When cooking for a team, scout troop or any group of teen-agers, nothing beats spaghetti and meatballs. Even when expecting large groups, spaghetti and meatballs is one of the easiest dishes to make and much of it can be made ahead of time.
Pasta parties are popular among high school athletic teams, who like to carb up the night before a big game, meet or match. Make your team pasta party a fun, team-building event. Use plates and forks in the team colors and make a sports theme centerpiece for the main buffet table.
When volunteering to host a team pasta party, keep in mind:
- Don’t try to cook everything yourself. If the team is especially large, assign side dishes, drinks and desserts to sections of the team. For example, freshmen can bring drinks, sophomores can bring salads, juniors can bring bread and seniors can bring desserts. If the whole team pitches in, the team pasta party host only has to make the spaghetti, sauce and meatballs.
- Get some other team parents to help you. Serving a pasta dinner to a large group at the same time will need more than two adult hands, more than four adult hands. Don’t hesitate to ask some other team parents to help you set up tables and chairs, cook the pasta, serve dinner and clean up.
- For serving ease, partially cook the pasta al dente ahead of time. Drain, rinse, toss with a little bit of cooking oil and store in a Ziplock bag. Just before serving time, boil water in a large pot with a steamer insert. With water at a slow simmering boil, place the precooked spaghetti into the pot’s steamer insert and allow it to finish cooking. Lift out the steamer insert, drain and serve. Be careful not to overdo the cooking oil. You only need a tiny bit to keep it from sticking while being stored. If you add too much, your spaghetti will be too slippery and will slide right off the plates.
- To serve tossed salad to a crowd, chop lettuce smaller than you normally would, add grated carrots, seeded and diced cucumbers, and black olives. Toss with a bottled Italian salad dressing. (Be careful not to saturate the salad with dressing.) Italian dressing is a crowd pleaser and having the salad already “dressed” makes buffet line serving easy.
- Avoid meat sauce on the pasta so that any vegetarian team members can enjoy it. Serve the meatballs in a separate bowl. For another meat option, put some Italian sausages into the spaghetti sauce with the meatballs and serve them along with the meatballs.
- If you’re using disposable plates, use Chinette or another heavy cardboard plate. Styrofoam and plastic plates will be too slippery for spaghetti and sauce. Flimsy paper plates will not be sturdy enough to hold this meal and the sauce may seep through.
Meatballs and Sauce
Makes approximately 75 meatballs and enough sauce for 4 pounds of spaghetti.
- 3 pounds ground beef
- 4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 cups milk
- 6 beaten eggs
- 1½ cups Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Form into 1-1½-inch balls and place in the bottom of two lightly oiled roasting pans. Bake, covered, in a 300-degree oven for 1 hour, turning meatballs after 30 minutes. Remove from oven and drain grease. Get ready to add the sauce.
Next, make the sauce:
- 4 29-ounce cans tomato sauce
- 4 29-ounce cans tomato puree
- 4 29-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- ¾ cups water
- ¾ teaspoon basil
- ¾ teaspoon oregano
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Mix all ingredients together and pour over meatballs in roasting pans and place in oven. Cover and bake at 350 degrees, for 1-1½ hours. Remove lid, reduce heat to 275 degrees and cook for an additional 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Garlic Bread for a Crowd
- 5 loaves Italian bread
- Butter, softened
- Garlic powder
- Parsley flakes
- Oregano
- Basil
Slice bread loaves in half lengthwise. Spread lightly with butter. Sprinkle generously with garlic powder. Sprinkle lightly with parsley, oregano and basil. Place two halves back together and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake for 15-30 minutes. Remove from foil and cut into thick slices.
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