Credit…Kerri Brewer for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
“I put potato chips on the potato tart because, why not?” It doesn’t take a lot for Melissa Clark to sell us on a new recipe — she is Melissa Clark, after all — but when she said that bit about her new crispy potato and sour cream tart to the New York Times Cooking team, we were all very much on board. For this surprisingly easy tart, sliced cooked potatoes are folded into a lush mix of sour cream, Parmesan and chives, then spread onto a (store-bought) puff pastry crust.
Topped with crushed potato chips, your favorite roe and more chives, it becomes a perfect party pleaser or a luxurious brunch centerpiece. (An excellent comment comes from Dawn, a reader, who writes: “I think this would also be amazing with smoked salmon and maybe a sprinkle of fresh dill.” Genius.)
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Crispy Potato and Sour Cream Tart
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Another festive favorite: shrimp, specifically this zippy, blushing rosé shrimp from Eric Kim. If you don’t have piment d’Espelette, you can use gochugaru, Aleppo pepper or red-pepper flakes. But, as Eric notes, don’t skip the orange zest, which underlines the wine’s fruity notes. For more party-ready shrimp recipes and plenty other “I could eat a whole tray” wins, be sure to check out our collection of New Year’s Eve appetizers.
Potatoes and shrimp taken care of, let’s move on to other major food groups: weeknight chicken and brothy noodles. Rick Martínez’s no-marinade-needed chicken Marbella is significantly less sweet than the original, leaning instead on deeply seared chicken thighs and handfuls of prunes, olives and capers for rich flavor.
And how about soba noodles with ginger broth and crunchy ginger? Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe goes all in on ginger, which lends its powerful kick to both the chicken-based broth (swap in vegetable broth to make the dish vegan) and the panko-sesame topping. Either recipe would be a lovely option for a comforting New Year’s Eve dinner.
If you have a bag of frozen dumplings in your freezer, you’re about halfway to Kay Chun’s hot and sour dumpling soup, which is exactly what it sounds like — dumplings, tofu and vegetables gently bobbing in an assertive, vinegary broth.
Several readers note that they’ve swirled a beaten egg into the hot broth to create silky ribbons, swapped in all manner of vegetables and added sesame and chile oils. In other words: Make this reviving, cold-weather staple your own.
And to end where we began — on a slab of store-bought puff pastry blanketed with delicious things — here’s a giant almond croissant. Sohla El-Waylly’s recipe stuffs and smothers crisp puff pastry with frangipane for a crowd-pleasing dessert or breakfast. Just make sure you have napkins handy — those delicate shards of confectioners’ sugar-dusted pastry are sure to go flying.
