NEW YEAR’S DAY

A Party for Twenty

Green Salad

Vanilla Ice Cream

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!

I invite friends for lunch every year for New Year’s Day. Entertaining on New Year’s Day doesn’t have any of the pressure of New Year’s Eve, and we always have a terrific time. We each have the assignment to bring two of our favorite scenes from films. We rent videos and fast-forward them to the beginning of the scenes we love, then we all spend a lazy afternoon in front of the television watching movies. It’s one of my favorite parties of the year.

For a party like this, I serve the kind of relaxed food you would have for an open house, so when people arrive they can help themselves from the buffet in the kitchen, then join us in the study to watch movies. Two large stockpots filled with soup are simmering on the stove: seafood chowder and butternut squash and apple soup, plus a rich fennel soup gratin warming in the oven. I put out a buffet of wonderful room-temperature things to eat, such as baked Virginia ham, cranberry fruit conserve, a big tossed green salad, and a wooden board with farmhouse Cheddar, English Stilton, and fresh breads. Dessert is a warm old-fashioned apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.

All year, I keep a running list of the scenes I want to watch. Some are funny, such as the scene from The Graduate when Mrs. Robinson tries to seduce Dustin Hoffman; some are harrowing, like the scene on the train from Julia when the Nazis check Lillian Hellman’s passport; and some are charming, like Tom Cruise playing “air guitar” in Risky Business after his parents leave town. The fireplace is glowing, friends are arriving, and because absolutely everything can be done before the guests arrive, I’m as relaxed as I would be at someone else’s party. I cherish this afternoon every year, and I hope you love making this party for your friends, too.

SEAFOOD CHOWDER

MAKES 3 QUARTS

Parker and Paul Hodges make this soup at Barefoot Contessa. It takes longer than most of our recipes, but it is really worth it. It’s hearty enough to serve alone as lunch or for dinner with bread and a salad.

1 pound	large shrimp (32 to 36 per pound), peeled and deveined (save shells for stock)
½ pound	scallops
½ pound	monkfish
½ pound	fresh lump crabmeat, picked over to remove shells
¼ pound	unsalted butter
1 cup	peeled and medium-diced carrots (4 carrots)
½ cup	medium-diced yellow onion (1 onion)
1 cup	medium-diced celery (3 stalks)
1 cup	medium-diced small white or red potatoes
½ cup	corn kernels, fresh or frozen
¼ cup	all-purpose flour
1 recipe	Seafood Stock (recipe follows)
1½ tablespoons	heavy cream (optional)
2 tablespoons	minced parsley
	Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the shrimp, scallops, and monkfish into bite-sized pieces and place them in a bowl with the crabmeat.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter; add the carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, and corn and sauté over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are barely cooked, stirring occasionally. Add the flour; reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the Seafood Stock and bring to a boil. Add the seafood; reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 7 to 10 minutes, until the fish is just cooked. Add the heavy cream, if desired, and the parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

This recipe can easily be doubled.

Clam juice won’t work as a substitute for the stock here, but your fish store may sell a good seafood stock that will.

SEAFOOD STOCK

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART

You can make this stock in advance; it freezes beautifully.

2 tablespoons	good olive oil
	Shells from 1 pound large shrimp
2 cups	chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2	carrots, unpeeled and chopped
3 stalks	celery, chopped
2	garlic cloves, minced
½ cup	good white wine
⅓ cup	tomato paste
1 tablespoon	kosher salt
1½ teaspoons	freshly ground black pepper
10	sprigs fresh thyme, including stems

Warm the oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery and sauté for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add 1½ quarts of water, the white wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve, pressing the solids. You should have approximately 1 quart of stock. You can make up the difference with water or wine if you need to.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLE SOUP

MAKES 3½ QUARTS

This is my all-time favorite soup, and it’s good for you. It’s a vegetarian variation of a popular soup from The Silver Palate Cookbook and is one of the best-selling soups at Barefoot Contessa. The creamy butternut squash and sweet apples balance the spicy curry.

2 tablespoons	unsalted butter
2 tablespoons	good olive oil
4 cups	chopped yellow onions (3 large)
2 tablespoons	mild curry powder
5 pounds	butternut squash (2 large)
1½ pounds	sweet apples, such as McIntosh (4 apples)
2 teaspoons	kosher salt
½ teaspoon	freshly ground black pepper
2 cups	good apple juice or cider

Warm the butter and olive oil in a large stockpot over low heat. Add the onions and curry powder and cook, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup through a food mill fitted with a large blade, or puree it coarsely in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the apple juice and enough water to make the soup the consistency you like; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot.

FENNEL SOUP GRATIN

SERVES 6 TO 8

I love French onion soup with its deliciously gooey topping of melted cheese, and I also love the flavor of sautéed fennel, so I tried them together. It turned out to better than I expected. I gave the flavor a little extra help with a splash of Pernod at the end. This soup is also good as a winter lunch with a big green salad and fresh fruit for dessert.

¼ pound	unsalted butter
8 cups	thinly sliced fennel (2 large bulbs)
8 cups	thinly sliced yellow onions (4 large onions)
1½ teaspoons	minced fresh thyme leaves
¼ cup	brandy
½ cup	medium-dry sherry
½ cup	good white wine
8 cups	good chicken stock
1 tablespoon	kosher salt
1 teaspoon	freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup	Pernod
16 slices	crusty French bread
¾ pound	Gruyère cheese, grated

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the fennel, onions, and thyme and sauté for 20 to 25 minutes, until the onions and fennel are very tender and caramelized. (You can add a little water if it starts to stick.) Deglaze the pan by adding the brandy; reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the sherry and white wine and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, salt, and pepper and continue to cook, uncovered, for another 15 minutes. Add the Pernod and cook for 5 more minutes. Check for salt and pepper.

Preheat the broiler.

Ladle the soup into 6 to 8 ovenproof bowls and place 1 or 2 slices of French bread and a handful of Gruyère cheese on top of each bowl. Place the bowls on a baking sheet and slide them under the broiler for 3 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbly, and serve.

Pernod is anise-flavored liqueur from France.

BAKED VIRGINIA HAM

SERVES 20, WITH LEFTOVERS

This is so good and so easy! I included this recipe in my first book, but it’s such a party staple for me that I had to make sure you had it handy for this buffet. Use leftovers to make ham and chutney sandwiches. Choose the best-quality smoked ham you can find; buy a spiral-cut ham or have the butcher slice and retie a whole ham.

1	fully cooked spiral-cut smoked ham (14 to 16 pounds)
6	garlic cloves, peeled
¾ cup	good mango chutney (8½ ounces)
½ cup	Dijon mustard
1 cup	light brown sugar, packed
	Zest of 1 orange
¼ cup	freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the ham on a heavy roasting pan.

Mince the garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the chutney, mustard, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice and process until smooth. Pour the glaze over the ham and bake for 1 hour, or until the ham is fully heated and the glaze is well browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont, sells a delicious spiral-cut ham.

I use Major Grey’s chutney.

CRANBERRY FRUIT CONSERVE

MAKES 4 CUPS

This is a variation of my favorite Craig Claiborne recipe from The New York Times Cookbook. I’ve been making it since I was married in 1968. For the holidays at Barefoot Contessa, we offer it with or without nuts, and almost everyone orders it. It’s great in turkey sandwiches all winter long.

1	12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, cleaned
1¾ cups	sugar
1	Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
	Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
	Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
¾ cup	raisins
¾ cup	chopped walnuts or pecans

Cook the cranberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the skins pop open. Add the apple, zests, and juices and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the raisins and nuts. Let cool, and serve chilled.

An excellent zester called a rasp makes zesting a breeze. It’s available from Martha by Mail.

OLD-FASHIONED APPLE CRISP

SERVES 10

The oatmeal in the crust gives this crisp a homey texture. I assemble this early in the day and put it in the oven just before everyone arrives so the house smells wonderful all through the party. Make two for a crowd.

5 pounds	McIntosh or Macoun apples
	Grated zest of 1 orange
	Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons	freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons	freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup	granulated sugar
2 teaspoons	ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon	ground nutmeg
	FOR THE TOPPING
1½ cups	all-purpose flour
¾ cup	granulated sugar
¾ cup	light brown sugar, packed
½ teaspoon	kosher salt
1 cup	oatmeal
½ pound	cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 × 14 × 2-inch oval baking dish.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the dish.

To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

Place the crisp on a sheet pan and bake for one hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.