Auld Style

Whether you're bidding farewell to a year you're thrilled to leave behind or looking back wistfully (and ahead with excitement), end with something over the top. Smoked salmon, caviar, truffles, and all the luxurious cuts of meat are obvious choices for a New Year's dinner. While the bubbly is flowing, begin a dinner at home with an elegant stack of crisp potatoes and smoked salmon or offer each guest a ramekin with a baked egg topped with caviar. Risotto, the creamy rice dish that makes any home cook look like an accomplished chef, can go to the table with aromatic porcini - or add shaved truffles, if you're lucky enough to afford them. The courses that follow might include roast lamb or pan-seared steaks. End with lots of chocolates. However you feel in the last hours of the year, at least you'll bow out with style.

POTATO MILLE-FEUILLE WITH SMOKED SALMON
SERVES 8

Holly Safford, owner of The Catered Affair in Hingham, offers this first course, a riff on the crisp layered French pastry mille-feuille. Here, thinly sliced baking potatoes and smoked salmon form the layers. Safford deep-fries the potatoes, but we found they work well roasted in a hot oven. We tried them peeled and unpeeled, and we liked them both ways.

Olive oil (for the pan and for sprinkling)
4 large russet potatoes Salt, to taste
1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or parsley
1 scallion, finely chopped Grated rind of 1 lemon
6 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon

Set the oven at 450 degrees. Generously oil 2 large rimmed baking sheets.

Using a mandoline or another hand-held slicing machine, thinly slice 2 of the potatoes lengthwise. Set the slices on the baking sheets without overlapping. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Turn and brush the other side with oil, then sprinkle with salt.

Roast the potatoes for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Use a metal palette knife to slide under the slices and dislodge them.

Carefully turn the slices and return them to the oven. Continue roasting for 10 minutes or until golden, checking the slices often so they do not burn. Remove the slices from the pan as they brown.

Slice and roast the remaining potatoes.

In a bowl, whisk the creme fraiche or sour cream until it is smooth. Beat in the dill or parsley, scallion, lemon rind, and salt.

Cut the salmon into pieces about the size of the largest potato slices.

To assemble: On each of 8 salad plates, layer 3 potato slices with 2 pieces of salmon, beginning and ending with the potato. Pass the creme-fraiche or sour-cream sauce separately.

EGGS EN COCOTTE WITH CAVIAR

SERVES 6

2 tablespoons unsalted butter Salt and pepper, to taste
6 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 jar (1 ounce) black caviar

Set the oven at 350 degrees. Have on hand 6 ramekins or custard cups (1/2-cup capacity) and a small roasting pan. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.

Butter the ramekins or cups generously. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Break an egg into each cup and add 2 tablespoons of cream to each. Set the dishes in the roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the dishes.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the top is just firm to the touch (the whites should set, and the yolks should be runny).

Top each egg with a spoonful of caviar and serve at once with toast.

RISOTTO WITH PORCINI
SERVES 6

3/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice
1 cup dry white wine
4 1/2 cups chicken stock, heated to a simmer
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Extra Parmesan cheese (for serving)

In a bowl, combine the mushrooms and water; set them aside for 30 minutes.

Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Strain the liquid through cheesecloth into a bowl.

In a flameproof casserole, heat the oil. When it is hot, add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Cook the onion over medium heat, stirring often, for 15 minutes or until it softens.

Meanwhile, coarsely chop the mushrooms.

Add the garlic to the onion mixture, and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often.

Add the rice to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, for 3 or 4 minutes or until the rice turns opaque. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it is completely absorbed.

Add the mushroom liquid and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it is almost completely absorbed.

Start adding the hot stock, 1/2 cup at a time, and, still stirring constantly, let each addition become absorbed by the rice before adding another.

Stop adding stock when the risotto is creamy and the grains of rice are tender to the bite. This will take about 20 minutes.

Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the cheese. Taste the risotto and add salt and pepper.

Spoon the rice into bowls and serve at once with extra cheese.