes the breading process a lot faster, or it can be prepped and transported

then baked off at the event. HOWEVER..... looking back at that "800 guests" 

made me reconsider that...unless you had a BATALLION of ovens at the gig site, 

it might be kinda tough.

Hotel pans full of Marsala, Lemon Chicken, Chicken Alfredo or Coq Au Vin would be

far easier. 

 

[chefwriter]

I'll throw in an old classic. Chicken Ballotine (or galantine, I can never keep them straight.)

Boneless chicken filled with chicken forcemeat with garnish (truffle?), rolled, poached or roasted. 

Could be done ahead, cooked on site. 

 

[panini]

I would suggest a dish where you can precook the chicken and hit it with a hot sauce. um, chicken scallopini or like a chicken milano, use fettuccini as a bed/filler, chicken, hot cream sauce and out.

 

[chefross]

I'll throw in an old classic. Chicken Ballotine (or galantine, I can never keep them straight.)

Boneless chicken filled with chicken forcemeat with garnish (truffle?), rolled, poached or roasted.

Could be done ahead, cooked on site.

Really labor intensive for the price, although a great idea

. I was going to suggest a chicken Wellington but the lack of real oven space to cook these off makes this moot

 

[meezenplaz]

Really labor intensive for the price, although a great idea

. I was going to suggest a chicken Wellington but the lack of real oven space to cook these off makes this moot

That was my view with Cordon, as I've never been very big on pan frying it--its baked or nothing.

 

[rick alan]

Thought I'd mention chicken royal, though likely comes under the heading of labor intensive.

Rick

 

[kuan]

Here is what you do.  It is not labor intensive.  It still requires oven space, but no more than if you had to finish breasts.

Get a half breast, on the bone, and use a paring knife to cut a slot.  Make a farce, use a piping bag and pipe it into the slot.  

Finish it in the oven, pull the breast off the bone and plate.

In fact you don't even have to make a farce.  Just pipe sausage into the pocket and it will be a nice surprise.

 

[cheflayne]

Chicken breast stuffed with a foie gras and black garlic mousse served with a Bugey-Cerdon Rosé sauce and topped with roasted black mission figs.