Every month we share a seasonal meal ready in 20 minutes, made from scratch, that you can serve family style! This month’s 20-minute recipe for a Seafood Boil will add just the right (easy!) touch to your New Year's Eve festivities.
Happy New Year!
And in the blink of an eye, another year has come and gone. There's such a sense of busyness at this time of year with school wrapping up (read: holiday concerts, teacher gifts, cookie exchanges), everyone preparing for the big guy from the North Pole and then, just when the dust settles, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
New Year's Eve has evolved for me over the years. It began as that night we got to stay up late while mom and dad had fondue with friends. Then came a few years of making good money for babysitting, then fancy parties and clubs, and now it's come full circle with my child staying up late while I have fondue (read in 20 minutes of course!) with friends. Except this year, its not fondue. It’s a seafood hot pot!
New Year's Eve is a fun time to try something new. I love interactive dinners but in many cases they can be labour intense . The last thing you want to do is spend your evening prepping a dozen appetizers or finely chopping crudité. That's what makes the Seafood Boil such a fun, but special dinner. And the best part is, you can have it on the table — in this case literally – in about 20 minutes.
How To Make A Seafood Boil (in 20 minutes!)
There are lots of way to make a seafood boil. The more ingredients you add, the more time it will take. In the theme of On Board in 20, I kept the ingredient list short but the experience is still very rich. This recipe is full of short cuts!
First, use smallest baby potatoes you can find. They're in abundance this time of year and with a quick slice in half and they cook in no time at all. For this boil, I stick to
- potatoes
- corn
- onion
- chorizo
- prawns
- crab legs
All these ingredients cook (steam) very quickly and require little prep work.
Add a loaf of crusty bread and some garlic butter and you're set to ring in the New Year without spending all day of the last day of the year in the kitchen. And while technically this 20-minute meal is on newspaper and not a board, your New Year's Eve guests will no doubt love gathering around family style to feast on this Seafood Boil and toast the New Year with you!
Enjoy and Happy New Year!
- 1 cup white wine, any varietal
- 1 pound baby nugget potatoes
- 4 pre-shucked corn on the cob
- 4 links of cured chorizo sausage
- ½ of a large white onion
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and divided
- 4 to 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- ½ cup butter
- 2 lemons
- 8 king crab legs
- 2 pounds shell-on prawns
- 1 baguette
- handful of fresh parsley
- Bring a kettle of 2 litres of water to a boil. Put a large stockpot on stove and turn to med-high heat. Turn on broiler in oven.
- To the large stockpot add the white wine.
- Prepare the following ingredients and add to the stock pot. Rinse potatoes and slice in half. Cut (or snap) corn cobs in half. Slice cured chorizo into bite size pieces. Roughly chop onion into quarters. Smash and peel four garlic cloves. Cover with boiling kettle water. Cover with a lid and keep at an active boil for about 5 minutes.
- Smash (or use a garlic press) remaining 2 garlic cloves and add to a small saucepan along with the butter. Turn to medium heat until melted.
- Cut lemons in half crosswise, place on sheet pan and under the broiler for about five minutes until a nice char forms on top.
- After stockpot has boiled 10 minutes, add crab legs and prawns, replace lid and steam for 5 minutes.
- Prepare board or table by lining with several layers of newspaper. Pour butter into small dipping dishes. Break bread into large pieces and place around table or board.
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop the hot seafood boil directly onto the newspaper. Add lemons around the sides and garnish with fresh parsley. You can reserve some of the cooking liquid for dunking the bread into as well.
More 20-Minute Meal Ideas?
- Cheese Fondue with Salami and Assorted Veg
- General Tso's Crispy Tofu
- Vegetarian Potato and Cauliflower Curry
- Lemon Chicken Build-Your-Own Soup Board
- Baked Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
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Lisa Dawn Bolton is a food stylist, recipe developer and creator of beautiful grazing boards. You can find her work at lisadawnbolton.com. She lives in the Lower Mainland of BC. Her first cookbook, On Boards, (affiliate link), released by Appetite by Penguin Random House in October 2018 is now available. You can reach her on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.
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