Vegetarian New Year’s Eve Menu

It’s time for another night with family and friends to celebrate the end of the year and to welcome the new. To help you out with what to eat we have made some menus that works perfect for new year’s eve. Let’s start with a Vegetarian New Year’s Eve Menu.

This menu is vegetarian and it starts with three different small bites and then there is a two part main course. I left out desserts so that is up to you to decide. Below is the full menu with the recipe for each one, good luck and happy new year!

Appetizers

Grilled parsnips with arugula and almond pesto
Green gazpacho with cream cheese crostini
Roasted red pepper and walnut dip on crostini

Main course

Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers and arugula
Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds and black pepper

Grilled parsnips with arugula and almond pesto

serves 4

4 Parsnips
75g / 2,5 oz almonds
50g / 1,8 oz manchego cheese
2 cloves of garlic
50 g / 1,8 oz arugula
3 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil
salt, pepper
olive oil

Peel and cut the parsnips lengthwise, toss in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until almost cooked through.

Blend almonds, garlic, arugula for a few seconds. Add the cheese and oil and season with salt and pepper. You might have to adjust the oil if the pesto is too thick. Put a spoonful of pesto on each parsnip.

Green gazpacho with cream cheese crostini

The classic Spanish Gazpacho soup is a must for me at least once a week throughout the summer, this version is made using only green vegetables except for the tomatoes which are yellow. The flavor gets a bit different but equally good and fresh. Now serving a cold soup for New Year’s Eve might sound weird but together with the other two it works really great.

Green gazpacho with cream cheese crostini

serves 6-8

1 cucumber
2 green peppers
2 green chili, jalapeno or other, seeds removed
4 yellow or green tomatoes
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
2 slices of white bread
salt, black pepper
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 small baguette
4 tbsp cream cheese

Cut all vegetables into pieces, add the white bread and splash over vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let sit out for half an hour to let the vegetables marinate.

Blend the vegetables into a soup, season with extra vinegar, oil, salt and pepper if necessary. Cut bread into thin slices and toast, spread on some cream cheese. Serve the soup ice cold.

Roasted red pepper and walnut dip on crostini

serves 4-6

2-3 red peppers
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 handful of walnuts + some extra as garnish
1 small baguette
1 a few leaves of parsley
salt, pepper
smoked paprika powder

Brush the red peppers with the vegetable oil and roast on high heat in the oven for about ten minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then deseed and peel the peppers. Blend the peppers with olive oil, walnuts, garlic and parsley until it´s a rough paste. Remove from the blender and season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika powder.

Slice the bread and roast in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Add the pepper dip to the crostini and decorate with a walnut on each crostini.

Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers and arugula

Thinly sliced with a vinaigrette, some salt and something salty is a great way to serve beets, only downside is washing away red stains from all over the kitchen once you’re done. If you can get your hands on some plastic gloves when preparing this dish then make sure to use them.

Beet carpaccio with deep fried capers & arugula

serves 4-6

6-8 beets
4 tbsp pickled capers
50g / 1,8 oz arugula
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper
lemon juice

Peel and rinse the beets to make sure there is no soil left (cause´that stuff can make you really sick). Slice the beets at thin as you can using a knife, mandolin or a potato peeler. Arrange the beets on the plates you are serving on and add some lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little bit of olive oil.

Finely chop the arugula and combine with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside. Remove the capers from their liquid and pad them dry with some paper. Deep fry the capers for about a minute, they are done once the flower opens up. Some might not open up so don’t wait too long, a minute should be enough. Also keep a safe distance from the fryer since there is always some water left in them so they might splash a little bit of oil if you’re unlucky.

Add the capers to the beets and drizzle the vinaigrette on top, serve.

Lemon risotto with pickled lemon rinds and black pepper

serves 4

200g / 7 oz Italian arborio rice
2 dl dry white wine
50 g / 1,8 oz Parmesan cheese
2 lemons
2 shallot onions
2 cloves garlic
salt, black pepper
2 dl sugar
2 dl water
1 l / 35 oz light vegetable stock
olive oil
butter

Cut away the rind from the lemon, you’ll need all of the skin and let a little bit of the meat stay attached to the rind. Cut the rind in cubes, bring water to the boil and add the lemon rinds, let simmer for ten minutes. Then discard the water and repeat three times. This will remove most of the bitterness but will still keep a little bit of the lemon flavor. Also the remaining bitterness will give the dish great flavor and a little bit of contrast to the acidity of the lemon juice. Once the rind is cooked bring equal parts water and sugar to the boil and add the rinds together with a few drops of lemon juice. Let simmer for ten minutes and then leave to cool.

Dice garlic and shallots and add to a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Let the onions cook on low heat for five minutes, then add rice and let cook another five minutes on low heat. Turn up the heat a little bit and add a little bit of white wine and lemon juice and stir gently. Once the lemon and wine is almost gone add chicken stock a little at the time constantly stirring until the rice is almost done.

You will want to keep a little bit of bite to it and the rice will keep cooking even after you remove it from the heat so be careful not to overcook it. Once the rice is almost done add a knob of butter and grated Parmesan cheese and a few drops of lemon juice.

Let the risotto rest for a few minutes and then adjust the flavors with salt, pepper, Parmesan and lemon juice if necessary. Plate the risotto and add some extra black pepper, olive oil, Parmesan and the pickled lemon rinds on top. Serve warm.

New Year’s Menus at Ateriet

We’ve rounded up some of our favorite recipes and created a few different menus based on different themes. We’ve left out the desserts and focused on the starters and main courses. Most of the recipes are served in small bites but they are all easily scaled up to work great as main courses. You can check out all of the menus under our tag New Year’s at Ateriet.

If you recognise some of these recipes they have been posted before on my previous food website Delicious Tapas and some of them have been featured here at Ateriet before. Happy New Year!