December 29, 2020

A Time For Celebration – My Favorite Appetizers of 2020

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebration. It is a time for a party, for joy and excess, especially as 2020 fades into 2021. This New Year’s Eve should be no exception. More than ever, we need an excuse to have a party, albeit with very few attendees. I encourage you to make New Year’s Eve special. Make it an evening of festivity and indulgence.

Since your gathering will be small, attended only by members of your family, household, or pod, why not take the time to cook something special; something that you normally wouldn’t make? Prepare too much food, even though your celebration may be small. Make one too many appetizers to usher out the old and in with the new. Make something fancy or slightly out of your comfort zone. Maybe it’s the evening for that cooking project you’ve been meaning to tackle. Perhaps have each attendee cook one component of a communal meal. Why not? This New Year’s Eve, frankly none of us have anything better to do, and besides, you deserve it. This year, we all do.

There are several paths to follow here. You could go the all appetizer route as I usually do on New Year’s Eve; a series of finger foods throughout the evening, a new one ready every hour until the clock strikes midnight. Or perhaps you would rather a more traditional meal – an extravagant main course with a couple of exquisite side dishes. If you’re really ambitious, why not a full blown, hours-long Italian meal with a beverage to match each course? An antipasti with an aperitif; a primi piatti or pasta course with white wine; a secondi piatti or main course paired with red; and ending with dolce or dessert with a digestif or even sparkling wine – Prosecco or Champagne. It is New Year’s Eve, after all.

Whichever road you take, make the evening special. Welcome 2021 in style, as 2020 finally becomes a memory. However you celebrate, I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Here are my favorite appetizers from 2020, along with links to their recipes. You can find others by searching the blog at the top right, or scrolling through the monthly archives along the right side of the screen. Also, visit posts describing my favorite appetizers from 2019 and 2018, leading up to New Year’s Eve at the end of those years.