NEW YEARS SHOW STOPPERS

NEW YEARS’ FEASTING IN THE EIGHTIES

Santa Fe Bar & Grill 1982

It’s one thing to have a restaurant kitchen staff to produce a memorable New Years meal, but what about at home? All cooked there or some ordered in? Whichever, there might be oysters, foie gras, smoked sturgeon, crab, and chocolate.

At least.

SHOWSTOPPERS AT HOME

Always oysters, in this case a mix of “flat” (like Belons) ones and the usual Atlantic. The sauce is Mignonette and the bread buttered.

I prefer half white wine like a simple non-oaked chardonnay, half champagne vinegar, finely chopped shallots, black pepper. And sometimes a bit of lemon peel. The stronger the oysters taste and saltiness, the more vinegar ratio to the wine.

Before getting to the oysters, sitting around with a bottle of champagne, a platter of perfect ham is one of the best marriages with that wine. Just little plates and your fingers. And non-paper napkins.

Another of my favorite pre-meal snacks is smoked eel. Here on warm buttered toast with a dollop of horseradish whipped cream.

I have to mention langoustines even if it is very unlikely that you will find prefect ones like these in the USA (these were in London). But if you do, do not spend any money at all unless they are completely fresh as in no dark areas in the main body. And look as bright as the ones below.

Serve with a mayonnaise you make yourself.

If not langoustines, then some Stone Crab claws.

And if not those some fabulous Jumbo Lump crab meat, made into a gratin (as in Imperial) or crab cakes. Normally they never enough crab, and not worth it. But here is how we cooked them at my restaurant Stars.

Stars Crab Cake

6 parts Crabmeat squeezed dry.

1 part Dry mashed potatoes

1 part White bread crumbs, depending on the moisture content.

2 parts Mayonnaise

Chives

Lemon juice

Tabasco

Salt and pepper

Mix gently

Toss in flour, dredge in egg, pack lightly in the breadcrumbs

Fry in peanut oil 350 degrees

Or perhaps a soup. A proven swooner.

Curried Oyster Soup with Crabmeat

Variations: Use lobster or caviar instead of crabmeat

If you don’t shuck oysters, buy the oysters already shucked in jars that you find packed in shaved ice wherever you buy fish. And you can make the bisque a day in advance as long as you keep it well chilled before serving it. If you do not have time to let the soup get really cold in the refrigerator, after pureeing put the soup in a metal or glass bowl into another bowl that is half full of ice and some water, and chill it that way – should take 15 minutes.

Serves: 2

10 fresh oysters, shucked, kept in their “liquor”

1 tbs unsalted butter

1 tsp Madras curry powder or Garam Masala

1 cup half and half cream

4 ounces fresh jumbo lump crabmeat

salt

freshly ground white pepper

Melt the butter in a 10-inch stainless steel sauté pan over medium heat. Add the curry powder. Stir 1 minute. Add the oysters, all the cream except for 2 tablespoons, and the oyster liquor. Turn up the heat and bring rapidly almost to a boil - without letting it boil - and then turn off the heat. After 20 seconds or so the oysters will plump up. Pour them and all the liquid into a blender and puree the lot. Chill the soup until cold.

Just before serving, taste seasoning and add if necessary. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream with the crab meat, and season that as well. Pour the soup into chilled soup plates and spoon the crabmeat into the center of the plates.

Safety Net: I can’t think of what could go wrong with this – unless you walk away and leave the cream to boil away and the oysters to burn. Then go to a restaurant.

Roasted Marrow Bones with Shallots

An easy but impressive course.

And my favorite part of the lamb, its saddle. Carved lengthwise along either side of the backbone.

Mashed Potatoes

2 pounds fingerling potatoes, all of similar size

2 cups unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

1/4 cup milk

Salt to taste

Peel the potatoes and place them in a large pot of cold, generously salted water. Bring the pot to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and gently cook the potatoes until they are tender when pierced with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes.

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them through a colander and let them rest there for 5 minutes to allow excess moisture to evaporate. This step is key for light, fluffy potatoes.

Place a potato ricer over a large bowl and begin to pass the potatoes through in batches. From here, you can go ahead and transfer the potatoes to a pot on the stove and fold in the cream, butter, and salt. The mash won’t be as smooth Or, for *extra* smooth and velvety pommes purée, set a fine-mesh sieve or "tamis" over a pot and push the riced potatoes through the tamis with a bowl scraper.

Place the pot over medium-low heat, add in the butter, cream, and a generous pinch of salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold together the purée until all the ingredients are evenly combined. Don't agitate the potatoes excessively or they will become gluey. Transfer the pommes purée to a large bowl or platter–serve warm.

Anthony Bourdain used cream instead of milk, and here are his ingredients.

4 pounds medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and halved

2 tbs kosher salt, plus more to season

6 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (1 1/2 pounds)

1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large saucepan, cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain and peel. Transfer to a bowl and let potatoes cool slightly.

Put the potatoes through a food mill on the finest setting, back into the cooking pot. Heat pot over medium heat stirring until heated through and steam begins to come off the bottom of the pot.

Add butter in 5 additions, allowing each addition of butter to be almost melted before adding the next until it all has been incorporated.

Mix in warm milk until combined. Using a whisk, vigorously stir potatoes until fluffy.

Season with salt.

Everyone puts cold foie gras up front in the meal. I like it later so I can switch from white wines to a rose or light but still flavorful pinot noir. In Edwardian times it would be towards the end of the menu so that a Sauternes or Auslese or rich Alsatian (Domaine Weinbach) could accompany it. After the red wines.

Still worth trying.

Warm Chocolate and Brandy Mousse

Just in case it is cold where you are you can serve chocolate mousse slightly warm.

Cheaper than cashmere socks.

This is all about the quality of the chocolate, and there are many great ones out there, even “single estate” ones, but you can usually find Lindt, and that is just fine.

½ cup whipping cream

4 oz very best quality bittersweet chocolate

1 tbs superfine sugar

2 tbs good quality Cognac

pinch salt

Put the cream, chocolate, sugar and salt in a metal bowl over barely simmering water making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

When the cream is hot (but never boiling) to the touch, gently whisk the chocolate until it is thoroughly mixed into the cream. Take the bowl off the heat and whisk the mixture for 2-3 minutes. Then pour into ramekins or little pots with tops and refrigerate for 2 hours. If using ramekins, cover them with cling film so they don’t pick up any refrigerator smell – not that your refrigerator smells, of course.

To serve, pop the ramekins uncovered into a microwave and heat for 10 seconds on full speed. The texture is supposed to be warm and firm, but not liquid.

If it’s in the microwave too long – put it into a cocktail shaker with a little ice and some more brandy and serve as chocolate Brandy Alexander after dinner drinks.