Each year for the last decade or so, we’ve had the pleasure of Tex and Shelley Stevens, Dick and Tammy Keil and, until they moved to Kansas, Alan and Peggy Honey.
This is the works: a complete multiple course dinner for the purpose of indulging one of the seven deadly sins, that of gluttony. On the eve of 2001, with a major world-wide economic recession threatening, this is how we celebrated.
| Sourdough Bread | To be served especially at beginning of meal. Standard American sliced bread or even what usually passes for French bread here, which contains sugar, milk, butter or oil and egg, ill-compliments most appetizers which are themselves savory rather than sweet. |
| Eggs Mimosa | Hard-boiled egg halves filled with mayonnaise and placed on a serving tray garnished with lettuce; run yokes through garlic press over the tray. Sprinkle with fresh-ground pepper and/or minute amounts of paprika for color. See my eggs mimosa recipe. Serve with sourdough bread. |
| Tomatoes | Thinly-sliced tomatoes with finely-chopped garlic painted over them with a pastry brush. Use a bit of olive oil and mayonnaise as an excipient for the garlic appliqué if you like. Serve with sourdough bread. |
| Pasta Capellini | Cook angel hair pasta al dente and add butter and olive oil. Offer fresh-ground pepper, lemon butter, grated cashews and grated cheese (asiago, romano or parmigiano regiano). Incidentally, see Pasta Shapes 101 for an explanation of pasta shapes and sizes. |
| Prime Rib Roast | Slow cook a cross- or prime rib roast. |
| Baked Potato | For real gluttony, try jacketing the potato: after baking and before slicing it open, dip in thick, rich batter and immerse in deep-fat fryer. A less wild preparation is America's Test Kitchen's twice-baked potatoes recipe and method. |
| Broccoli | Blanche, then steam-cook thoroughly broccoli in a small amount of butter but with as little water as possible until soft. For a wilder mix, add crook-neck and courgette squashes sliced with fried bacon cooked in butter and coarse-ground pepper. A small amount of minced garlic imparts a delicious aroma. |
| Cheese | Assortment could include Camembert or Brie as well as cooked cheeses like cheddar, mozarella, colby, etc. |
| Baked Alaska | See my Baked Alaska. |
| Drink | Serve meal with festive grape juice or other fruit juice cocktail. Make water available too. |