The New Year’s Eve menu

While some are off to festive parties or crowded clubs tonight, the Mr. and I are pretty excited about our New Year’s Eve in. We’ll be catching up on our recorded television (I hope to finish this season of Boardwalk Empire) and possibly even watching whatever DVDs we’ve had from Netflix for the last 3 months or so. And, of course, we’ll be ringing in the New Year with beef. I’ve developed a special menu for the evening and thought I would share it with you (along with a few instructions on how to duplicate it).

I’ll be serving:

Grilled ribeyes seasoned with Perini Ranch Rub

Twice-baked potatoes

Homemade honey beer bread

Chocolate chip cookie bowls

For the entree, you’ll need:

2 Choice or better ribeyes, 2 inches thick

Perini Ranch Rub (Recipe courtesy of the Texas Beef Council and Tom Perini)

2 teaspoons corn starch or flour

2 teaspoons salt

5 tablespoons coarse-ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon oregano

4 teaspoons garlic powder

4 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon beef stock base (granulated)

Directions:

Mix ingredients well and rub on steaks 1-2 hours before cooking. Any unused rub can be stored in an airtight container for future use. Grill steaks to desired doneness and serve.

For the potatoes, you’ll need:

2 baking potatoes

Olive oil

Sea salt

Coarse pepper

Butter

4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Milk

Directions:

Brush or spray potatoes with olive oil and dust with sea salt. Bake at 350 degrees until tender — about 1.5 to 2 hours.

When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool off for about 5 minutes before slicing each in half, lengthwise.

Scoop the insides out of 2 of the halves and add to a mixing bowl, while trying to preserve at least 1 of the skins. (I like to do the potatoes one at a time since the Mr. and I don’t like the all of the same ingredients in ours, but you can do them all at once if you’re making them all the same.)

Add desired toppings, a splash of milk, salt and pepper. Mix well with an electric mixer.

Identify the most intact potato skin and scoop potato mixture back into it. Top with more cheese and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Repeat with the next potato.

Now, you’re ready to do the second baking. I recently learned from the Pioneer Woman that you can, alternately, place these potatoes in the fridge if you’re not ready to do the second baking yet. Sometimes I do this a few hours ahead, and it’s a real time saver.

But when you are ready to finish them up, just place the baking sheet in the 350-degree oven for 15- to 20- minutes, and you’re all done!

I’m using Gimme Some Oven’s Honey Beer Bread Recipe. You’ll need:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
12 ounces beer
1 stick melted butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9″ x 5″ x 3″ inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. 

Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan.

Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. 

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve immediately.

Now, for the cookie bowls, you’ll need:

Premade chocolate chip cookie dough (I like Pillsbury’s slice and bake roll)

Vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Fill 2 oven-safe custard cups about 2/3 full with cookie dough. Pack it tightly.

Place cups on a baking sheet and cook 16-20 minutes. You want them to be slightly underbaked.

Remove cups and place on saucers. Add a scoop of ice cream to each bowl and serve immediately.

Note: I got this idea from here, but decided to skip a step and use premade dough. The results are still amazing!

What are you doing (and eating) tonight?