Tradition of New year celebration goes back to ancient Romans. Today many nations of the world, people of different beliefs, customs and nationalities meet New year on January, 1st. It is celebrated with special excitement and hopes, as New year - magic time, mysterious, like a fairy tale.
Before New year one should repay all debts, forgive all insults, those who were at odds, are obliged to reconcile. Plentiful celebratory table, on ancient custom, as though provided well-being for all forthcoming year and was considered as pledge of family riches. Therefore people aspired to put all they would like to have in prosperity in their house during coming year.
New Year table offered many meat, cereal and farinaceous dishes, compotes, jellies, beer, pies with various stuffing. Much food was prepared from pork, as pig was considered as a symbol of fruitfulness. As we can see, various and nourishing New Year table came to us from ancient times. And this tradition remains in many families up to this day.
Note
Why people met Newe year at a celebratory table? What dishes tables of our great-grandmothers and grandmothers offered? If these questions are interesting for you, you will find answers to them here.
In the beginning of the XIX-th century the kitchen was not difficult. Even noble houses could offer pickles and mushrooms, radish salad for a New year. They also served pig, veal fricassee, fried poulards, boiled trout in wine. And, by the way, apricots, oranges, grapes and pears were cultivated in the middle of winter, as greenhouses were fashionable at that time. New Year’s menu of second half of XIX-th century already offered salmon, caviar, smelt and vendace, cheeses - along with radish and pickles. Mushrooms were forgotten for some reason, but cod and water-melons became popular. Game competed with pig, fried with buckwheat.
What to cook in a year of the Bull?
Coming year – year of a bull, this means you should not eat beef, it is better to use fish or hen, so that the bull would not take offence. To cajole the bull-calfe you can bellow or make an interesting New Year’s costume with small horns and tail. In general, this year affairs will pass slowly, but steadily, there will be a lot of work and many heavy meditations etc. Too much work for everyone, to exhaustion. As to a table, the richer a table is, the richer a coming year will be. So let’s pass directly to it, and of course, we will begin with a hot dish.
French duck in oranges
Ingredients:
* ¼ cup granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
* 1 ½ cups orange juice
* 2 tablespoons shallots, minced
* 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
* 4 oranges, sections cut from membranes
* 2 duck breast halves, seasoned with salt and pepper
* ¼ cup unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons orange zest
Preparation:
Boil the sugar and water for several minutes, until the syrup caramelizes and turns a golden brown color. Add the vinegar, juice, shallots, and chicken stock and simmer until the sauce is reduced to a little less than a cup. Add butter and 1 tablespoon of orange zest. Stir in orange sections.
In a skillet, sear the duck breasts over high heat. Cook the duck for about 9-11 minutes on each side. Pour the prepared sauce over the duck breasts and garnish with the remaining orange zest.
Makes 2 servings.
Fish baked under “Pesto” sauce
Ingredients (serves 4)
* 4 (about 500g) white fish fillets (like ocean perch, blue eye or sea perch)
* 65g (1/4 cup) Don Emilio’s Fresh Premium Pesto Sauce
* 500g fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 small red onion, diced
* 1 tbs olive oil
* 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
* Salt & ground black pepper, to taste
* 1 lemon, quartered (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut four 35cm square pieces of non-stick baking paper.
2. Place a fish fillet on each piece of baking paper. Drizzle with 1/2 the pesto, turn the fish over and then drizzle with the remaining pesto.
3. Fold the edges of the paper together to seal firmly. Place the parcels on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until the fish flakes when tested with a fork.
4. Meanwhile: combine the tomatoes, red onion, olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve the fish parcels with the tomato salad and lemon wedges, if using.
Almond crusted hen
Ingredients
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs made from almond flour or ground almonds
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons water
2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, broken into pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, season bread crumbs with salt and pepper. Place eggs in a small bowl with 2 teaspoons water, and beat lightly. Dip chicken in egg, wiping away excess with your fingers, and dip in bread-crumb mixture. Dredge until lightly coated. Dip in egg again,and coat thoroughly with almonds.
2. Heat butter and oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet (I used a cast iron skillet) over medium heat. Saute chicken until nicely browned, about 3 minutes, and turn over. Cook 1 minute more; then transfer pan to oven, and bake until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
3. Enjoy!
Courland chicken
Ingredients: chicken legs (6-7 pieces), field mushrooms 400 g, onions - 3 pieces, salt, pepper, spice “mushrooms with grasses”, a mix of 4 peppers, cheese - 3 plates, cranberry, parsley - 100 g, sour cream - 200 g
Peel onions, pour over with boiled water and cut small. Lay out onions on a frying pan and fry. Wash field mushrooms, cut small. Lay out to mushrooms to onions and fry all to readiness. Salt fried paste and add spices with mushrooms and grasses. Cut parsley small. Wash legs, dry, salt, pepper, roll in spices. Warm up oil on a frying pan and fry poultry to golden colour. Put onion-mushroom mix in warm stewpan, add sour cream, crushed greens of parsley, mix. Take a fire-resistant dish, oil it, lay out legs. Fill in a dish with sauce. Cut cheese to small squares and spread out to dish surface in chessboard order. Put cranberries in formed apertures. Put a dish in an oven (200 degrees) and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Lay out chicken on a dish and serve. This is a very tasty and fragrant dish - we wish you bon appetit!
Well, we’ve done with a basic dish, it is time to cook salad.
D’angelo Salad
Ingredients
* 12 ounces iceberg lettuce
* 12 ounces romaine lettuce
* 1 red pepper, chopped
* 1 green pepper, chopped
* 4 slices Bacon, cooked and crumbled
* 1 cup garlic-flavored croutons
* 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
* 1/2 cup mozzarella Cheese, shredded
* 3 Anchovies
* 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon oregano
* 3/4 teaspoon pepper
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 tablespoon Sugar
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
1. Toss lettuces, peppers, Bacon, mozarella, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese into large mixing/salad bowl, set aside.
2. To prepare dressing, combine Anchovies, vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, Sugar, cornstartch, and remaining Parmesan cheese into blender.
3. Mix in blender, slowly adding 1 cup oil.
4. Refrigerate until ready to use.
5. Combine salad, croutons, and dressing, serve.
“Sunflower” salad
6 pkgs. ramen noodles (3 oz. each)
2 pkgs. slivered almonds (2 1/4 oz. each)
1 1/3 cups sunflower kernels
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups vinegar
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp. salt
10 lbs. cabbage, shredded
Break noodles into small pieces (save seasoning envelopes for another use). Place noodles, almonds and sunflower kernels in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Drizzle with butter; mix well.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring several times; set aside.
Combine oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and salt; toss with cabbage. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Stir in noodle mixture just before serving. Serve with a slotted spoon.
Yield: 66 (3/4 cup) servings
How to decorate a celebratory table?
Decorate a celebratory table with greens, you should have plenty of it on a New Year’s table, just as vegetables, fruits and grains. The house bull will not be against pies with potato and cabbage, various rolls, cheese cakes and spice-cakes.
You can decorate a table not only by means of a beautiful cloth, lacy napkins or beautiful dishes, but also by means of a winter bouquet. It is made in a few minutes. Connect artificial flowers with fresh branches of a fur-tree using a kapron thread. Run both tapes through an eyelet of a New Year’s toy and fix them together with turned out preparation from artificial flowers and fur-tree branches. You can apply the following variation of bouquet - for man use dark blue tapes, and for woman - red. Your visitors will be pleasantly surprised to a fragrant fur-tree bouquet on their plate.
Start experimenting on kitchen, and your eccentricity will be appreciated!
