My husband and I started a tradition for New Year’s Eve 4 years ago, once the boys were older and were not celebrating with us anymore, and it has been a lot of fun.

The Tradition

Each year, we invite a few neighbourhood friends to come share a meal with us on New Year’s Eve and they each bring one of the courses paired with a wine/beer/liquor. We use a different plate/bowl for each serving and each couple presents their course as well as describes their wine selection. Sometimes we have a theme such as the country of origin of one’s family and sometimes anything goes. I prepare a menu once everyone has chosen what they will prepare and I print a copy for everyone to have at the table. Everyone really buys into the idea and brings exceptional dishes. It is always a fantastic mix of aroma and taste!!!

This year, we also added a little something fun that I hope will become tradition as well. Our neighbour across the street suggested that our party and theirs come out before midnight to cheer the new year together. It was decided that we should have fireworks and that the guys would set up our fire pit in advance at the end of their driveway (with much conversation and a few beers). We ended up with roughly 20 of us ringing in the New Year together!! It was sooo much fun!!

The Dinner

For our dinner, I usually prepare the main dish and try to make something unusual. This year I chose to make a camel stew, a recipe I adapted from 3 different ones I found online. I served it with a moroccan couscous (recipe in a future post). I was inspired by Mark, the owner of the local Black Angus Beef market store, who stocks all kinds of different meat and cuts including wild games and unusual animals, such as camel meat of course. He and I discussed the best way to cook this and he shared with me his favorite way to cook it. You should check out this store, it is worth your time!!!

Here is the menu for our happening to ring in the year 2015: Menu New Years Eve 2015

Camel Stew Recipe

Since I was making this for 10 adults and with the goal of having left over for my boys, I made this recipe with 3 pounds of cubed camel meat. As it turns out, I could have made half the recipe and we would have had enough.

Ingredients

Spice mix to marinate the meat for at least an hour:

• 4 tsp PC Black Label Harissa Spice Blend
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp each cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Ingredient for the stew

• 1 head of garlic, half of the cloves minced and the other half of the cloves cut in half only
• 5 very large carrots sliced
• 3 large spanish onions (or red ones)
• 1 whole bottle of red wine (I used a cabernet/merlot Ontario wine)
• 2 large cans of diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp herbes de provence
• 1 shallot studded with 5 cloves to simmer in the pot
• 4 ounces of pancetta / can be substituted with camel fat apparently but I did not have that on hand 🙂

Mix all the marinating spices together and sprinkle on the cubed camel meat. Mix it well and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

Heat a few tsp of olive oil in a dutch oven ( i love my creuset pots for that!!) and brown the meat covered with the marinating spices.

Remove from the pot and drop in the pancetta chopped off to sizzle and render.

Add the onions and let them sweat for a few minutes ( I always like to let the onions caramelize first on their own in most recipes). Then add the garlic and carrots and let them cook for about 10 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and bring to boil. Add the vinegar next and boil for 1 minute. Now it is time to add the meat back to the pot with the wine, the herbs and the studded with the cloves.

Cover the pot and let it simmer at very low heat for at least 2 hours or until the meat is fork tender and everyone who comes in the house can’t help but ask “what smells so good!!” If the liquid evaporates too much, add a bit of water to cover the meat during the simmering but I did not have that problem.

This pot will have wonderful aromas and a rich sauce. Make sure to have lots of bread on hand to soak up the wonderful gravy. As mentioned before, I served it with a moroccan couscous but it would do well over rice or mash potatoes as well in my opinion.