Happy New Year!!!
We changed our Culinary Sunday into a Culinary Monday this week so that we could blog about the cute finger foods we put out for a small New Year's gathering. So while this is not a gourmet, 5-course dinner - it's a fabulous cocktail party menu that you will all be able to re-create! And one of the best parts - almost all of it are our own recipes!
Cocktail - The Cosmopolitan
This cocktail (made famous by Carrie Bradshaw a la Sex and the City) was the perfect "Starter Cocktail" for the party. A classic drink - it includes vodka, cranberry juice, triple sec, and a splash of lemon juice.
Pork Tenderloin Crostini with Cinnamon Apples
Simple and delicious! We marinated some pork tenderloin in teriyaki sauce overnight and then grilled it the day of. It was thinly sliced and placed over pre-cut crostini bread from Stew Leonards. (Save yourselves the trouble, folks, and buy it pre-cut.) Jennifer then sauteed up some sliced apples in sugar and cinnamon and we topped the pork with it. Done. Served. Every last bite devoured. (We did a 2nd batch, and actually drizzled a slight bit of a balsamic reduction over and found that to be even better.)
Crostini with Filet Mignon, Brie, and a Cherry Compote
Superb! Once again, take your pre-cut crostini and top it with some thinly sliced, grilled filet mignon. Then top it with a small slice of brie cheese and throw it under the broiler for the cheese to melt. Once melted, top with the cherry compote. How did we make cherry compote? Okay, here we go... we sauteed up about 1/2 cup of chopped onions. Then added 2 cups of defrosted frozen cherries, about 1/2 cup of cherry preserves, 3 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar, a few dashes of allspice, cayenne and salt. We let that boil over medium heat for about twenty minutes, until it was nice and thick. Fantastic!
Double Tomato Bruschetta
Okay, this is the only dish we used a real recipe for. Neither Jenn or I have ever made bruschetta before and we didn't want to screw it up too much. I'm not a tomato eater (I know, I'm weird) but the crowd's consensus was a resounding "yum." The mixture of regular tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes were spectacular with a nice bite from the garlic and the balsamic vinegar. We did make a few changes for ease, and I don't think it really detracted from the recipe. First, we used petite diced tomatoes instead of fresh plum. (Gasp. Horror.) And while I did buy fresh basil over the weekend, I forgot to put it in the fridge, it turned bad, so we had to use dried basil. (Not the end of the world.)
Endive with Blue Cheese, Candied Walnuts, and Honey
Easy, fantastic, and absolutely elegant for any dinner party. Fill endive spears with blue cheese, top with some candied walnuts, drizzle with a little honey and serve! For the candied walnuts, we simply sauteed up walnuts in butter, sugar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper for some bite.
Potato, Brie, and Pear Bites
Sliced baked potato topped with brie cheese, thrown under the broiler to melt, and then topped with sliced pear. Who knew this would be a good combination?!?!
What Wasn't Pictured
We also had raw veggies with whiskey sauce and chicken skewers with pinda sauce. (Peanut satay sauce.)
Dessert - Chocolate Fountain
Can you really go wrong with melted dark chocolate and a whole bunch of stuff to dip in it? We had fresh fruit (obviously from the pic above), but also pretzel rods, marshmallows, graham crackers, and broken pieces of sugar cones. (Sugar cones were the crowd favorite!)
So overall, a lovely New Year's Party! We cleaned out a lot of the freezer and pantry and was able to create a lovely finger food menu! Hopefully everyone else had an equally fantastic holiday and we wish everyone the best of fortune in 2013.
Let's talk 2013 and food, now. You'd think we'd be getting tired of cooking but NO! We have more ideas than ever! You're going to start seeing a few changes, though. First, we may start making some recipes of our own (which means step-by-step instructions will look something like "a few shakes of this... a pinch of that... a couple spoonfuls of...) We also are going to attempt more "themed" dinners - we want to try more cultures and more unfamiliar flavors. We also may pick some random flavors and make entire meals around them just for the heck of the challenge. We're truly looking forward to another fantastic year of cooking and we are extremely grateful that you are all here to take the journey with us! Happy New Year, everyone!
Next Week - Lemons
Yum u guys it all looks and sounds wonderful! I just may give them a try! Mark use to make pinda sauce and i have to now! Enjoy cooking in the new year!
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