Now, if you ever want to serve good wine, this is the night. The best bottles are brought out for le réveillon. Kitchen and cellar must work together for this annual feast. You can, and some people do, serve the same wine all during the evening—or should I say morning. For this menu I suggest the following: an aperitif, perhaps sherry, but no cocktails, please, before the oysters. A good Chablis, 1947, 1948, 1949, or 1950, or a Graves 1945, 1947, or 1948, would be my choice with the fish. Then with the tournedos, try a Chateau Cos d'Esroumel 1945, 1947, or 1948, or a Mouton-Rothschild 1947, 1948, 1949, or 1950. With the venison, I recommend a Gevrey-Chambertin 1942, 1947, 1949, or 1950 or a Clos de Vougeot 1937, 1942, or 1949 or a Chateau Haut-Brion. Finish this réveillon with champagne, and say au revoir over a good cognac.
Cocktail Sauce for Oysters
Mix together 1 cup tomato ketchup, ½ cup chili sauce, 1 tablespoon each of vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and grated horseradish, the juice of 1 lemon, ¼ teaspoon celery salt, and 5 drops of Tabasco sauce. Chill. Serve with oysters or other shellfish.
Crème Elisabeth (Cream of Chicken Soup)
Bring 6 cups chicken broth to a boil. Add gradually 2/3 cup quick-cooking tapioca, whisking constantly with a wire whip, and cook slowly for 10 minutes, or until the soup is slightly thickened and smooth. Remove the soup from the heat.
Beat 3 egg yolks and combine with 1 ¼ cups heavy cream and a little of the hot soup. Add the egg mixture slowly to the soup, stirring briskly, and cook over very low hear, stirring constantly, until the soup almost reaches the boil. Be careful not to let it boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter and ¼ cup cream and correct the seasoning with salt.
Bar Rayé de Mer an Gratin (Filet of Striped Bass au Gratin)
Remove and set aside the stems from 8 medium mushrooms. Clean the caps and cook them for about 5 minutes in water to cover with 4 or 5 drops of lemon juice. Leave the mushroom caps in the cooking liquor and set aside.
In a small saucepan melt 1 tablespoon butter and in it saute 1 tablespoon chopped shallot or onion until transparent, but not brown. Clean 6 medium or 12 small mushrooms, combine them with the reserved stems of the cooked mushrooms, and chop all together finely. Add the chopped mushrooms to the butter and shallots and cook slowly until almost all the moisture from the mushrooms is cooked away. Add 1 teaspoon chopped parsley and ½ cup brown sauce (see January, 1953), or good meat gravy or tomato sauce, and cook for a few minutes until the sauce is thoroughly combined.
Spread the bottom of an ovenproof serving dish with about half the sauce and on it place the boned and skinned filets from 5 small striped bass. Sprinkle the filets with a little salt and pepper. Drain the mushroom caps, arrange them on the filets, and cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with fine bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and about 1/3 cup white wine and bake in a moderate oven (425° F.) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the top is brown and the fish is cooked. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a few drops of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon chopped parsley.
Tournedos Rossini
Tournedos are slices cut from ¾ to 1 inch thick from a beef filet trimmed of fat and sinews. They are cut toward the end section of the filet, not toward the large center section which provides filet mignon and chateaubriand.
Cut 6 slices of goose liver about ¼ inch thick, roll the slices in flour, and saute them on both sides in hot butter or goose fat until golden brown. Sauté 6 tournedos in hot butter for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until medium rare. Arrange the tournedos on a warm serving platter with a slice of goose liver on top of each and keep warm.
Discard the fat from the pan in which the tournedos were cooked and add 2 tablespoons sweet butter, 24 thin slices of truffle, a little of the juice from the truffle can, and ¼ cup Madeira or sherry. Cook the truffles for 1 minute, stir in 1 cup brown sauce (see January, 1953) and 2 tablespoons glace de viande or meat extract, and cook the sauce until it is reduced to two-thirds its original quantity. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper and stir in another 2 tablespoons Madeira or sherry. Arrange the truffles on the goose liver and pour the sauce over all.
Endives à la Flamande
Wash 1 to 1 ½ pounds of Belgian endives in cold water and drain. Arrange the endives in a single layer in a shallow pan so that all lie in the same direction. Add ½ teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, the juice of half a lemon, 2 to 3 tablespoons butter, and ½ cup water. Bring the liquid to a boil and cover the endives with a circle of buttered wax paper with a small hole in the center to let the steam escape. Cover the pan and cook the endives in a moderate oven (375° F.) or over a slow fire for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the endives are tender. Pour the butter from the pan over the endives and serve. The butter may be mixed with a little good meat gravy if desired.
Pinterest
