Do you think it’s the right time to publish the New Year’s Eve menu? Yeah, I know it already passed. But I look at all those bloggers who publish all Festive recipes starting from October – and I just wonder how do they manage to do that? I can hardly wrap my head around all the preparations going on not to mention the blog. So, yeah, sorry, I am late. But there are going to be other holidays and parties, right? And fish menu is always a good choice.
Pan fried scallops with brie cheese and raspberry sauce
There will be several recipe cards in this post. You can print all of them or choose the one you need.
Crostini with salmon home cured in beetroot and orange brine
This menu consists of two starters (cold and hot), a main dish, which is salmon en croute, but slightly different and a cocktail. I will publish the recipe for the matching desert separately. The benefit of this menu is that it’s really easy to expand it or to shrink for as many people as you want. If you’re having a large gathering – buy a whole salmon and use one side for curing (it will make a lot of crostini and you’ll have some salmon left- it’ll keep nicely in the fridge) and the other side for en croute. You can buy an already boned side from Marks&Spencer – they often have a deal on it.
- 300 g salmon fillet
- 1 fresh beetroot, grated
- 40-50 g sea salt flakes
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Zest of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp cognac
- 1 tbsp chopped dill
- Bread
- 50 g of Philadelphia cheese
- A bunch of dill
- Cured salmon
- Mix all the ingredients for curing in a bowl.
- Spread the solids of the mixture on the both sides of skinless boneless salmon fillet.
- Put the salmon into a zip-lock bag. Add the remaining liquid mixture. Zip the bag, leaving as little air as possible.
- Leave the bag in the fridge for 24 hours ( flip it once to get a more even colour).
- Cut and toast the bread on the grill settings in the oven. 3 minutes should be enough.
- Spoon a little cream cheese onto the bread, cover with slices of salmon and decorate with small springs of dill.
- 10-12 raw scallops
- 100-150 g fresh raspberries
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 70-100 g Brie cheese
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil for frying
- Thyme for decorating
- 10-12 Bamboo cocktail sticks
- Choose 10-12 nice and firm raspberries and reserve for later.
- Put the rest of it into the pan with 1 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of sugar. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat to minimum and cook for 5 minutes. Push it through a sieve to get rid of seeds.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. Add the butter.
- Pat dry the scallops and put them in the hot pan. Fry for 40 sec per side. No salt needed.
- Transfer the scallops onto a paper towel and let rest for 2-3 minutes.
- Assemble the canapes on a cocktail stick starting with raspberry and finishing with scallop.
- 1000 g salmon fillet (Whole side)
- 150 g cranberries
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 200 g white crab meat
- 200 g small peeled prawns
- 1 egg + 1 egg for brushing
- Few sprigs of Thyme
- 800 g puff pastry (you can use ready made or use the recipe is below)
- 400 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 350 g cold butter, cubed
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 200 ml cold water
- Skin the salmon and season it well with salt on both sides. Let rest.
- Heat cranberries and sugar with one tbsp of water until all berries pop. Remove from fire and leave to chill.
- Mix together crab, prawns, cranberry sauce and 1 egg.
- Roll the pastry into a large rectangle enough to wrap the salmon. Put the salmon in the middle of pastry. Tuck the tail end and the thin part of belly to make the fillet as even as possible. Push the salmon towards the middle with your hands to make it thicker. Cover it with crab and prawn mixture. Sprinkle with thyme leaves.
- Cut the pastry on the both sides of salmon into 1" stripes, so it forms a fringe. Wrap the fringe stripe by stripe over the salmon as if you are making a braid. Tuck the edges.
- Brush the top with lightly beaten egg. Bake at 220°С for 25-35 minutes depending on the thickness. If you have a thermometer aim for 45-50°С inside the thickest part of salmon.
- 30 ml vanilla vodka (put 3 vanilla pods into a bottle of vodka and let steep for 2-3 days)
- 60 ml Baileys
- 60 ml whole milk
- Ice, shaker, sugar and a lemon wedge.
- Mix milk with spirits in the shaker half full with ice. And shake well.
- Wet the edge of the glass with lemon wedge and deep it in sugar to make a nice "frosty" edge.
- Pour the cocktail into the glass. Serve immediately.
