Gill Books 12 Feasts of Christmas: New Year’s Eve Party Food

The Gill Books 12 Feasts of Christmas celebrates the festive season with twelve feasts featuring recipes from our wonderful authors. Recipes that will impress the visitors, sustain you, make the children smile, help you survive after overindulgence, celebrate in style and most importantly, taste delicious. Here we share party recipes that are perfect for New Year’s Eve celebrations!

Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook: Smoked salmon and crab tian

Thank Heaven For Neven! Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook will be A lifesaver in every family’s kitchen. This smoked salmon and crab tian looks really impressive and it’s perfect if you are time poor.

This is the perfect quick starter for any special occasion. It relies on good-quality ingredients but looks absolutely stunning and takes very little time to prepare. You could also use cooked peeled prawns or even lobster instead of the crab, but personally I think crab is the winner.

350g (12oz) smoked salmon strips
2 firm, ripe avocados
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and diced
1 tbsp snipped fresh chives, plus extra to garnish
a little extra virgin olive oil
dash of balsamic vinegar
350g (12oz) fresh white crab meat
4 tbsp crème fraîche
1 tbsp mayonnaise (page 223 of Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook or shop-bought)
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
baby salad leaves, to serve (optional)
brown wheaten bread (page 260 of Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook)

to serve

Place 4 x 8cm (3¼in) cooking rings in the centre of serving plates and arrange half of the smoked salmon strips in the bottom of each one, cutting them down to size as necessary.

Cut the avocados in half and remove the stones, then peel and cut each half into slices. Put a nice overlapping layer of avocado slices on top of the salmon.

Make a quick tomato salsa with the tomatoes and chives and dress with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then season with salt and pepper. Use to cover the avocado, then add another layer of the smoked salmon, using it all up. Cover with the crab in a nice even layer.

Mix together the crème fraîche and mayonnaise with the dill and place a quenelle on each tian, then garnish with chives and scatter some small baby salad leaves dressed with the olive oil around the edges of the plates, if liked. Serve immediately with some slices of brown wheaten bread.

Natural Born Feeder: Chicken Satay Skewers

This chicken satay skewers recipe from the No. 1 bestseller Natural Born Feeder by Rozanna Purcell is tasty and much healthier than your average take-away satay. Roz’s approach to cooking is simple: use whole foods to live a whole life.

If a dish has peanut butter in it, I’m in! I used to order satay a lot when I was out for dinner or getting a cheeky take-away. My version of the sauce is much healthier, so you can drizzle lots on. The take-away never gives you enough sauce anyway!

MAKES 4 SKEWERS

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, plus extra to garnish
1 garlic clove, minced
2.5cm piece of fresh root
ginger, peeled and chopped
160g raw peanuts
½ tbsp curry powder
½ x 400ml tin of full-fat coconut milk
1 tbsp tamari
1–2 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of sea salt
2 chicken fillets, cut into strips

Gluten-free and Dairy-free

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Heat the toasted sesame oil in a saucepan over a low heat. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for just 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the peanuts and curry powder and cook for 2–3 minutes before pouring in the coconut milk and tamari and giving it a good stir. Stir in 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt, then taste it to see if you want to add 1 more tablespoon of maple syrup if you’d like it to be a bit sweeter.

Pour into a blender or use a hand-held blender and blitz until it’s a smooth sauce.

Thread the chicken strips onto four metal skewers and place on a baking tray or in a baking dish. Pour half of the satay sauce over the chicken and cook in the oven for 25 minutes, until golden all over and cooked through.

Meanwhile, put the remaining satay sauce into a small saucepan and gently heat it through. When the skewers come out of the oven, pour the sauce over as a dressing and serve with a little finely chopped chilli scattered on top.

Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook: Sticky honey, soy and sesame cocktail sausages

These sticky honey, soy and sesame cocktail sausages from Neven Maguire’s Complete Family Cookbook are a real crowd pleaser, perfect for a New Year’s Eve party!

I never seem to be able to make enough of these. Fortunately, they take just minutes to make and seconds to demolish. You have been warned! Don’t forget to hand around a separate dish for used cocktail sticks.

SERVES 4–6

20 cocktail sausages, about 350g
(12oz) in total
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/gas mark 6).

Place the sausages in a single layer in a non-stick roasting tin. Mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce and honey in a bowl and pour over the sausages, turning to coat.

Bake the sausages for 20 minutes, then drain off any excess fat and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Cook for another 15 minutes, until golden and sticky.

To serve, arrange on a warmed plate skewered with cocktail sticks.

The Cultured Club: Tomato Salsa

Turn simple ingredients into superfoods with Dearbhla Reynolds’ fermentation recipes. In her first book, The Cultured Club, fermentation expert Dearbhla Reynolds teaches you how to turn simple ingredients into superfoods by using one of the world’s oldest methods of food preservation.

The Cultured Club salsa has reached a level of local fame simply because it’s so delicious. This salsa is alive – you won’t be disappointed. To me, the lively tang of fermentation suggests that this is what salsa should taste like. A huge added bonus is that your efforts in prepping all the ingredients are preserved. For all the times that you have been outcast because of your fermenting addiction, the most unconvinced family member or friend will be pleasantly surprised by this one!

MAKES 1 X 1-LITRE JAR

8–10 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 red or green peppers, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1–2 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1 lime
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2 tsp fine sea salt (add more if needed)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch of smoked paprika

This is an easy one. Simply mix together all the ingredients in a bowl, then pack into a clean 1-litre jar, making sure you leave 2.5cm of headspace at the top of the jar.

Close the lid and allow to ferment for at least three days at room temperature. Salsas have always been one of the more lively ferments and it makes a lot of noise. As the carbon dioxide escapes it brings some of that lovely juice with it, so place the jar on a dish to collect the juice and open it with care (although personally, I don’t mind being covered in salsa juice).

Once it’s ready, transfer to the fridge. It will keep for at least six months once opened. This salsa is perfect served with crackers, fruit and a selection of cheese.

We hope that you found some inspiration for your New Year’s Eve celebrations! Happy feasting to you and yours, stay tuned for more fantastically festive recipes. Follow us @GillBooks on Twitter, @gillbooks on Instagram and like us on Facebook for the latest author news.