reunion
Family reunion's in a month. I want to do better than the stuffed shells (so yes, that's out), but I have extra limitations this year, so I need suggestions.
The limits are:
1) Must be able to be: grilled, serve chilled or served at room temperature. (the only one imposed by the announcement letter)
2) Must be able to be made ahead of time and can survive a 300 mile trip up on the day of to PA. (imposed by necessity as my father can't get the Friday before off for travel and my grandmother's would unavailable for cooking anyway)
3) Must be as from scratch as possible. (imposed by me, because I want to)
My original idea was ribs. Rub and braise them on Friday, let them sit in the fridge overnight, take them up Saturday in the cooler, then sauce them and grill them there (they'd be fully cooked, so it's more to warm them up and char them just a tad). The parents weren't terribly enthused by this idea, mom because of cost (though it is really about the same as the shells last year) and dad because of the limited grill space up in PA (to which I figure if they see ribs, they will make room).
Mom's alternative idea was kielbasa and sauerkraut, which would travel easily and fit fine in one of those racks with the heater thing under it (which we have) but I turned down because I wanted to make something, not just bring food.
(And yeah, I kinda do want to upstage what other people bring as much as possible.)
The limits are:
1) Must be able to be: grilled, serve chilled or served at room temperature. (the only one imposed by the announcement letter)
2) Must be able to be made ahead of time and can survive a 300 mile trip up on the day of to PA. (imposed by necessity as my father can't get the Friday before off for travel and my grandmother's would unavailable for cooking anyway)
3) Must be as from scratch as possible. (imposed by me, because I want to)
My original idea was ribs. Rub and braise them on Friday, let them sit in the fridge overnight, take them up Saturday in the cooler, then sauce them and grill them there (they'd be fully cooked, so it's more to warm them up and char them just a tad). The parents weren't terribly enthused by this idea, mom because of cost (though it is really about the same as the shells last year) and dad because of the limited grill space up in PA (to which I figure if they see ribs, they will make room).
Mom's alternative idea was kielbasa and sauerkraut, which would travel easily and fit fine in one of those racks with the heater thing under it (which we have) but I turned down because I wanted to make something, not just bring food.
(And yeah, I kinda do want to upstage what other people bring as much as possible.)