Kickin’ it up with a Hotluck

Had an awesome hotluck Saturday night.  About 25 of our friends came over and brought their favorite hot dishes.  We had everything from flaming fire coleslaw to spicy red beans and rice to Vatapa, a Brazilian seafood stew – someone even brought spicy bloody marys.  Overall it was a great time. Found out that one of my neighbors is trying out for a new foodie reality tv show (good luck, Jason!).

Also realized I really need to be better at documentation.  I think about it until about the time the 5th guest arrives.    Next time I am going to set a timer so I remember to take photos throughout the evening…

I set up food stations so when people came in they could easily identify where to put their dish.

I made a spicy coleslaw with horseradish, cayenne pepper, jalapeno and some other spices as well as cauliflower latkes.  Both seemed to go well, except I burned one batch of the latkes because I was talking (imagine).  Here are the ones that turned out better.  I served them with a sriracha / sesame aioli.

Thinking of holding your own hotluck?  Here are some tips:

• Send out invites and ask people to specify the dish they wanted to make.
• Create a ballot so people can easily take notes and write their favorite dish
• Since people are traveling with food, be sure you have power strips available so if they bring something that has to be plugged in
• Create separate areas Have some non-spicy items so if people  need a break from spice they have some options.   I made a veggie plate and had plenty of bread and tortilla chips I made out of Tortillaland raw tortillas with some garlic salt, cumin and a little bit of chili powder.
• I made two types of drinks – a mocha mix that is essentially kicked up coffee with nutmeg, cinnamon, hot chocolate.  People could add Kaluha if they wanted and topped with whipped cream.  The other one included pomegranate, orange and lime juice with some jalapeno simple syrup and tequilla.  I made the drinks ahead and put them in large pitchers so people could pour them on their own and I wouldn’t have to play bartender all night.
• I had a tray of spicy sauces, spices, etc. to so people could add spice if needed.
• Assign each of the dishes a number and place it on the dish.  That way people won’t have to come up with their own description (unless you want to make best description part of the contest)
• I had prizes.  Nothing fancy – I just put some candy I had made in boxes and labeled them with “2009 Hotluck winner”

The winners:

Best overall (tie): Red Pepper Chutney and Spicy Chicken Pot Pie
Side dish: Red Beans and Rice
Main dish: Vatapa – Brazilian Seafood Stew

Now I’m off to Montreal for a few days of cooking research.  I’ll be sure to blog about it next week.

Happy cooking!