For the first time in our married life, we decided to stay home for New Year’s Eve. Let’s hope it was due to our dire need to recover from our NYC trip, rather than my quick ascent to 40.

Regardless, the relaxed evening gave me an opportunity to play in my kitchen. I followed Julia Child’s steak au Poivre recipe exactly, masses of butter included. Although the sauce was luxurious and perfectly pepper-corny, it was also a rather unappetizing dark grayish brown — somewhat like moth wings in fact. Perhaps a touch of cream and forgoing the cast iron skillet next time.

I played around quite a bit with Mario Batali’s roasted parsnips and much to my delight, they turned out fabulous. (I have made the original recipe before as well, and it is also delicious just as written). This time, however, I added brussels sprouts because I had them on hand and substituted warm chicken broth for the melted butter — had to make up somewhere for Julia’s butter-happy steak. The menu follows:

Appetizer: fresh, hand-pulled mozzarella

New Year’s Eve 2012:
Appetizer:
Freshly pulled homemade mozzarella cheese drizzled with olio Nuevo from California.
Hunks of crusty sourdough bread
Veuve Clicquot

Main Course:
Steak au Poivre a’ la Julia Child
Roasted parsnips with horseradish and prosecco courtesy of Mario Batali: (Parsnips)
A Napa Cabernet

Dessert:
Per Se leftovers — decadent dark chocolate truffles

Steak au Poivre & roasted parsnips