Is there an easy way to cook/serve pasta for 20?!

[tassisssss]

TIA

What kind of pasta - baked (lasagne, etc) or boiled (spag Bol, etc)?

I'd think the easiest way would be to do a massive spag Bol. Borrow two slow cookers. Keep the bolognese sauce hot in one, and the cooked spaghetti (in water) hot in the other. Add a big bowl of grated Parmesan and tell everyone to serve themselves. If the pasta runs out, it's not much hassle to cook more.

Thinking bolognese (and veggie equivalent)

Can you talk me through pasta in a slow cooker please.

Slow-cookers are just a simple, easy way of keeping things warm.

So you'd switch the slow cooker on about 30 minutes in advance (empty, just to warm it up).

Then you'd cook your spaghetti (as normal, in a saucepan) till it's cooked. Then you'd pile the cooked spaghetti into the slow cooker with something to stop it drying out -- a splash of hot water, and/or olive oil, etc. Hot water will stop it going all claggy and stuck-together.

Then you'd put the lid on and let people serve themselves.

Same as usual. But just use catering size pans. The old style tall pressure cookers are big enough too. Or if really desperate, a couple of woks would do for all but boiling pasta.

Thanks my experience of cooking for more than about 10 is that it all sticks in a bit gloopy mass but maybe just not big enough pots... will maybe have a go.

It's probably not big enough pots.

I'd play it safe (as mis-cooked pasta is gluey horror), and use fresh pasta, which cooks in 3 mins.
So I'd have the sauce ready, then a load of pans of boiling water waiting, then cook batches of pasta as necessary at last minute.

I've done pasta for 15 and just cooked it in huge pans and then drained and dumped it back in the pans with a bit of olive oil and people served themselves. Make sure you cook it very much on the al dente side because so much of it all sitting together in the pan after draining seems to keep it cooking a bit.

Can you go for lasagna or some other baked pasta? Much less time critical.

I've seen pasta bars where they keep cooked cold pasta and then dunk each portion in really hot water in a basket thing to reheat it quickly.

That would worry me too much. I'd either do a baked pasta dish (macaroni cheese, lasagne) or chilli with rice-rice is much easier, it's much less volume.

I agree pasta for large amounts of people is a nightmare. I would do lasagne or chilli with baked potatoes and/or crusty bread personally.

Cook the pasta as directed.
Drain & rinse in cold water, drain again.
Reheat in hot water - pot or slow cooker or steamer.
20 years in an industrial kitchen never failed me.

A belated thank you all, and especially annielostit i will try your way!