Contents
- The most popular holiday dishes: Napoleon, Olivier, Vinigrette
- A few weeks before the holiday: preparing a New Year’s cake
- A week before the holiday: cook a strong broth
- A week before the holiday: choosing drinks
- A week before the holiday: we bake gingerbread cookies
- 3-4 days before the holiday: we buy poultry and vegetables
- Finish stretch: December 30 and 31, action plan
The most popular holiday dishes: Napoleon, Olivier, Vinigrette
A New Year’s party at home is a great way to spend your holiday exactly the way you want: with the music you like, with the right mood and with the right friends. There is only one “but” in this story: who will take all the trouble of preparing the New Year’s table? Woman’s Day advises: start preparing for the holiday in advance! In this case, on the holiday itself, you can relax and do something pleasant: for example, self-care.
A few weeks before the holiday: preparing a New Year’s cake
First of all, we will solve the main headache of any housewife – we will prepare a dessert. Yes, it is possible! Of course, if you are planning to put a Napoleon or Prague cake on the table, you will have to cook it on the eve of the holiday (or, more likely, buy ready-made, painfully standing in New Year’s lines at the supermarket). Our variation is Toddy’s English Christmas Pie with dried fruit soaked in hot punch. It can be prepared even a month before the celebration! Then the pie only needs to be refrigerated and soaked in a new portion of punch from time to time.
The most popular holiday dishes
Recipe:
Strongly brewed black tea – 200 ml
Whiskey – 3 tablespoons
Citrus jam – 3 tablespoons
Dried cherries – 100 g
Candied fruits (any will do) – 100 g
Dried fruits (any, to taste) – 600 g
Butter – 200 g
Fine cane sugar – 180 g
Flour – 225 g
Eggs – 4 pieces.
Zest of 1 lemon
– ½ tsp. each spice
1. Cut dried fruits, candied fruits and cherries into small pieces, put in a deep bowl, pour prepared hot tea, add whiskey and jam. Stir well and leave at room temperature for a couple of hours, stir the mixture periodically.
2. Grease a detachable baking dish well and sprinkle with flour, shaking off excess. Cut the butter into cubes and place in a bowl. Add sugar and beat the mixture with a mixer until light fluffy. Beat the eggs with a whisk in a separate bowl and add a little to the butter mixture without interrupting the whisk. Then also gradually add flour, spices and zest. Knead the resulting dough with a wooden spoon.
3. Throw the dried fruits in a colander, let stand for 5 minutes, so that the glass excess liquid – it must be saved. Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Put the fruits in small portions into the dough, stirring after each time, so that the fruits are evenly distributed. Put the finished mixture in a dish dipped in warm water with a spoon, level the surface, and put in the oven for 1 hour.
4. After this time, increase the oven temperature to 160 degrees. Bring the cake to readiness – the surface should darken, and the dough should dry out. This takes about 15 minutes more. Remove the cake from the oven and cool slightly in the form, then gently turn it onto a dish. Cool completely and soak with liquid from dried fruits.
5. On the day of the holiday, prepare the same punch as the one in which the fruits were soaked, and soak the cake with it. You can garnish the Toddy with a melted chocolate frosting.
A week before the holiday: cook a strong broth
Another important matter that can be decided in advance is the preparation of strong meat and vegetable broth: it is useful for roasting poultry and for side dishes. And in general, having a stock of broth is always very useful. Simply boil a large pot of stock beforehand, strain and freeze it in portions in plastic containers or ice bags.
Meat broth is useful for roasting poultry
A week before the holiday: choosing drinks
It is best to decide what exactly you will drink on the holiday right now: firstly, to make purchases in advance or give guests recommendations on what they should bring with them. Secondly, as a rule, when it comes to a theme party, it requires certain drinks. Well, and thirdly, two weeks before the holiday, the queues in the shops have not yet reached their climax, so for now you will have a chance to buy everything you need and not spend the whole day on it. By the way, this advice applies not only to spirits.
Buy in advance all the products that do not spoil: olives and peas in cans, ingredients for dressings, spices, etc. This will significantly help to avoid unnecessary stress on the New Year’s menu on the pre-holiday days.
Gingerbread cookies are a great addition to the gifts you give your guests
Let’s start baking gingerbread cookies, they can be stored for up to two weeks packed in tight paper bags or boxes. You can bake cookies according to the theme of the upcoming party or cut out the symbols of the coming year, it will be a great addition to the gifts that you will give to your guests.
3-4 days before the holiday: we buy poultry and vegetables
You can stuff a turkey or duck two days before the holiday, then on December 31 it will only need to be baked
If you are going to cook a New Year’s turkey or duck, purchase it at least 3 days before the holiday. In this case, you can safely take even frozen poultry: in terms of taste, it is no worse than chilled, it just takes more time. A turkey weighing 5-6 kg needs at least a day to defrost. You can stuff a turkey two days before the holiday, then on December 31 it will only need to be baked.
Around the same time, you can buy fresh vegetables that will be used for salads and side dishes. On the last day before the holiday, we will buy only fresh herbs and bread.
Finish stretch: December 30 and 31, action plan
You can relax on the 31st of December with the preparation stretched over a month
December 30:
1. Let’s cook vegetables for salads: potatoes, carrots, beets. To simplify the process, they can be peeled and diced beforehand.
2. Greens and vegetables that do not need heat treatment, as well as fruits, just need to be washed in advance.
3. On the same day, you can prepare all the dressings and sauces, pour into plastic containers, cover with cling film and put in the refrigerator.
December 31:
You may be surprised, but thanks to the preparation stretched over a month, you have practically no work left for today. Rather nice finishing touches.
1. To be in time for the chimes, the turkey or duck must be baked a few hours before the holiday (the exact time depends on the weight of the bird).
2. An hour and a half before dinner, prepare and put in the oven potato gratin – this will be our main side dish for poultry.
3. Immediately before dinner, combine the ingredients for salads prepared the day before and pour with the dressing.