All about Eve

Orange Prosecco cocktails and  Green olive Portuguese petiscos

Fasten your seat belts it´s gonna be a bumpy night.New Years Eve always is, but if you are doing the hosting, the last thing you need is a bumpy ride. Good hosts keep glasses full and appetites satiated without breaking into a sweat, so don your black tie or little black dress and pinny and get ready to expect the unexpected.

Start as you mean to go on...with

Orange Prosecco cocktails 

and  Green olive Portuguese petiscos

serves 8

160ml Orange licore,Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao

if you prefer lemon you can substitute Limoncello

1 tray of ice cubes frozen with a small slice of orange or lemon in each cube

Bottle prosecco

Pour 20ml Orange Licore into 8 Champagne flutes, 
add 2-3 ice cubes and top with prosecco

FOR THE GREEN OLIVE PETISCOS

120g parmesan,finely grated

150g(1 cup) plain flour

150g chilled butter chopped

Pinch dried chilli flakes

30 pimento-stuffed green queen-sized olives
Rosemary sprigs and papa de milho (polenta) to garnish

Process the parmesan,flour butter and chilli in a food processor until mixture comes together.Shape1/2 tablespoons of the mixture into balls,make indents in the centres and place the olives in the hollows.Press the dough over the olives to cover, stick rosemary sprigs in the tops and scatter with papa de milho (polenta). Freeze for 2 hours until ready to bake.Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC. Place the prepared olives on a paper-lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool

Be the toast of the town....with these

Smoked fish fairy toasts
Very finely slice day old bread and put on a baking tray to dry out.Keep the oven on a very low heat and keep checking to ensure the bread does not burn.While the bread is toasting beat one teaspoon of sugar in a bowl with 1 level teaspoon Dijon mustard. Add 6ml of white wine vinegar 125ml extra virgin olive oil a pinch of sea salt and chopped coriander or dill.Beat together well into a thick gloopy dressing.spread a little dressing on each piece of toast and top with a slither of smoked salmon.Teaspoon a little more dressing over the salmon and serve.Top with sprigs of coriander or dill.

Make sure your dinner jacket fits the occasion....with these

Small jacket potatoes and assorted fillings

Small Cara or Estima potatoes,washed 

Pre-heat oven to 220ºC.Place potatoes in a bowl,sprinkle with 1 tablespoon water,then season generously with sea salt and plce on a baking tray.bake for 45 minutes  to 1 hour or until centres are very soft and skins browned and crisp. While hot, cut a slit in the top of each potato and squeeze slightly to open.Top each with a heaped teaspoon of a selected filling.

Egg and Avocado

2 soft boiled eggs,finely chopped

2 ripe avocados mashed

lime juice

Flor de sal

ground black pepper

Scoop the flesh from the avocados into a bowl add plentiful Flor de sal and mash with a fork adding enough lime juice to give you a thick dropping consistency.Add the boiled eggs and stir to mix.Taste and add pepper and more flor de sal until the mix has a salty taste.

Waldorf salad

According to the American Century Cookbook, the first Waldorf Salad was created in New York City in 1893, by the maître d'hôtel of the Waldorf Astoria. The original recipe consisted only of diced red-skinned apples, celery, and mayonnaise, with chopped walnuts later added. An alternative to using mayonnaise is to make this classic with yoghurt.

Chilli Con carne
This Heston Blumenthal take on chilli  has now become my all time favourite,original,sublime a little time consuming but makes loads to allow a quantity to be put in the freezer for further enjoyment. The butter is to die for.

Other suggestions..

Tuna lime coriander

Cranberry and Brie

Chopped Pequillo peppers and tuna

The chilli and Waldorf salad can be made in sufficient quantities to be main dishes

as well as topping for the potatoes.For the chilli give your guests tortilla wrapas and sour cream or creme fraiche.Keep the chilli on the cooker on a low light