December 31
New Year's Eve
Menu
- Crab Legs
- Polenta with Mushrooms and Herb Sauce [View Recipe]
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Ingredients
- 10 leaves basil (cleaned)
- .25 cup parsley (cleaned)
- 3 sprigs thyme (cleaned)
- .25 cup oil (divided)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 8 ounces mushrooms (cleaned and sliced)
- salt & pepper
- 1 log polenta
- cheese (freshly grated)
Instructions
We start by preparing a quick herb sauce. In the chopper attachment of our immersion blender, we combine the basil leaves, parsley, thyme leaves (discarding the stems) and a little oil. We start blending, adding a little more oil to make a paste. We set this aside.
In our large nonstick pan, we heat a tablespoon of oil with the garlic over medium heat. When the garlic is fragrant and sizzling, we add the mushrooms and stir well. After a few minutes, we add some salt and pepper and continue to cook a few more minutes until the mushrooms are tender and released their liquid.
Meanwhile, we slice the log of polenta into 12 pieces. We preheat the oven to <temp val="250"/> and get ready a cookie sheet lined with parchment.
When the mushroom mixture is cooked, we transfer it to a bowl and heat another tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, we place half of the polenta slices into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes to brown. We flip and brown the other side. When done, the polenta rounds are placed in the oven on the cookie sheet to keep warm. We repeat with the remaining polenta.
The polenta slices are served topped with the mushroom mixture and drizzled with the herb sauce and freshly grated cheese.
- Cheesies
- Graul's Shrimp Dip
- Brie and Crackers
- Hazelnuts
- Spiced Nuts
- Arugula Salad with Roasted Broccoli and Endive
- Popcorn Balls
- Jacques Torres' Chocolates (one of Robin's Christmas presents)
- Graul's Brownies And Cupcakes
- Various Candies and Chocolates
- Sugared Pecans
- Girl Scout Cookies
- Pirouline Cookies
- 4 Bottles Champagne
On the menu was our usual New Year's Eve dinner—crab legs. Last year we had the fortune of benefitting from Boppy's forgetfulness. He had forgotten crab legs at home. This year we had to buy our own, which we got from Gibby's in Cockeysville. We must visit them again as they have the right combination of quality and price (high and reasonable).
The crab was excellent. Especially when it was hot out of the oven. Our son had a little. Our daughter had a lot (two legs on her own). She was a little disappointed that we were not having steamed crabs, but her disappointment was short lived.
After dinner (and a quick dessert for the kids), we gave them all a bath. The baby went down first, then the older kids. The three cousins had a ball in the bath. There was much splashing. After a quick bedtime story, the kids were down for the night.
Another of our New Year's Eve traditions is a couple rounds of Simpson's Clue. The men did not do nearly as well this year—not winning a single game. They more than made up for the poor showing in Simpson's Clue with a masterful effort in spades, winning by a 100 points or so.
We went through four bottles of champagne/sparkling wine as the evening wore on. It was mostly Chris and Eric who were responsible for this consumption—Sarah drove home after spades and Robin can not drink more than a couple glasses.
It is certain to be one heck of a New Year's Day for the men, but, all in all, tonight was a fine way to welcome 2005.