Glam it up on a budget for New Year's Eve
December 28, 2010
Kathy Witt
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
Is it impossible to throw a glam New Year’s Eve party at home without breaking the bank? Nope. You can have quality bubbly, fine dining nibbles, elegant decor and unique flourishes even ice displays all on a budget. The secret is in a resolution to implement money-saving strategies and envy-invoking ideas.
Laura Batchelor puts her culinary degree and four-diamond party planning skills as the director of conference services at Tennessee’s famed Chattanoogan Hotel to work for her home New Year’s Eve parties.
“It’s after Christmas and no one has any money,” says Batchelor, who typically hosts with her next-door-neighbor and sister, Debbie Hull. “So instead of a sit-down dinner, we prefer mingling with lots of hors d’oeuvres.”
All the Christmas decorations are taken down and stowed except for anything silver and gold. Those ornaments are piled into big glass bowls and augmented by bags of fresh cranberries for drama. More glass bowls are filled with silver and gold noisemakers.
ICE, ICE, BABY
“The cheapest thing we do that gives the most impact is the ice luminaries,” Batchelor says.
The sisters fit containers into gallon-size jugs they’ve already filled with water and frozen. Once the smaller containers are weighted down, they fill the sides with water and add glitter and metallic decorations to reflect the light, and then freeze overnight or longer. (Find the instructions Batchelor and Hull use here.)
“Before the party, remove the weight from the inside container, add hot water so the luminaries pop right out, add a votive candle and line the walkway for a big impact,” she says.
A champagne station also makes a big splash. The centrepiece? An ice display using the same premise for the luminaries but on a larger scale. Batchelor uses oval tubs and cooking pots to make the “walls,” adds in decorations and distilled water. The ice display is then set inside the bottom of a large garbage can (covered with an old tablecloth) to catch drips.
To stretch the champagne, just add juice. Batchelor fills carafes with a variety of colourful juices pomegranate, peach nectar, orange, blood orange, acai and white grape and sits them at food stations placed around the house.
“Guests can make their own champagne cocktail,” she says.
FREE AND FABULOUS CENTREPIECES
Because many of their friends are from other parts of the world, Batchelor and her sister have created their own New Year’s Eve party traditions, including a variation of “12 grapes on a skewer,” a Spanish custom that calls for eating 12 grapes at midnight, with each one signifying a month of the year. Batchelor prefers Mexico’s twist of 12 wishes and has turned the tradition into a free, themed centrepiece. She threads 12 grapes onto each skewer; the skewers are then arranged into glass cylinder vases. At midnight, guests are invited to choose a skewer to drop into their champagne glass.
“You kiss your loved one and start making wishes.”
Another showy and edible centrepiece: cones made from metallic wrapping paper and filled with popcorn. Place filled cones into a high-sided bowl and serve with a selection of flavoured salts, poured into individually labelled shakers, like chili, cheddar, cayenne pepper, Parmesan, caramel, lime salt and butter and sea salt.
“This is a big hit because guests can flavour as they like.”
FROM HOTEL TO HOME
At a hotel, not only are there a seemingly unlimited supply of plates and a huge selection of chafing dishes, there also is a wait staff to go with them. Not so at the home party. Batchelor picks up serving pieces like Moroccan-themed appetizer plates for a song at a salvage warehouse in Chattanooga.
“They are much more elegant than paper plates, and they can be reused.”
To keep from being trapped in the kitchen, she presses fondue pots into service for warm dips and heats bricks up in the oven, wraps them in towels and places them in the bottoms of bread and roll baskets.
Batchelor also makes food labels part of the serving tablescape.
“At any party people want to know what they’re eating. Tape labels to Popsicle sticks and insert into apples or whatever is appropriate. This also adds height to the table.”
Batchelor admits she takes ideas home from The Chattanoogan, an urban chic retreat located in Chattanooga’s Southside district where every element of the five-story, 198-room haven is designed to help guests indulge and enjoy an effect you want to achieve at a home party. She has adapted ideas from the hotel’s chefs, including recipes, ideas for dippers for her chocolate fondues and serving strategies.
“All of my food is pre-made,” she says. “I heat it up and forget about it. I learned this from the chefs at The Chattanoogan.”
A favourite for Batchelor is topping pre-made pizza dough with fun ingredients like goat cheese and caramelized onions.
“Every 45 minutes I pop one in the oven, so there’s always something hot and fresh, but it’s not stressful.”
DON’T FORGET THE BUBBLY
“Whenever I think of New Year’s Eve, the first thing that comes to mind is great champagne,” says M.J. Adams, chef-owner at The Corn Exchange, a casual fine dining restaurant located in downtown Rapid City, S.D.
Inside the circa 1886 building with its exposed brick warmed up with hardwood floors, tin copper ceilings and linen-topped tables, Adams serves up specialties like pan roasted steak from nearby buffalo and beef ranches all emphasizing fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
Adams recommends Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine, as an excellent substitute for champagne.
“It is made in the same method as champagne and costs about half the price,” she says, noting she prefers Cava rose for its pretty hue of pink.
“When you see it in your glass with its tiny bubbles coming up, it’s magical.”
FINE DINING EDIBLES, AT HOME
Adams likes to pair Cava with a Spanish tapas theme that can be served at room temperature. Everything gets glammed up with cake stands, an eclectic, thrift store collection is fine, that plate food with elegance and add height to the table. Real napkins add pizzazz, too.
“Let guests get a plate and wander around the table, trying different things and nibbling along with their Cava,” she says.
Adams lays a spread meant for luxurious indulging on a budget: roasted pork loin and rolls; roasted Roma tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, cracked pepper and sea or kosher salt; olives marinated in chopped parsley, minced garlic, orange zest, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and olive oil; a veggie tray with a blue cheese dip; asparagus, served on its own or wrapped with a piece of prosciutto; baby or fingerling potatoes roasted with a sprinkling of kosher salt and chopped rosemary; and a bunch of grapes surrounded by an assortment of nuts and tangelos or clementines that have been peeled and separated.
For dessert, serve up style in the form of profiteroles, small balls of pastry filled with cream and served with chocolate sauce, or a selection of candy from a local chocolatier.
Finally, as with any party, plan a fun party favour and give guests a fun remembrance of ringing in the New Year with you. Batchelor loves black eyed peas as a party favour for her Tennessee gatherings. She and her sister save jars just for this purpose. They spray paint the lids, fill the jars with black eyed peas and attach a recipe a different one each year and finish with ribbons.
“Start off the New Year with some good luck,” she says. “It just costs a couple bags of beans.”