Until the New Year ... Guard! Very little is left!
December 31 is the day when I want to certainly finish all the old things, which for some reason were postponed for a year. To this desire, the main point of preparation is also added - the festive New Year's table. The question of how to decorate it arises even at the doorstep of the supermarket, long before the last day of the outgoing year, the refrigerator is filled up with products that are supposed to be used in cooking and eat on New Year's Eve, or, in extreme cases, on the morning of January 1.
What remains will be eaten up during the first week of the traditional and popular post-holiday "relaxation" in front of the TV. Traditions are stronger than us, it is difficult to cancel them. Yes, and why? Let the year always begin with a week of joy and expectation of a miracle, meeting old and new friends, and you can cope with the fuss in the kitchen by planning energy, time and financial expenses in advance.
Whip up New Year recipes - basic technology principles
The first and most important advice regarding cooking for the New Year holidays: no panic!
• Plan the menu for the coming week, taking into account all the culinary preferences of households and invited guests. It is advisable to pre-calculate the number of servings, adding, just in case, but not more than two or three, if someone decides to make a surprise with his sudden appearance. In the New Year, such miracles happen often.
• Each family has certain traditions when the favorite family dish is placed in the center of the table, as well as the universally recognized "New Year" dishes: herring under a "fur coat", jellied meat and a bowl of Olivier. This is the obligatory program of the New Year’s menu, so to speak. Everything should be comfortable. Therefore, if there is such a need - prepare the notorious basin. If you want to make a difference, then there are already quite a lot of options for traditional salads. Try to modify them a bit by adding new components or “play with the design”, but to make the New Year really new, add your culinary “discovery” to the festive menu - a dish that has never been served in the circle of those present. This will add interest to the efforts of the hostess, and, perhaps, will become another culinary tradition.
• It is unlikely that he will want to cook the first dishes in the morning, January 1, and many will need them. Therefore, chicken broth, ear or pickle will come in handy so as not to scoff at your body. When you cook meat for salads, pay attention to the broth - make it transparent and aromatic, so that the next day in 10-15 minutes you can cook a fresh first dish.
• According to the menu, buy products and make an audit in the refrigerator, in the kitchen, in the pantry. Remember, ahead is Christmas, the old New Year, Epiphany. Days are no less significant, and therefore also costly. Nevertheless, the salary is only one and it will have to be distributed taking into account these dates.
The planning and procurement phase has been completed. We pass to the kitchen. Some preparatory stages of cooking can be started earlier, for 2-3 days, depending on the time available to the hostess, but it is definitely impossible to postpone all things in the kitchen until the very last day. Be sure to leave for yourself 2-3 hours to rest before the festive feast.
What can be done in advance?
• Wash and boil vegetables for salads. Some of them (boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, celery, pickles and mushrooms) can even be sliced in advance, only be sure to store them separately until the last moment, in sealed containers or plastic bags.
• You can also cook meat and fish by peeling and chopping them. Pour marinade if necessary. You can store such products in the refrigerator for 48 hours.
• If you plan to bake duck, chicken, goose or ham in the oven, process the poultry meat, stuff it, sew it, wrap it in a bag and put it in the freezer. In the morning, December 31, the carcass or ham will only be thawed in the microwave. Semi-finished products can also be frozen.
• Pay attention to the decoration elements of dishes in advance. Usually, such details are forgotten in a hurry or experiments with carving are unsuccessful, for the same reason. If such a technique is not mastered, or if the appropriate tools are not available, then stock up with a sufficient amount of leafy vegetables: fresh greens on the festive table always look very elegant, especially in winter. Using a conventional kitchen knife, you can also make simple curly slicing of onion rings, olives, round, rectangular plates of cheese, sausage, vegetables. Prepare decorative skewers, tubes, umbrellas and other elements of the festive table tinsel.
With the proper organization of the process, one hostess can prepare a feast for the whole world, as in a fairy tale. Now you can choose your favorite recipes. Considering that your favorite salads, aspic and aspic for the New Year is a tradition, it remains only to distribute the load evenly so that the preparation of the festive table does not seem a long and tedious affair.
Whip up New Year's Recipes: salads and vinaigrettes
This meal is ideal for a late dinner. Hearty meat salads are for those who are hungry in anticipation of the Chimes fight, and light vegetable and fish salads - for those who want to wait for the ceremonial removal of hot dishes.
A classic I don’t want to part with - Olivier salad and vinaigrette. Try changing the composition of the ingredients in these salads to make the dish new and interesting.
1. Recipe for the New Year in a hurry - Pokrovsky vinaigrette
Products:
Peeled apples 400 g (net)
Prunes 250 g
Jacketed potato 500 g
Beetroot 300 g
Sauerkraut 600 g
Salted mushrooms (mushrooms) 400 g
Garlic 30-40 g
Eggs 6 pcs. (for registration)
Mayonnaise 250 g
Leaf lettuce, parsley (for decoration)
Salt
Red lettuce (for decoration)
Cooking:
Peel and chop all prepared ingredients (potatoes, apples, mushrooms, steamed prunes, beets). In mayonnaise, add chopped garlic, chopped herbs. Combine with chopped vinaigrette and mix.
Peel the boiled eggs and cut them in half. Remove the stem from the lettuce and cut into thin strips. Line a flat round dish with lettuce; put vinaigrette on top, smooth the surface, cover with chopped greens. In a circle, in the form of a dial lay out the halves of the eggs, protein up. On each half of the egg with red pepper sticks, lay out the Roman numerals, imitating the clock face. In the middle, lay arrows of pepper or strips of boiled beets.
2. Recipe for the New Year in a hurry - game salad with mayonnaise (original "Olivier")
Products:
Boiled tongue, veal 300 g
Boiled partridge (fillet) 400 g
Instant gelatin 20 g
White roots (parsley, celery) 100 g each
Peppercorns (allspice and black)
Bay leaf
Carrot 150 g
Pickled Cucumbers 200 g
Quail eggs 12 pcs.
Jacketed potato 350 g
Boiled cancer necks 200 g
Mayonnaise 150 g
Mustard, dining room 15 g
Lemon Juice 45 ml
Ground pepper 5 g
Leaf lettuce (for decoration)
Purified water (for broth)
Yield: 12 servings of 200 g each
Cooking:
Put the processed quail carcasses in cold water and allow them to cook until ready. In the process of cooking, remove the foam, add the chopped parsley root, a mixture of peppers and bay leaf. Half an hour before the meat is ready, add the peeled whole celery and carrot roots. Cook them in the broth until soft. After transfer the roots to a separate plate.
Get the game meat (partridges can be replaced with young carcasses of broiler chickens). Chilled meat cut into strips or slices. Strain the warm broth until transparent, separate 300 ml and add diluted gelatin to this part. Set aside to cool completely and then put in the cold to solidify. Cut the frozen jelly into large cubes and decorate the dish with it.
Boil the peeled tongue, remove the skin, cut into thin plates.
Boil eggs and jacket potatoes. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes along with the roots of carrots and celery. Also cut into cubes half the boiled eggs, and cut the rest lengthwise and half. Lay the halves of boiled eggs along the edge of the dish, on the plates of the boiled tongue, alternating them with plates of cucumbers and quail meat, cut into strips.
Dice the boiled vegetables, diced, adding mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice and ground pepper to them. Stir and place in the center of the dish a slide. Garnish with leafy vegetables.
3. The recipe for the New Year in a hurry - "Basin Olivier", in Soviet
This salad is still the most delicious memory, for many - with notes of nostalgia. He still holds an honorable place on the New Year's table.
Products:
Smoked sausage
Eggs
Pickled Cucumbers
Canned peas
Boiled potato (in a “uniform”)
Mayonnaise
Chopped greens (for decoration)
Cooking:
All components of the salad must be taken in equal amounts, cut into the same cubes. For decoration, you can use the ingredients of the dish, cutting them into slices, straws, plates and laying on the edge of the dish or on top of the salad, laid down a slide.
Whip up New Year's Recipes: aspic or aspic
To ensure that the holiday necessarily takes place, just in case we are preparing both the one and the other together. The advantage of aspic and aspic is that, poured in portioned forms, these dishes can be stored in the refrigerator for a week, if left, and during this week you will not have to think about what to serve. Jellied meat and aspic are cooked for a long time, but you have to stand at the stove only before the boil begins, and then, switching the fire to the simmer mode, you can calmly cut salads or rub glasses for champagne.
1. Recipes for the New Year in a hurry - jelly, prefabricated
Products:
Pork ears, tails, legs 2-3 kg
Beef rings (sugar bones) 2 kg
Gutted Rooster 2.5 kg
Chicken Breast 2 kg
Pork (back, low fat) 2 kg
Beef or beef tongue 1.5 kg
Onion 0.5 kg
Carrot 1.0 kg
White roots 300 g
Set of spices for meat broth
Garlic to taste
Salt
Parsley leaves, sprigs of dill, olives or olives (for decoration)
Cooking:
Wash all meat parts in advance, soak in cold water until the flesh is light. Change the water 2-3 times during the day. Scrape the legs, ears and tails well with a knife. They need to be boiled together with the skin, which contains a lot of collagen, contributing to the gelation of the broth. In a large saucepan, put everything except chicken, which is added 2 hours later so that it does not boil too much. Place the pot on the stove, fill with cold water and turn on the heat. Before boiling it can be made intense; as soon as the bubbles begin to rise, reduce to the very minimum level, and in this mode, cook until the end. You need to carefully remove the foam to get a beautiful and transparent broth.
Together with the meat of an old rooster and breast, add the peeled and washed roots of parsley, celery and onion, without chopping them. One hour before the end of cooking, put the whole and peeled carrots, and after another 40 minutes add spices and salt. Hot broth should be slightly salted in taste. Readiness check for meat, which should easily be separated from the bone.
Take out the meat, sort it out, separating it from the bones and cartilage. Cut or tear the pulp with your hands.
Transfer boiled carrots to a separate plate. When it cools down, cut it with wheels, squeeze out a special shape (plunger) flower shape for decoration.
In a warm broth, put the chopped garlic and cool to room temperature. You can taste it at this time. Check: moisten fingers or lips with broth. When squeezing and unclenching, a sensation of viscosity, gluing should appear. If there is not enough gelling substance in the broth, add diluted gelatin (15 g per 1.5 l of liquid). Strain through cheesecloth or towel.
In the portioned plates with lids on the bottom, lay the leaves of greens, olives, olives, carrots. Put pieces of meat on top. Pour the servings with a clear broth, gently cover with lids and refrigerate until completely frozen. When serving, dip in boiling water for a few seconds and turn on a plate.
2. Recipes for the New Year in a hurry - aspic from zander
Products:
Pike perch (peeled carcasses with a head) 3 kg
Silver carp head 1 kg
Onion, 3 heads
Carrot, red 400 g
Dill
Bay leaf
Salt
Lemons 300 g
Vegetable oil 50 ml
Instant gelatin 25 g
Water
Parsley root 100 g
Butter 70 g
Cooking:
Separate the ridge, tails and heads of zander with a sharp knife for the broth. Put them in a pan with the head of a silver carp or other rich fish. You can add ruffs, perch, and mackerel to the broth. Put the washed onion heads, cutting off the roots, together with the top peel to give the broth a beautiful color. Add peeled carrot roots, parsley. Grind parsley, and cook carrots whole. Add spices, bay leaf and salt to the broth. Simmer while removing foam. Cooking time - 1 hour.
Cut pike perch fillet into portions, sprinkle lightly with salt, pour lemon juice, add chopped dill. Lay in the form lined with foil. Lubricate the foil with plenty of oil. Cover the fish with another sheet of foil on top, and tightly close the edges. Bake for 20-25 minutes, at 120 ° C. Then, without turning, let cool.
Remove the boiled carrots from the pan and put on a plate to cool. Cut it into circles or rings, or make other figures for decoration. The remaining components of the broth will not be needed. Add dissolved gelatin to the warm strained broth.
Grease tall glasses with vegetable oil. Put portions of baked fish in them. Pour in the broth and put in the refrigerator. From carrots, herbs, lemons or other products, make curly cuts to decorate aspic. Put them separately in a sealed container and arrange the dish when serving. When serving, the glasses with filler should be slightly warmed up and turned on a plate.
Whip up New Year recipes: hot dishes
Of course, the New Year's table cannot do without the “highlight of the program” - a banquet dish, which is rendered to the applause of those present. Meat or fish? Choose for yourself, but in any case, baked pike, salmon steaks with Mediterranean sauce, or pork ham, duck with apples or oranges, or chicken with mushrooms and potatoes will take a little time to prepare them for baking, and a lot of space and attention - at the holiday the table.
1. Recipe for the New Year in a hurry - pike in the oven, in Russian
Products:
For marinade:
Pepper to taste
Honey 120 g
Lemon 4 Pcs. (for registration + 100 ml of juice)
Salt to taste
Nutmeg, ground 15 g
Ginger (fresh root) 50 g
Water 400 ml
Pike 1.8-2 kg
Crayfish (large) 12 pcs.
Onion 500 g
2.4 kg peeled potatoes
Whole milk (or cream) 0.5 L
For registration:
Fresh tomatoes 12 pcs.
Black olives 200 g
Boiled eggs 6 pcs.
Sprouts of dill 50 g
Boiled carrots 200 g
Fresh cucumber 250 g
Mayonnaise
Boiled corn 400 g
Cooking:
Wash the pike, gut the insides, be sure to remove the gills.In a large plastic bag, put all the ingredients for the marinade. Put the fish there and tie the packaging tightly. Put in the refrigerator for the night.
2 hours before the start of the festive feast, line the baking sheet with foil, grease it with butter, lay the chopped onion. Cut the pike carcass into portions and put on the onion "pillow". Cover with foil and bake at 120 ° C for 40 minutes.
Wash the crayfish thoroughly, soak in water, constantly changing it before cooking. In a large pot, put the halves of peeled onions, two sliced lemons, nutmeg. You can buy a special seasoning for crayfish. Add salt when the crayfish in boiling water turn red.
Cook the peeled potatoes, and prepare the mashed potatoes, thoroughly mixing it with cream. Cook potatoes 10 minutes after the pike is in the oven so that the mashed potatoes are hot when served.
Proceed to the design of the dish:
You will need a large oval shape, on which the whole composition will be laid out.
Cut off the tops of the tomatoes, take out the pulp with a spoon and fill them with boiled corn. These are “gemstone barrels”;
Peel the eggs and cut them across in a zigzag pattern. Divide the halves and lay them on the cucumber plates. These are water lilies.
Cut olives and carrots into rings and plastics. Lay out all the decoration elements along the edge of the dish.
In the center, lay out the "pedestal" of mashed potatoes, at an angle, in the shape of a triangle. On the puree, put in order all the pieces of the pike, starting from the head, so that it seems whole. Put slices of lemons between the pieces. Cut the “crown” out of the carrot and pin it with a skewer to the head of the pike. Put boiled crayfish around the fish so that they “look” at the “queen”. Garnish with sprigs of fresh dill and place in the center of the table.
2. Recipe for the New Year in a hurry - beef with bacon in the oven
Products:
Beef pulp (tenderloin or neck) 2 kg
Carrot 0.5 kg
Garlic
Hot pepper, ground
Clove
Nutmeg
Bacon 500 g
Salt
Wine, table 0.5 L
Honey 100 g
Strong mustard 50 g
Cooking:
Choose an elongated piece of beef flesh to make it easy to force. Fresh carrots and salted fat, cut into bars. With a sharp knife, remove the films from the pulp, make deep cuts, insert in them successively slices of carrots and bacon. Rub the meat with spices and salt. Put in a baking bag. Pour the marinade from honey, wine and mustard there. Put the beef for 12 hours in the refrigerator. To serve the dish hot, put it in the oven, preheated to 180 ° C 2.5 hours before the celebration. Before serving, remove the baking bag, cut the meat in portions and serve with a vegetable side dish, garnished with greens.
Quick Recipes for the New Year - Useful Tips and Tricks
New Year is a family holiday, and every family has children. Think of a special menu for them, except for sweets and tangerines. If children will be sitting at a table with adults, which is quite possible these days, then adding “non-childish” spices is allowed only on your own plate. Place the spice utensils on the table and dramatically reduce their number during cooking. Announce in advance about the deliberate lack of salience to everyone present at the table: guests will treat the hostess with understanding and respect.
A lot of time for cooking requires baking. The shelf life of cakes is no more than 36 hours. But cake cakes without cream can be stored much longer. You can safely bake them even 3 days before the start of the feast, and prepare the cream the night before, collect the cake so that the cakes have time to soak.
