Each year, we gather with a small group of dear friends — the same cast, year after year, with rare new invites — for an intimate New Year’s Eve dinner. It’s a great excuse to let my creativity run wild with expensive and rare ingredients my wife wouldn’t normally let me buy. Indeed, my friends have come to expect as much.
Here, without further ado, are some highlights of the 12 courses from our 2010/11 New Year’s Eve dinner. Enjoy…
Mise en place
Yellowtail sashimi with spicy lemon aioli, wasabi flying fish roe, crispy garlic and chervil salad
Yellowtail sashimi with spicy lemon aioli, wasabi flying fish roe, crispy garlic and chervil salad
Garlic soft shell crab with roasted shimeji mushrooms and sakura denbu
“Duck clouds” — Rillettes with white truffles, plum sauce and truffle scallion potato mousse
Quail breast medallions, crispy wonton, savoy cabbage and Clementine ginger reduction
Duck liver paté ravioli with mashed Kyoto sweet potato, demi glace butter and shoga ginger
Proscuitto di Parma with winter melon and Calpico gels, sugar shards and pickled garlic
Hickory-smoked five spice baby back ribs with "kim chi" red cabbage chiffonade
Dark chocolate-draped madeleines with coffee whipped cream
The cook
skinny girls & mayonnaise 
Jan 03, 2011 @ 16:18:36
Gorgeous Seamus. One day we’ll make it to this dinner, I’m sure. Looks as nice as I’ll bet it tasted. Like eating art . . .
Jan 03, 2011 @ 17:30:00
Wow! Another dazzler. I bet no one makes excuses for this invitation.
Jan 03, 2011 @ 18:13:46
COOK??? I don’t THINK so. More like MASTER CHEF OF THE CORDON BLEU, if you ask me!
Happy New Year!
T L
Jan 03, 2011 @ 21:27:21
Jeeeeeezzzzzz….I want to be invited!!! I did nothing that night!
Jan 04, 2011 @ 04:39:33
I’m a good cook and my friends know it….they wouldn’t even know what this food is….OMG….what does that say about me….maybe I should start a blog for people at my level….
Dude, you are the guy! Nobody is better than you when it comes to cooking and plating…
Jan 04, 2011 @ 14:47:34
LOL I went a little off the deep end with some of my weird ingredients this time. “Calpico” is a Japanese soda, sakura denbu is dried, powdered cod that’s dyed pink. etc. I try to keep the blog pretty accessible. But New Year’s Eve is my one show off time! ; )
Jan 11, 2011 @ 21:27:51
Wow – I just saw this Sean. This is a feast for the eyes. You’re incredible, man. I would need to get started now in order to make this for new year’s ’11.