Sometimes we toast the New Year with friends, and sometimes it’s just the two of us. A New Year’s Eve for two can boast more exotic ingredients, since the quantity is smaller, but can also be a more unique affair, crafted from your favorite flavors.
Here are some ideas…
Classic, Elegant, European
Sparkling crystal, fine champagne, and some world-class seafood set the tone for this celebration for two. Buy the best champagne (or sparkling wine) that suits your fancy, make some blini, and spread with sour cream and caviar. Next, serve Oysters Rockefeller on a bed of ice, followed a few seared scallops on buttered toast points. Finish your evening with tiny cream puffs while you toast 2015 with the last of your champagne.
Tiny Smoky Bites
Champagnes pair beautifully with smoky dishes, and individually-sized potato pancakes can serve as a crunchy and delicious bed for smoked trout and smoked salmon. Mini-quiches made with a fine smoked Gouda, continues the theme, followed, perhaps, by some stuffed mushrooms filled with a mixture of smoked oysters, cream cheese, and chives. Nibble on smoked nuts as you sip the last of your champagne…or Sumner Vineyards Pinot Noir
A Board of Unique Cheeses
If you’re lucky enough to live close to a good cheese shop, a board of unique cheeses that pair well with champagnes can be both delicious and out of the ordinary. Pick up a baguette of good French bread, slice thinly on the diagonal, and try some of these suggestions: Toma Reale is a mild, rich sheep’s-milk cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy. Preféré des Montagnes, is a tender, buttery cow’s-milk cheese from Jura, France. L’echiquier Mimolette — this French cow’s-milk cheese is bright pumpkin in color, with a sweet and salty flavor. Vella Dry Monterey Jack, from Sonoma California, is sharp and savory. And finally, Canut Mahón Marques, a slightly tangy, Spanish cow’s milk cheese. Wine pairing? Try a Sumner Vineyards Pinot Noir. Dessert? Mini-custards will lend a creamy finish to your evening.
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