When planning New Year's Eve parties, I say, hosts should keep the food simple but sophisticated.
In a few days, I will follow that advice when my husband and I welcome the new year at a small dinner with friends. We will share the cooking with our fellow diners, and I am in charge of appetizers. Warm, bite-size mushroom walnut tarts and cucumber slices topped with smoked salmon and a swirl of avocado cream will be our openers. Both starters are stylish and hip, yet easy to prepare.
For the tarts, I use mini-phyllo shells so no pastry making is necessary. The filling is a mixture of sautéed mushrooms and walnuts combined with crème fraîche and blue cheese. I buy mushrooms already cleaned and sliced, then coarsely chop them to save time. The tarts can be assembled an hour ahead and need less than 10 minutes for baking.
For the other appetizer, cucumber slices are topped with thin pieces of smoked salmon, drizzled with lemon juice, then topped with dollops of avocado cream and chopped green onions. The avocado cream is quickly made by puréeing diced avocado, sour cream, lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper together in a food processor.
Although each of these recipes serves 6 to 8, you can easily double the ingredients if you are hosting a larger group.
Betty Rosbottom is a cooking school director and author of "Big Book of Backyard Cooking."
