New Years recipe ideas on a budget

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is part three in this series and for this post I will focus on when you want to have a great celebration but you´re budget is limited. All of these recipes are really cheap to make but still taste great.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu when you´re on a budget

Appetizers - we are starting off with some simple and great tasting appetizers, pimientos de padrons, a simple hummus on toast and some nachos with an avocado mayonnaise. This actually goes really good with beer but also with some cold white wine or something sparkling.

Nachos with pepper and avocado mayonnaise
Pimientos de padron
Hummus on toast

Starter

After some great tasting appetizers I suggest a potato soup with bacon and lemon oil, this is really simple yet refined and can be prepared way ahead of time and will give you time to spend with your guests.

Potato soup with bacon and lemon oil

Main course

For the main course I´m serving lamb skewers with a tomato salsa and yoghurt, since my original recipe is served as a tapas you can add some roasted potatoes and vegetables to make a complete dish. And why not a glass of red wine on the side?

Lamb skewers with tomato salsa and lemon yoghurt

New years recipe ideas for seafood lovers

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is part two in this series and for this post I will focus on seafood.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

Seafood New Years Menu

Appetizers - to start off a great night of loads of seafood I´m serving raw oysters with grapefruit, cooked crab claws with mayonnaise and crostinis with bleak roe. These are all served cold and will go great with some Champagne.

Oysters with grapefruit, onion, chili & chives
Crab claws with aioli & salt
Roe on toast with cress and lemon crème fraiché

Starter

After some great appetizers I´m serving a cod carpaccio with capers and red onion.

Cod carpaccio with capers and red onion

Main course

Cod with fennel, champagne sauce & fresh herbs

For the main course I´m serving another cod dish, this is a cod fillet with champagne sauce, since my original recipe is served small like a tapas you can make the main course bigger and add more vegetables if you feel your guests need some extra stuff to keep them full.

New Years recipe ideas for vegetarians

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you! I will publish a few different menu ideas in the days leading up to New years eve and they will all have a theme of their own.

I´m starting off with New Years recipe ideas for all you vegetarians out there.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

Vegetarian New Years Menu

Appetizers - to start off the party I´m serving three different appetizers that can be eaten standing up preferably with a glass of champagne in one hand. They can of course also be served as a first starter at the table but I prefer to serve it with a drink while your guests are arriving.

Grilled parsnips with arugula and almond pesto
Green gazpacho with cream cheese crostini
Roasted red pepper and walnut dip on crostini

Main course

Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers and arugula
Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds and black pepper

Here you have two choices, either serve these two dishes separately or together, I quite like to serve them together because I think the beets go really well with the risotto and since you will be serving the beets cold it will be a little bit different than just roasted beets with risotto that I think most vegetarians have been served at restaurants since the start of time. You will need to serve them on separate plates or separated from each other on a big plate because otherwise the beets will color the risotto.

Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers & arugula #144

Thinly sliced with a vinaigrette, some salt and something salty is a great way to serve beets, only downside is washing away red stains from all over the kitchen once you´re done. If you can get your hands on some plastic gloves when preparing this dish then make sure you use them. 

Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers & arugula

beets

pickled capers

arugula

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

salt, pepper

lemon juice

Peel and rinse the beets to make sure there is no soil left (cause´that stuff can make you really sick). Slice the beets at thin as you can using a knife, mandolin or a potato peeler. Arrange the beets on the plates you are serving on and add some lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little bit of olive oil.

Finely chop the arugula and combine with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside. Remove the capers from their liquid and pad them dry with some paper. Deep fry the capers for about a minute, they are done once the flower opens up. Some might not open up so don´t wait too long, a minute should be enough. Also keep a safe distance from the fryer since there is always some water left in them so they might splash a little bit of oil if you´re unlucky.

Add the capers to the beets and drizzle the vinaigrette on top, serve.

Lamb fillet with herbs, lemon & goat cheese #142

Lamb fillet is a great meat and is perfect in size for serving small, if you can´t get your hands on some fillet you can change it for a bigger piece, also the recipe goes great with beef as well.

Lamb fillet with herbs, lemon & goat cheese

lamb fillet

parsley, chives, rosemary

lemon

garlic

goat cheese (chèvre)

chili

olive oil

butter

salt, pepper

Chop chili's, lemon peel, garlic and herbs into a rough paste. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and fry in butter until golden and medium rare, this goes really quickly with such a small piece of meat so be careful not to overcook it. Once done roll the meat in the herb mixture and put it back in the pan for a few seconds. This will help the herbs stuck better to the meat. Then roll it in the herbs one more time. Leave to rest, meanwhile put the goat cheese on the plate and add a little bit of olive oil. Cut the lamb into bite sized pieces and plate. Serve warm, good luck.

Brussel sprouts with hazelnuts, lemon & butter #141

Brussel sprouts are a great vegetable as long as you won´t do what your grandmother did and boil the crap out of them for an hour or so. I got my hands on some purple brussel sprouts for this recipe, they have the same color as the normal ones but look so much better, especially if they are the main attraction for a dish. If you can´t find them then just use the normal green ones.

Brussel sprouts with hazelnuts, lemon & butter

brussel sprouts

lemon

butter

hazelnuts

salt, pepper

olive oil

Remove the skin from the hazelnuts if you haven´t bought peeled ones, all you need to do is boil them for a few seconds and then you can easily remove the skin which will crumble and go soft from the boiling. Then roast them with a little bit of salt and olive oil until golden.

Cut away leafs from the brussel sprouts until you have about a handful for each serving. Rinse in cold water. Cut lemons in half and fry in butter on medium temperature until golden, this will not only look good but also flavor the butter and give the lemon a little bit of sweeter taste. Serve one half lemon for each portion. Add a little bit of extra butter and turn up the heat after you removed the lemons. Add the brussel sprouts to the butter and fry for a few seconds. You want them to be warm but almost completely raw. This gives them a great texture and remove the raw cabbage taste.

Serve immediately with the lemon and hazelnuts, add the butter that is left in the pan on top of the brussel leafs. Good luck.

Gin & Tonic Granita #140

This is probably more a drink than it is a drink but I think it´s a great way to combine the two. The idea is based on the palate cleansing granita (or granité) you sometimes may be served if you´re eating at a fine dining restaurant. Usually this is served somewhere in the middle of a long series of dishes as a little break for your senses and taste buds. Almost always the granita is high in acid and low on sugar so it´s not a dessert. Flavors that I have been offered is for example pomegranate, grapefruit, cucumber and so on.

So my idea for this is that you serve it after your regular appetizers, right before it´s time to sit down and start eating a main course, this way you´ll get some extra time to prepare, and your guests get´s an extra drink, win win.

Gin & Tonic Granita

gin

tonic

lemon

Pour the tonic into a low freeze able container and put it in the freezer, when the tonic is completely frozen remove it from the freezer and scrape the ice with a spoon. You will get a icy snow with tonic flavor, add this to a glass (as cold as possible, freeze your glasses if you have enough space) and then pour some gin on top, add some lemon cest and serve immediately.

Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds & black pepper #137

Risotto is always a good choice and I really like to serve it on it´s own, you don´t have to serve that much because most risottos are very rich. This one is slightly lighter thanks to the lemon.

Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds & black pepper

Italian arborio rice
dry white wine
Parmesan cheese
lemon
shallot onion
garlic
salt, black pepper
sugar
light chicken stock
olive oil
butter

Cut away the rind from the lemon, you´ll need all of the skin and let a little bit of the meat stay attached to the rind. Cut the rind in cubes, bring water to the boil and add the lemon rinds, let simmer for ten minutes. Then discard the water and repeat three times. This will remove most of the bitterness but will still keep a little bit of the lemon flavor. Also the remaining bitterness will give the dish great flavor and a little bit of contrast to the acidity of the lemon juice. Once the rind is cooked bring equal parts water and sugar to the boil and add the rinds together with a few drops of lemon juice. Let simmer for ten minutes and then leave to cool.

Dice garlic and shallots and add to a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Let the onions cook on low heat for five minutes, then add rice and let cook another five minutes on low heat. Turn up the heat a little bit and add a little bit of white wine and lemon juice and stir gently. Once the lemon and wine is almost gone add chicken stock a little at the time constantly stirring until the rice is almost done. You will want to keep a little bit of bite to it and the rice will keep cooking even after you remove it from the heat so be careful not to overcook it. Once the rice is almost done add a knob of butter and grated Parmesan cheese and a few drops of lemon juice.

Let the risotto rest for a few minutes and then adjust the flavors with salt, pepper, Parmesan and lemon juice if necessary. Plate the risotto and add some extra black pepper, olive oil, Parmesan and the pickled lemon rinds on top. Serve warm.

Roe on toast with cress and lemon crème fraiché #135

Good tasting roe on grilled bread with some lemon flavored crème fraiche and fresh cress to give it a bit of spice. Classic, simple, elegant and great tasting. This is very simple to make and is usually very appreciated, you can use any good tasting roe you like.

For these pictures I used lump roe wich is a really cheap one with a rough saltiness and hard pearls that pop in your mouth. It´s not the ideal roe but a great alternative when you´re on a budget. If you can afford it on your budget you can go way higher and usually the quality and taste will be adjusted with what you pay.

Roe on toast with cress and lemon crème fraiché

white bread
roe
cress
crème fraiché
lemon
salt, pepper

Cest the lemon and combine with the crème fraiché, season with salt and pepper and let sit for one hour to let the lemon taste develop. You can also add lemon juice if you want more acidity and lemon taste.

Slice the bread and grill, let the bread cool off and then spread the lemon crème fraiche on top, add a spoonful of roe on top and finish off with some fresh cut cress.

Hummus on toast #128

Hummus is one of the easiest and tastiest stuff you can serve and it goes with almost everything so if you´re preparing a buffet or need an idea for something for your guests to snack on then look no further since Hummus is loved by more or less everybody.

I use canned chickpeas for my recipe but if you like to boil you´re own then that´s fine but personally I don´t think it´s worth the effort if you´re gonna turn it into a dip in the end. I also put some smoked paprika on top when serving that is optional, it can also be replaced by some cayenne if you like a bit of heat. The tahini paste can be found in middle eastern stores but can be excluded if you can´t find it. The Hummus should be dominated by the chickpeas and all other ingredients should be used as seasoning.

Hummus on toast

canned chickpeas
tahini paste (sesame seed paste, can be excluded)
garlic
lemon juice
cumin
olive oil
salt, pepper
smoked paprika powder
parsley (for garnish)
smoked paprika (for garnish)
white bread

Open and remove the liquid from the chickpeas, add tahini paste, peeled garlic, lemon juice, cumin, olive oil, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Adjust the taste with more seasoning if needed. Toast the bread and put a spoonful of Hummus on top, add some chopped parsley and sprinkle some smoked paprika on top.

Black cabbage with lemon, Parmesan & roasted garlic #122

Black cabbage or Nero di Toscana as it´s also known as is an Italian dark green cabbage that it packed with flavor and has a great texture. Serving cabbage on it´s own is not something you see that often but it taste really good so give it a try. 

The secret behind almost all great tasting cabbage recipes is a healthy dose of butter and salt and that goes for this recipe as well. And of course this is great as a side dish to both fish or meat dishes. 

Black cabbage with lemon, Parmesan & roasted garlic

black cabbage, nero di Toscano

Parmesan cheese

garlic

olive oil

salt, pepper

lemon

Rinse and remove the thickest end piece of each leaf on the cabbage, the stem of smaller leafs are ok to eat, take a bite of a raw one and you will feel how much you need to take off. Peel and slice the garlic and heat some olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and let it get soft in the olive oil. 

Add the cabbage and butter and roast the cabbage until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Put the cabbage on a plate and squeeze lemon juice on top and grate some olive oil on top. Serve warm.

Potato soup with bacon & lemon oil #114

Potato soup can be one of the most boring things you can serve but if you add some love, bacon and lemon olive oil it will make a huge difference. Use any good tasting potato, be generous with the olive oil, cream and bacon and it will make a boring potato soup turn into a great tapas dish.

Potato soup with bacon & lemon oil

potatoes

cream

water

onion

garlic

thyme

olive oil

lemon flavored olive oil

parsley

bacon

salt, pepper

Peel and dice the potato, garlic and onion, save some onion and garlic for the bacon and add the rest to a pan with some olive oil and gently let it cook for a few minutes, add some thyme and cover with water. Let the potatoes simmer until cooked through and then add a little bit of cream. Blend the soup until smooth, you may need to thin it with some more water and cream. Season to taste and the bring it to the boil before serving.

Finely dice the bacon and fry until almost crispy in a pan, add the onion, garlic and some chopped parsley and season with some pepper. Pour the soup into cups and add the bacon and onions. Top of with a little bit of lemon oil and a few drops of cream.

Grilled mackerel with lemon & tomato salsa #113

Mackerel is not something I cook a lot, usually I buy smoked ones but fresh ones are great too but the taste and texture is quite different in comparison to white meat fishes. Make sure you don´t grill it for to long because once it´s dry it won´t be good. And if you´ve just bought some smoked mackerel then don´t worry, I´ve got a recipe for that too, just click here!

Grilled mackerel with lemon & tomato salsa 

fresh mackerel fillets

lemon

tomato

paprika

cucumber

parsley

olive oil

salt, pepper

De bone the mackerel and brush it with some olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Dice all vegetables very finely and combine, season with salt, pepper and a little bit of olive oil. Cut of the skin of the lemon and cut out the fillets and add to the salsa. Squeeze out the juice of the lemon into to salsa. 

Get your grill as hot as you can and grill the mackerel fillets, start with the skin side and flip it over when it starts to get cooked half way through. The skin have a tendency to stick (at least on my grill) but this can be solved using a thin spatula and loads of cursing, fortunately this won´t keep it from tasting great. Good luck!