Alright, so my colleague was leaving, and someone needed to sort out some grub for the send-off. That task kinda fell to me, mostly ’cause I don’t mind cooking now and then. The whole thing was pretty last minute, so I had to think fast.
Figuring Out What to Make
First thing I did was just think about what’s easy to eat while standing around chatting. Nobody wants spaghetti dripping down their shirt. Finger foods seemed like the obvious way to go. I also thought about numbers – probably 15-20 people? Didn’t need massive amounts, but enough variety.
I decided on a few core things:
- Mini sandwiches – always a safe bet.
- A big pasta salad – fills people up, can make it ahead.
- Some kind of savoury pastry – sausage rolls are usually popular.
- Fruit platter – adds a bit of freshness.
- Drinks – basic sodas and juice.
Made a list right away. Seriously, always make a list. My brain’s like a sieve otherwise.
Hitting the Shops
Shot off to the supermarket after work. Bit of a nightmare, aisles packed, but powered through it. Grabbed different types of bread, sliced ham, turkey, cheese – the usual sandwich stuff. Mayo and mustard too.
For the pasta salad, I got a big bag of fusilli pasta, cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, some feta cheese, black olives, and a bottle of ready-made vinaigrette dressing. Didn’t have time to make dressing from scratch.
Then, the sausage rolls. I cheated and bought ready-made puff pastry. Saves so much hassle. Got some decent quality sausage meat as well. Grabbed a big watermelon, grapes, and some oranges for the fruit platter.
Getting Down to Business: The Prep
Got home and dumped everything on the kitchen counter. Tackled the pasta salad first. Put the pasta on to boil. While that was cooking, I chopped the cucumber, halved the tomatoes, and crumbled the feta. Drained the pasta, ran it under cold water – gotta stop it cooking and getting claggy. Mixed everything in my biggest bowl, chucked in the olives, poured over the dressing, gave it a good stir. Cling film on top, shoved it in the fridge. Done.
Next, sausage rolls. Rolled out the pastry sheets slightly. Laid the sausage meat down the middle like a long sausage. Brushed the edge with a bit of beaten egg, folded it over, and pressed it sealed. Cut them into bite-sized pieces. Lined them up on baking trays, brushed the tops with more egg wash. Covered those with cling film and put them in the fridge too, ready for baking in the morning.
The Morning Rush
Set the alarm a bit earlier than usual. First thing: oven on. Got the sausage rolls baked until they were nice and golden. The kitchen smelled amazing. Let them cool down on a wire rack while I got on with the sandwiches.
Set up an assembly line on the counter. Bread, spread, filling, top layer, slice. Did a mix of ham & cheese and turkey. Cut them into little triangles. Stacked them up in plastic containers.
Washed the fruit. Chopped the watermelon into chunks, separated the grapes. Arranged it all fairly nicely in another big container.
Packed everything up. Cooler bag for the pasta salad and drinks. Containers for the sandwiches and fruit. Another box for the sausage rolls. It was quite a load to carry.
Setting Up at the Party
Got into the office kitchen, found a free table. Unpacked everything. Gave the pasta salad a final stir before putting it out. Arranged the sandwiches and sausage rolls on some platters we found in the cupboard. Put the fruit bowl out. Lined up the drinks. Made sure there were plates, napkins, and forks easily accessible.
Stood back and looked. It wasn’t anything fancy, you know, just homemade stuff. But it looked plentiful and pretty decent. People started drifting in, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. Cleared the platters pretty quickly, which is always a good sign. Job done, colleague sent off with a full stomach. Felt like a successful operation. Simple food, done right, usually works best for these things.