TL Lunch

I work for a mid-sized accounting firm in the Hamilton-Burlington area called Taylor Leibow LLP – http://www.taylorleibow.com. Tax season is by far and away our busiest time of year. Partners and staff this time of year are working insane hours. The odd thing is as I do the IT support for the firm this tends to be a slower time of year for me as the network during this time stays very static. So for the past 4 or 5 Tax seasons, I have done a Tax season lunch for the whole firm.

"Pasta with lemon cream and prosciutto"

The firm took over the rest of the 8th floor in our building about two years ago and in the new area they build a good size kitchen/dining area. The kitchen was done in a 50’s style dinner motif and is stunning. It has good seating and a Fridge, freezer, small toaster oven and a microwave. This large dining area is very useful as the firm has around 60 staff.

"The buffet line"

The downside to the kitchen is there is no full-sized stove in the kitchen, so it limits which hot dishes I can do. Years back I bought a portable hot plate, so my lunches usually are a huge pot of soup, salad, and various cold appetizers.

"Salads and Sushi"

This past Thursday I had this year’s Tax season lunch. This year I decided to add another hot dish to the lunch – pasta. I bought another portable hot plate and two large stainless steel chafing dishes to keep the pasta warm. Here is the complete menu –

Pasta with lemon cream and prosciutto

Carrot soup with fire-roasted chilies
Hummos with pita
Tomato and feta salad
Poached pear salad
Mixed green salad
Sushi from Hoya (Local Sushi place)

"Lunch!"

The wines I went with were –

Rosenblum 2006 Zinfadel
Bouchard, Pere & Fils 2006 Petit Chablis
Robert Mondavi 2005 Riesling

I had ten different people in the firm volunteer to make a dessert, so the selection of sweet goodies was quite impressive.

"Rolling up my sleeves and getting back to it!"

I really enjoy the challenge of cooking for 60 people. Trying to figure how much to make is probably the biggest problem. The pasta recipe I multiplied by eight and was going to make it in two batches of four. The problem was the portable hotplate I have took forever to heat anything.

I can make this recipe in about 25 minutes at home. I put on the water and started the sauce at 10:20am. The sauce wasn’t ready until 11:30am and the pasta just finished cooking at noon. The four batches just managed to fill the two chaffing dishes. I started the second batch of sauce at noon but was holding much hope in finishing it before the lunch was over. Thankfully, there was still some pasta left in the chaffing dishes after everyone went through the buffet line for the first time. Though the pasta was all gone by the end of the lunch. The second batch, I finished making the sauce by 1:15pm and broke it down in small containers for a number of people to take home (including some for myself).

"Wine goggles"

I think there was enough food as there was still hummos, mixed green salad, carrot soup and sushi left at the end of it and there were still desserts left as well. I did surprise me that the Tomato and Feta salad went as I made a ton of it. I remember that for next year and make more of it next time.

"Just finishing up"

I think the Riesling was the most popular which, as it was sweeter, didn’t really surprise me. I found the Petit Chablis was a good match with the sushi. The 2006 Rosenblum Zinfandel was sharper than I expected it to be but it still was a good match for the carrot soup. The Zinfandel was under 15% alcohol for the first time in years and I wonder if the grapes weren’t as ripe as they have been in recent years as this would account for the lower alcohol and sharpness.

"Good but not great"

All in all, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it did provide a small break from the rigors of Tax season. It was a lot of work and in the few nights leading up to it I was questioning why I do this but the funny thing is I’m already thinking of what dishes I can do next year.

Cheers!

Mark