As 2015 draws to a close, it is time to plan how to end the year and ring in the new one. As a lover of food and wine pairings, this is my Super Bowl and I am prepared to win the trophy with you! As my final installment for 2015 I will offer you a few thoughts and recipes to have that party that will make you the winner of the big game!
If you are planning a casual gathering with finger foods and beverages, here are a few choices. If you like a tray of cocktail shrimp, cheese and crackers and meatballs here are a few wines to pick from. Shrimp, or any seafood of that type go best with a wine of high acid. A New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc like Kim Crawford or Whitehaven are ideal options. As to the meatballs and cheese and crackers, go red. If you ever wonder why milk in tea makes it taste better, it’s because the calcium in dairy softens the tannins in tea. The same can be said about red wine and cheese. My suggestion here is a French red burgundy or an Oregon Pinot noir. I am not personally a big fan of most of the California Sonoma Coast Pinot noir’s, but they are some good ones in the bunch.
If you are going the route of a sit down dinner for your New Year’s Eve party, let me suggest a tasting menu approach. This is the one day for sure, that you can break the bank on food and wine.
My passion for trying to pair the right wine with the perfect “bite” grew out of a single transformative experience I had over a decade ago. I had read a number of articles about the “dinner as theater” that was taking place in an exclusive restaurant in Napa called The French Laundry. Thomas Keller was changing the landscape from a quick dinner before a play or movie, to a three hour plus affair with wines paired with each course. The food was small plates of food; generally a few bites with a list of ingredients and preparations that created the need for a staff, that caused Keller to charge $350 a person for the experience.
Tasting menus have become very common place now and I am not suggesting that the French Laundry created this concept, but they did take the idea to a new and inspired place that made the price tag a bit more tolerable. If you like the concept and challenge of creating a tasting menu party, I can offer you three tips.
The first tip is pick a theme. In the past, I have hosted New Year’s Eve parties with themes like steakhouse, French bistro or using one cookbook as the source for all the recipes of the meal. By having a theme, it will do several things for you. It will help the meal have a flow or progression. As a rule, start with a lighter choice of fare and build up to heavier or richer dishes. A theme will also help with selecting wines. That’s not to say that you cannot serve an Oregon Pinot Noir at your French bistro, but you probably won’t find pulled pork on the menu!
My second tip is choose your menu to fit your culinary skills. I have used “The Boulevard” cookbook from the famous San Francisco restaurant as a theme in the past, and the recipes are complex with a number of sauces and complimentary items on the plate. Several of the recipes require multiple days to prepare. If you lack the time, skill or confidence to undertake such a menu, pick some old standards, like prime rib, lobster Mac and Cheese or roasted duck as your main protein. These when done well, evoke a luxury and comfort food in the same bite. If you are up to more complex menu, my strong advice is to practice. My family enjoys the trial and error of making dishes for my New Year’s Eve party in September.
More than just pleasing my family, practice serves to help me get a feel for true cooking time, preperation complexity and do I like the dish. We have all had those dinners where the protein is not ready as your side dishes dry out and cool off. The practice often times helps me get a feel for what the dish tastes like and that helps me select a “perfect pairing” for that dish with a wine.
My third suggestion is make the tasting menu fun for your guests, make it interactive. No matter what menu you choose, preperation and plating of food will leave gaps of time where your guests are sitting at the table awaiting your return. You can’t be in two places at once, so I offer two options. Invite everyone in to the kitchen to watch you finish cooking and plating the next course or put the guests “to work.” The work can include clearing plates, assisting with cooking and plating, handling wine service or setting the table for the next course. My experience is the guests who enjoy the multiple course dinner party are very happy to help and it makes it everyone’s party!
Now that you have made a choice of the casual, sit down simple or complex party, we should spend a minute talking about the food. I would suggest you need to know your guests. I am not talking about the obvious attendee who is a vegan or allergic to nuts, I mean, where can you take the menu without scrapping plates of uneaten food in the trash. To that end, I am also not suggesting you “dumb” down the menu, but if you have dined with the guest before and they are not an adventurous eater, stay away from too many foods outside of the comfort zone. This may seem obvious, but I am never surprised by hosting failures based on trying to stretch the limits.
So here are three sample menus with wine pairings as well.
Casual Dinner
Shrimp with cocktail sauce and garlic aioli- sparkling wine
Meat and cheese board (don’t buy the pre made ones) with dried fruit, olives and crackers – Oregon Pinot Noir
Roasted chicken sliders- Chardonnay (French or California)
Crab and artichoke dip – French rosè
Brownie or cheese cake bites
Tasting Menu – less challenging
Oysters Rockefeller – sparkling wine
Wedge salad with homemade dressing – French rosè
Phyllo cups filled with diced roasted root vegetables- Chardonnay (French or California)
Chicken breast stuffed with cherry tomatoes, spinach and Gruyere cheese and a mushroom pan sauce – Pinot noir or French burgundy
Prime rib with potatoes and vegetables of your choice – California Cabernet or French Red Bordeaux
Cheese cake bars with fresh fruit
Tasting Menu – more advanced cook
Caviar on blinis – French champagne
Cauliflower purée soup with lobster – French rosè
Pear and butter lettuce salad with buttermilk dressing – Chablis or white Bordeaux
Pork belly with candied butter nut squash and mini potato pancakes – Oregon or French Pinot noir
Duck breast stuffed with brandied apples and roasted chestnuts- French red Bordeaux (choose one with a significant merlot content)
Mini filet of beef with individual lobster mac and cheese – California Cabernet
Apple gallettes with vanilla bean ice cream
I have made everything on all the menus, so if you would like a recipe, drop me a comment. Lastly, thank you for reading and responding to my blog. Enjoy New Year’s Eve, drink responsibly and plan a safe ride home. Cheers!