Thanks to renowned Sonoma chef John McReynolds for sharing his New Year’s Eve recipes with us and creating them for use in our home kitchens. Happy New Year! – Kathleen Hill, Food & Wine Editor
This New Year’s Eve will be the first in many years that I won’t be behind the stove cooking for revelers at Café LaHaye. Instead, I will be in my own kitchen at home with a few friends and family enjoying the evening without feeling the stress.
I will take the pressure off myself a little by planning a menu that is partially prepared ahead and emphasizes food that is fun to eat. To make the evening even more festive and less formal, I will serve everything at the same time and let everyone dig in family style.
Along with fondue and crab, I will make a big salad of endive, radicchio and orange segments. I also plan to make a roasted beet salad and some marinated olives, both of which will be made ahead and served at room temperature.
Goat Cheese Fondue
Serves six
Fondue is the ultimate party dish and this goat cheese version is easy and elegant. You can skewer chunks of bread for dipping, roast some fingerling potatoes, or serve it with raw slices of fennel, celery and carrots or even apples.
1 11-ounce log fresh goat cheese
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons heavy cream
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 tablespoons minced chives
Combine goat cheese, buttermilk and cream in metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth and well blended, about five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in pepper and herbs. Serve in warmed fondue pot and get ready to dunk.
Roasted Moroccan Spiced
Dungeness Crab
Serves six
The legendary food writer James Beard proclaimed Dungeness crab to be the Pacific’s greatest blessing. For me, it would not be New Year’s Eve without this local treasure. I prefer live crabs that I boil myself, but fresh-cooked is fine.
3 cooked Dungeness crabs, cleaned and cracked, about 2 pounds each
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons Moroccan spice mixture (1 tablespoon ground coriander, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 tablespoon sweet paprika, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne)
1 cinnamon stick
2 lemons, thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Pre-heat oven to 400° F. In a medium pan, slowly cook the onions, fennel and garlic with the olive oil for 5 minutes or until softened. In a large roasting pan, toss together the crab, salt, cooked vegetables, lemons, cinnamon stick and spices. Roast 15 minutes uncovered.
Remove from oven to stovetop and pour stock and wine into pan. Reduce for 1 minute over high heat. Add butter and herbs. Toss well to make sure each piece of crab is well coated. Serve on a large platter with plenty of wet napkins and bowls for the shells. The roasting will make the shells brittle, but have a few crab crackers on hand just in case.
