Potluck Success!

It's almost an embarrassment to post this... I mean, you are going to be so jealous. The ladies I work with make a mean potluck (and I work in a firm of all women, so I am not being offensive!!!).

Our office closed on Christmas Eve to allow everyone an extra long weekend, and we re-opened on the Thursday after Boxing Day. (Lucky us! The Powers That Be also closed the office tomorrow!! YIPPIEEE!) Anyway, I thought that the two days between Christmas and New Year would likely be quiet (and they were) so I devised having a nice little potluck on the Friday afternoon. Our office is like the UN! Everyone has a different background, and ergo, a different food tradition, and I was really hoping that the food would reflect our diversity... and did it ever!!!

I made a frittata that I saw on the Food Network! It was an Orzo, Chicken, and Ricotta Frittata.


The recipe:
3/4 cup orzo pasta
6 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk ricotta
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cooked chicken breasts, cubed (about 2 cups)
4 chives, chopped
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup diced sauteed red bell pepper, finely diced
salt
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cook the pasta until almost done and drain.

In a large bowl combine the eggs, ricotta, and sour cream and stir until the eggs are beaten and the ingredients are combined. Add the cooked orzo, chicken, chives, parsley, red bell peppers, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into a suitable baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes. Turn on the broiler. Place the pan under the broiler until golden on top, about 5 minutes.

It was really easy, and while mine wasn't as fluffy looking as Giada's, it was tasty and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

Next up were some delightful cabbage rolls. They were really phenomenal. Two people made cabbage rolls (from scratch!) but I only managed to get a pic of one of them...



Oy. But these were good.

Then came the Jamaican fare. Chicken curry that knocked EVERYONE'S socks off...



Fresh roti:



And broccoli beef:


K totally out did herself!

From one of our staff members from China, we got some lovely noodles with shrimp:



And from Cuba, we had some lovely fried rice with bits of beef, pork and shrimp (made by our account manager's boyfriend! He's a total keeper!!!).


One of our lawyers made a dish that she learned while living in Turkey, it's like an eggplant salsa and unbelievably good!



We also had a lovely bunch of perogies... which I couldn't stop eating!!!


And one of the girls from Romania made cabbage rolls, and brought this delicious Romanian bread...



There were lots more sweets, which I didn't pictures of because we could all barely move after eating! I was really impressed by everyone's efforts, and I think we all had a really nice time. As you know, I love food, to talk about it, eat it, make it, the whole works, and to be able to incorporate that a little bit into the work day, well, it was really exciting for me. I loved seeing the things that people made that reflected their cultures and the foods they make at home.

BUT, I am going to get a bunch of those recipes... they're too good not to keep!