PHOENIX — Want to put together a New Year’s Eve dinner at home that tastes like it’s from a restaurant?
Chef Jorge Gomez from the Humble Bistro helped the ABC15 Smart Shopper team put together a spread that allows for creativity and a mixture of flavors.
For an appetizer, don’t overthink it.
“Bread is always something good,” Chef Gomez said. “Bread with butter, bread with parmesan. It’s a beautiful start.”
Rather than baking the bread from scratch, fresh baguettes, loaves of sourdough or rosemary and olive oil rounds are available at local grocery stores for under $5.
For a mix of tastes and textures throughout the evening, Chef Gomez suggested preparing a charcuterie board.
“A lot of people think that it’s too expensive to do a charcuterie board because [they think] ‘I need really expensive cheeses, really expensive meats.’ It’s not really about that,” Chef Gomez said. “It’s about the different flavors and components you put in, right?”
The Bistroboard at Humble Bistro has, among its many ingredients, cauliflower tahini, grilled artichokes, whipped ricotta with chili honey, and poached wild mushrooms with extra virgin olive oil. But according to Chef Gomez, it’s all about the ability to experiment with different meats, cheeses, vegetables and dips.
Seafood and steak-based main courses are popular on New Year’s Eve, according to Chef Gomez. He whipped up mussels in a cioppino sauce, which is made up of chili red sauce, garlic confit, citrus zest, fresh parsley, chili flakes, salt, and extra virgin olive oil.
But making a restaurant-quality meal is achievable with items from the grocery store, Chef Gomez said.
“They have mussels already cooked that you can just put in a pan, sauté , add your own sauce,” he said.
To get the extra flavor, “Add your own twist,” he said. “A little lemon, a little olive oil, a little bit of marinara sauce. Maybe [put] some cheese in it. Super simple.”
When it comes to wine or champagne pairings, the chef’s orders were simple.
“There’s no real rules about pairing certain wines, certain Proseccos, or certain champagnes,” Chef Gomez said. “It all depends on your palette.”
Friday, our Smart Shopper team will follow up with Shamarah Reid, a bartender at the Humble Bistro, to learn about the best ways to serve champagne at a New Year’s Eve extravaganza. She also shares what she’ll be sipping when midnight hits.