Valentine Day Cooking

Lexus1976

Planning on cooking for the girlfriend on Valentine, Starter, Main Course and Desert.

Any suggestions?











Bebo

The Sweeper

Don't all rush at once, eh?

In my opinion there are two ways you can go about this - one is find out what she likes, and serve that.

The other is to embark on a journey of extravagance and new experiences.

I'd go for the second and use the mantra that a little bit of something excellent is better than lots of something rubbish. I'd also try and make my life easy.

To do this, the first thing I'd do is buy two bottles of Freixenet Cordon Negro (sparkling wine). Lovely to drink, cheaper than champagne. If I wanted champagne, I'd buy two bottles of Veuve Cliquot.

Plan a cold or room temperature starter with a cold or room temperature dessert. It'll make your life easier.

Present everything extravagantly. Even the simplest things look dramatic when presented in the middle of a vast white plate and drizzled with something artistically.

Be willing to cheat. Marks and Spencer is your friend on some of the more fiddly elements.

Personally, I'd serve wild smoked salmon as a starter, with a salmon mousse. Buy the mousse from M&S. Centre it on a plate. Cut slices of salmon into ribbons. Wind and fold them around the mousse, piling upwards. Top with a teaspoon of caviar. Carefully drizzle some extra virgin olive oil around the plate - don't touch the fish with it, just use it to draw designs. Dot some capers or caperberries artistically around the plate. You can plate it in advance and refrigerate it, but remember to take it out of the fridge and allow it to return to near room temperature before serving.

Main course, again make your life easy. Make two dishes at most - e.g. if you're going to serve a piece of grilled chicken, make sure you're lying it on - for instance, a dry ratatouille of meditteranean vegetables. You can do the veggies hours in advance and reheat before serving, which leaves you concentrating on not ruining the chicken.

Dessert, I'd buy a punnet of the plumpest, ripest strawberries I could find at this time of year. Early in the day, melt some green and blacks chocolate in a bowl over warm water. Half-immerse each strawberry in the chocolate and twist to coat. Arrange on greaseproof paper to cool. (G&Bs sell lots of differnt chocolates - milk, dark and white for starters - so use some variety).

Cheat again and buy a chocolate torte from a good supermarket range. Centre a slice of it on a plate, dust with icing sugar and arrange choc-dipped strawberries around it. Again this will be easy to work on in advance.

Valentines Day cooking is all about the experience and the show. It's a brash, vulgar, declarative day of shouting "I LUBS WOO SO I DOES!!"

Alternatively, you could make tinned soup, spag bol and icecream, have it on your usual dinner plates with a bottle of wine and some nice music and she'll say to her friends "Yeah he cooked dinner, it was really nice."

rediguana

I'm going to be considerably lazier than MinesAJackDaniels and suggest only that you buy February's "Food & Wine" magazine (most newsagents, E3.99). It's pink and full of ideas and recipes for that special dinner. I like the 'Lemon Sole on a Gratinee of Spinach'. If you're rubbish as a cook, don't be too ambitious. M&S stuff is actually great. Keep the wine light and fun. Maybe have some chilled Prosecco ready for when she calls over (Champers if you're more flush than me!). Keep the dinner wine easygoing too, maybe Riesling or Valpollicella / Pinot Noir. The aim is to make sure she doesn't get too full or she might just want to sleep after. Give her ladylike portions and make sure she drinks coffee after her meal.

NextSteps

You can't go wrong with a dessert involving lots of dark chocolate. Maybe order a cake or make a mousse and ice it with love hearts and cupids!?

car39

marks and spencer !you cant go wrong or if theres one near you butlers pantry.put it into your own dishes and say you made it yourself

rediguana

car39 wrote:

marks and spencer !you cant go wrong or if theres one near you butlers pantry.put it into your own dishes and say you made it yourself

Lies make baby Jesus cry.

Lexus1976

Excellent ideas thanks....but she does'nt like fishy food.

Any good suggestions for starters?

Thanks

rediguana

Lexus1976 wrote:

Excellent ideas thanks....but she does'nt like fishy food.

Any good suggestions for starters?

Thanks

Warm Goat's Cheese and Carmelised Red Onions. Place cheese on nice plates and place in the oven at about 120 degrees for fifteen minutes. To carmelise the onions, chop them, and cook in butter in a non-stick pot. I add a little crushed garlic and some honey (brown sugar will do) towards the end. Onions should go brown and mushy. Don't walk too far or they'll burn. Do the taste test. They'll need to be sweet to offset the tangy-ness of the cheese. When they're done (20mins?), stylishly pour them over the by-now-partially melted cheese. A satisfying, caramelly juice should run off (good for dipping fresh bread into). Put some greens (rocket, maybe) on the plate, to the side. The plate will be hot. Use a cloth to carry it to the table. Use a place mat so you don't burn your table. Tell your girlfriend that the plate is hot or she may burn her hands. She can't sue you, like in a restaurant, but it's not a good start to the dinner. Serve with some fresh bread (bought just a few hours before - La Brea stuff from the big retailers is great, even though the bastards turned me down for an interview before). Serve with a zesty and robust white wine - New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc? As a starter, this isn't PARTICULARLY light, containing butter, cheese, sugar, and bread, so go easy on the main course.

I'm not a man for details, this is just the way I do it. You might want to check the recipe out on the net to minimise the risk of it going Jade on you. It's a well-known recipe, served in many restaurants, and should be easy to find.

iregk

Interesting topic here and one that I was going to start only to find someone already had! I'm doing a mail course of chicken lemon, which will be marinating from teh day before hand. What I need are ideas for the starter. I was going to go for a classic homemade veg soup with croutons but thought id rather do a cold, kos leaf with some puree or something on that line. Anyone got a good idea for this?

Also have the desert sorted so thats cool.

bugs90

Christ I think I'm far less ambitious than the rest of ye! Was planning on cooking but maybe time to go make a reservation:D

Minder

Lexus1976 wrote:

Excellent ideas thanks....but she does'nt like fishy food.

Any good suggestions for starters?

Thanks

Poached pears with blue cheese. Easy to make in advance - just requires warming and plating at the appropriate time.

Ingredients

Pears - look for the fat hard ones
White wine - nothing too fancy - a chardonnay will do
Squeeze of lemon
Blue cheese -either danish blue, stilton, gorgonzola
Fancy leaves - not too many varieties - some lambs lettuce and a little rocket
Hazelnuts
French dressing


Peel and halve the pears
Take out the core
Place in a mixture of water and wine to cover
Squeeze in some lemon juice - this will prevent the pear from going brown
Bring to the boil and simmer until the pear is just tender
Turn off the heat and leave uncovered to cool
The pear will continue to soften in the cooling liquid, so if it is soft enough already, place in a bowl of cold water with another squeeze of lemon.
Toast the hazelnuts in the oven - about 160 or 170 degrees
If they have the papery brown skins on, place in a clean dry teatowel and rub

To make a french dressing, mix equal amounts of olive oil and white wine vinegar, about 3 fluid oz each, add teaspoon of dijon mustard, some salt and a squeeze of lemon and mix - taste and add more mustard as required.

To assemble the dish, place a small pile of mixed leaves on the plate
Hazelnuts in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin
Warm the pears in the cooking liquid and transfer to a grill
Add a slice of blue cheese and grill until melting and starting to brown
Transfer to plate, scatter over some hazelnuts
Drizel with french dressing
Check the grill for melted cheese and add to plates.

Good luck

r3nu4l

I only saw this thread today

Oh well, here's my recipe with a romantic twist

Pan-fried chicken with mango salad
Preparation time, approximately 20 mins.
Cooks in about 20 mins.


Ingredients (serves two)
Two chicken breasts
One red bell-pepper, diced
One yellow bell-pepper, diced
One head of lettuce, washed and shredded
One half cucumber, cut into sticks
One celery stalk, cut into small sections
One Mango, peeled and diced
Extra virgin olive oil
Honey
Balsamic vinegar

Slice the chicken breasts across their lengths (see diagram) to create a 'love heart' shape. Not only is it 'romantic' it reduces the cooking time.
Pour the oil into the pan and heat. Add chicken, cook gently for 10-15 minutes. Turn occassionally

Wash and dice the vegetables and mango either While the chiken is cooking or beforehand.

Bed the salad on the plate adding a splash of balsamic vinegar for taste.

Approximately 3 minutes before taking the chicken off the pan, drizzle it with honey and turn once or twice to coat both sides.

Place the loveheart chicken breast on top of the salad bed and serve.

Note, to be even healthier the chicken can be cooked on a grill with no need for oil Other options include a side order of rice and/or the addition of tumeric and ginger to the honeyed chicken.