The Lazy Person's New Year's Eve

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Right now, you might still be debating what to do on New Year's Eve. Should you travel to a happening spot like Vegas in order to go to an expensive, crowded club or should you shell out for an expensive, five-star New Year's prix fixe dinner? The fact is it's New Year’s Eve, and as we learned in Y2K it is, alas, just a day.

But this day, like any other day, can be a cause for celebration. Even if you opt against the prix fixe and the MTV club scene, that doesn't mean that you can’t have a perfectly indulgent New Year’s Eve celebration the lazy person’s way: at home. Celebrating at home means you have already saved yourself a load of money by avoiding plane tickets, over-priced restaurants, and club entrance fees. And since this is all about self-indulgence and laziness, I would not recommend spending a lot of time, energy, or money on your meal. Use your money for the wine or beverage of choice, and let that dictate the direction your lazy, celebratory meal takes.

Step 1: decide how much money you would like to spend on yourself now that you aren’t spending all that money on some over-rated, over-hyped party thrown by someone else. Step 2: decide what kind of beverage (red wine, champagne, limited edition beer) you would like to imbibe. Step 3: go out and buy the best quality version of that beverage that you can afford. Step 4: plan meal primarily to compliment purchased beverage. This is the lazy person’s way.

Now that the beverage is decided and the important people (important to you, not necessarily actual VIPs) have been invited to share said beverage, the preparation of the accompanying food should proceed in a fashion that is quick, delicious, and perhaps a tad unexpected. For example, to pair with a first growth Bordeaux whose name sounds something along the lines of Chateaux Blah Blah Blah, I would recommend France’s finest beef paired with some of the best bread in a combination known as Royale with Cheese, or to us Americans, a hamburger. With a spicy Priorat from Spain, how about some rich and delicious, like tacos? For an off-dry German Reisling, nothing quite pairs like large, gourmet sausages with some spicy marinara sauce.

For dessert, the super hot Hungarian Tokai goes exceptionally well with all sweets, say, a cupcake. And should you manage to snag a bottle of Cristal, my recommendation is sushi. I'm sure no one makes sushi better on New Year’s than any neighborhood Japanese restaurant that delivers.

If you are taking the micro-brew, or limited edition beer route, take a cue from the Belgians and your neighborhood bar. The whole beer with fried food thing is not just something that's made up by bars promoting Monday Night Football with specials on chicken strips and onion rings. Most lovers of Belgian beer will testify that a towering cone of fries--perhaps with an aioli dipping sauce--is just the thing to go alongside a 11% alcohol-by-volume Belgian Trippel.

New Year's is a time for self-reflection, resolutions, and an effort toward self-improvement. Well then, why not get it started with a self-indulgent, self-reflective, and money-saving New Year's Eve? At home with my Lazy Person’s plan, you will eat better and drink better than all those scantily clad party hoppers. First growth Bordeaux and a hamburger in the comfort of your pajamas is just the sort of plan to ring in the New Year and to inspire a year of reasonably self-indulgent deliciousness to come.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 gourmet sausages such as Chicken Apple
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can (14 ounce size) diced fire roasted tomatoes
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups couscous