New Year's Eve Appetizer & Dessert Party

Thursday, December 17, 2009

New Year's Eve Appetizer & Dessert Party

I don't remember when it started, but it's been a while now since the annual New Year's Eve Appetizer & Dessert Party tradition of seafood, chocolate, and good champagne began at my house.

In fact, it's been a big hit ever since it began. More importantly, it's easy to execute, too.

Keep reading if you were looking for things to do on New Years Eve - and if staying home appeals to you.

It's a surefire hit that your guests will love!

If they don't like (or can't eat) seafood - if you serve my menu, you'll have something appealing for everyone. Because your menu will consist of one dish that you'll cook with and without seafood. What dish is that? Read on...

You don't have to be a gourmet cook to please the palates of others.

As a caterer and event planner, my main concern (when I entertain personally and when I work for others) is that the food is made with the freshest, quality ingredients and that it looks good (we eat with our eyes first, remember?) and tastes good. Even good, old fashioned comfort food can be special if you cook with your heart in it.

For example, homemade Mac 'n Cheese with Fresh Lobster is the dish that I always add to the menu - that I make two versions of; one with lobster, and one without lobster. You have your choice, you can use the Cheesy Mac 'n Cheese recipe below. Or, you can use the Mac 'n Cheese with Fresh Lobster recipe in the link in the sentence just above (this one).

Mac 'n Cheese is easy to make, sans the seafood, and both versions are popular dishes. The cheesy-lobster added recipe is especially delicious. They always say that "good cooks don't measure", so add as much lobster to your Mac 'n Cheese as you see fit (or as your wallet will allow).

Cheesy Mac 'n Cheese
Serves 8
(Printable Recipe)

1 1/2 pounds (about 6 cups) small elbow macaroni
1/2 pound (about 2 cups) cheddar cheese , grated
1/2 pound (about 2 cups) fontina cheese , grated
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (1 slice, toasted and crumbled)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1.) Preheat oven to 350°.
2.) Cook pasta as directed; strain and place in a buttered 3-quart casserole dish.
3.) Sprinkle cheddar and fontina cheeses on top, reserving 1/2 cup of each. Stir lightly with a fork.
4.) In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth.
5.) Slowly add milk and salt, whisking to prevent lumps.
6.) Add sauce to macaroni, reserving 1/2 cup. Mix egg with leftover sauce and pour over macaroni.

7.) Sprinkle macaroni with remaining cheddar, fontina and paprika.
8.) Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan and olive oil in a small bowl and spread on top. Place casserole dish on a foil-lined baking sheet on oven's middle rack and bake 25 minutes, until bubbly and golden brown.

Here's how the evenings menu starts, and ends.

There's plenty of beer, a nice white wine that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (like a Chardonnay, Riesling, or Gewurztraminer), a decent and tasty red (a Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon), lots of good champagne, and we break open a bottle of gin, vodka, rum, tequila and whiskey with a few simple mixers (tonic, club soda, and orange, cranberry, and pineapple juices.

If money is an issue, think about spending more money on good bottles of champagne and look to get a good deal on your non-sparkling wines.

To kick off your New Years Eve Appetizer & Dessert Party, set out bowls of honey peanuts (with small scoops to dish them out), a platter of goat cheese with slices of Roma tomatoes and Mayan Sweets sweet onions, and lots of stone wheat crackers with the appropriate serving utensils.

Seafood, seafood, seafood

A shrimp cocktail begins the seafood tradition, served with cocktail sauce. Added to that, smoked salmon also served with stone wheat crackers, to make shopping extra easy (although you're more than welcome to add a different (or variety of) type of crackers.

While guests are mingling and noshing,head to the kitchen to prepare your New Year's Eve dinner of steamed mussels.

Cater-Hater Tip: Why choose mussels? Compared to other types of seafood, they're not only super easy to prepare - they're typically one of the best priced seafood options available, especially if you buy them at Costco. If your refrigerator is well-stocked and overflowing with food during the holiday season, if you live in a snow state, you can store mussels in a snow-packed bowl in a secure place outdoors. Mussels thrive in Arctic temperatures.

When you cook mussels the broth can be used for seafood stews, soups, and sauces. Besides being tasty, mussels are great to work with because the hardest thing about them is taking them out of their shells, which is really easy.

You can broil them on the half shell, or enjoy them deep-fried, grilled, or stuffed into baked potatoes or cold in salads. The recipe that I use consists of only 5 ingredients. It's so easy that after making it once or twice, you'll have it down "pat", remember it and will be able to make it from memory.

Again, my recipe is super easy to make. I steam the mussels in heated liquid for about 5 to 10 minutes and they're done. So it's the perfect recipe for a New Year's Eve Appetizer & Dessert Party. It's great! I'm in and out of the kitchen in no time, which allows me more time to enjoy my guests.

Next: prepare your favorite salad in advance (remember, add the dressing just before you serve it, so that it doesn't wilt) and have crusty artisan bread ready to go with it.

Steamed Mussels
(Printable Recipe)

1/2 of 5 pound bag of fresh mussels
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cup chopped celery
1 and a half cup chopped white onion
6 to 8 fresh garlic cloves, chopped
1 and a half can Pilsner beer (or 1 and a half cup white wine)

1.) Use a large pot or extra large pan so that the mussels will have room to open, and the beer (or wine) won't spill over.
2.) Place olive oil in pot and warm over medium heat. Add celery, onion, and garlic, and saute until translucent.
3.) Add beer or wine. Increase heat (to medium-high), and bring to a boil.
4.) Add half of bag of mussels to boiling liquid and cook until mussels open, about 5 to 10 minutes.
5.) Pour equal amounts of mussels and broth into soup bowls. Serve with salad and bread.

You can never have too much chocolate, can you?

Here's where you don't need me to hold your hand. If you like chocolate as much as I do, you certainly don't need me to tell you what type of chocolate dessert you should serve.

From homemade brownies with Haagen Dazs vanilla bean ice cream, to a "chocolate chip cookie in a fancy dress" (the name of which was coined at the Traffic Jam & Snug restaurant in Detroit, Michigan, where this dessert remains as a staple on the menu), which is a simple extra large chocolate chip cookie topped with a scoop of any flavor ice cream that you choose, to chocolate soup - just about anything chocolaty will be good to serve with a glass of champagne.

As far as party ideas for New Years Eve goes - you choose this New Year's Eve Appetizer & Dessert Party concept and you'll have one of the best "do-it-yourself" New Years Eve packages possible.

Forget about getting all dressed up to go out to one of those over booked and packed to the gills New Years Eve parties, if you don't want to. And forget about all of the extra New Year's Eve party fees you'll pay for things like parking and tipping doormen.

Save yourself the hassle. Stay in, and eat and drink well. Play a few New Years Eve party games (like trying to figure out the top New Years resolutions), ring in the New Year, watch Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest and the New Years Eve concerts on television, even snap a few New Years Eve pictures. And then make a few New Years Eve resolutions, if you want to.

Afterward, enjoy the peace and quiet of the tranquility that you've created for you and your guests. You and your guests will have a New Years Eve party celebration, safe and sound, within the confines of your own home.

Why not start your own New Years Eve traditions? On a crazy night like New Year's Eve (also known by many people as "amateur drinker's night"), unless you're up for the hoop-la, this might just be the best way to go.