Do you do the same thing every New Year’s Eve?

We do. But only for the last 35 years or so, so we’re beginning to get the hang of it.

My cousins, brother and sister-in-law will be coming for dinner.

It’s always the same schedule and dinner but we don’t think it’s boring because after years and years of trying this and that, we figured out what we like to eat and to do.

For example, we all know we like roast beef, except Eileen, for whom I will make a chicken breast her favorite way: baked until it’s really really dead and all the juices knocked out of it.

I used to do try a new dish every so often on New Year’s eve. They were mostly fine. But we all still joke about the time, many years ago, when I made the infamous Beef Stroganoff, which was really horrible.

So why not, on this one occasion, just cook something tried and true that happens also to be delicious and everyone (but one) likes and we also rarely get to eat — if ever— during the rest of the year?

Besides it’s also important to make stuff that won’t leave me with too much preparing, serving and cleaning. I want to enjoy the evening too.

We’ll start at 2:00 p.m. with cocktails or wine and hors d’oeuvre, all pre-made, either to serve cold or just pop in the oven. Like cheeseballs (recipe posted yesterday) and smoked fish canapes, gougeres and scallion pancakes.

Dinner will start at 8. Roast beef; one really really dead chicken breast plus a vegetable and ALWAYS Sauteed Potatoes with Rosemary because my cousin Neil loves them and it wouldn’t be New Year’s with that side dish.

Here’s the recipe for those potatoes, which you can pre-cook, up to a point, a day or two before.

Sauteed Crispy Potatoes with Rosemary

18 “new” or small Red Bliss potatoes

lightly salted water

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with lightly salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain the potatoes and peel them when they are cool enough to handle. Cut each potato in half. Heat the butter and olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the potatoes and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Saute for about 10 minutes, turning them from time to time. Sprinkle the rosemary into the pan and cook for another 5-15 minutes or until as crispy as you like them. May be reheated in a preheated 425 degree oven for 6-8 minutes. Makes 6 servings

Remember Cheese Balls?

Maybe your mother or grandmother (or you) made them once-upon-a-time? They were popular in the 1950s, right up there with Deviled Eggs and Franks-in-blankets. But those two items never went out of style. Especially Franks-in-blankets, the downscale hors d’oeuvre people like to sneer at but are always the first to be gobbled at any gathering.

Anyway, Cheeseballs didn’t hang on the way the other two nibbles did. 

Maybe it’s nostalgia for some lost, long-ago time, but Cheeseballs are back in style. They’re a terrific hors d’oeuvre for New Year’s or any kind of cocktail party or with before-dinner drinks. They’re easy to make and extremely versatile — add herbs, spices, chopped fruits or vegetables; use different kinds of cheeses, roll them in different coatings for a better visual effect: bread crumbs, crushed nuts, chopped parsley, paprika, crushed peppercorns and what have you. 

And if you think Cheeseballs are, well, too cheesy for your guests, make them smaller and call them truffles.

After all, what’s in a name?

Cheese Truffles

8 ounces blue cheese

8 ounces cream cheese

4 ounces fresh pineapple, finely chopped, including juices

2 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno or serrano pepper

sea salt, seasoned salt or Adobo seasoning to taste

chopped nuts, chopped parsley, paprika, breadcrumbs

Mash the blue cheese, cream cheese, pineapple and jalapeno pepper together until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Season to taste if desired with sea salt, seasoned salt or Adobo seasoning. Shape the mixture into small balls about 1-inch in diameter. Roll the balls in one or more of the toppings. Makes about 4 dozen