what is everyone cooking for valentine's Day?
We havew decided to stay in this year and planning a nice dinner what are you doing for the day?
drewb123
Feb 10, 2008 03:54PM
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Folks - forgive us for interrupting so quickly, but we've got a lot of Valentine's Day threads on a lot of boards and so we appreciate your help in keeping them focused on the subject matter at hand. In this case, as drewb123 asks, please do talk about what you are cooking, but If you opt to dine out, that's off topic, and will be deleted.
Thanks so much!
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I'm throwing a large-ish cocktail party to celebrate the day, so my menu isn't the typical "romantic dinner for two." But here goes:
-Smoked Salmon Mousse
-Beet, Chickpea, and Almond Dip
-Pita chips, rye squares, and crudites for above spreads
-Dates with Goat Cheese, Basil, and Prosciutto
-Chorizo & Potato Spanish Omelet Bites OR Sausage& Mushroom Phyllo twists
-Red grapes
-Chocolate-covered strawberries
-German Chocolate Cake
-Kir Royale Punch
I'm particularly excited because all of the food has something either red or chocolate (both in the case of the strawberries :) ).
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porceluna, might you share your recipe for the beet dip?
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I haven't actually tried it yet, but the reviews on Epicurious were good. And, the beets turn it pink--perfect for the holiday! Here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
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I made this dip a long time ago - and it's great!
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I've modified my menu a bit, so an update:
-Crab dip
-Beet, chickpea, and almond dip
-Pita chips, crackers, crudites
-Dates with goat cheese, basil, and prosciutto
-Red grapes
-Bittersweet-chocolate covered strawberries-
-Chocolate-mayo cupcakes with caramel-buttercream frosting
-Red velvet cupcakes
-Cranberry kir royales
-Ginger-gin mules (see my post on the Spirits board)
Here's hoping it'll be enough, but not too much!
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I'm making filet mignon with merlot sauce (www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views... baked potato with sour cream and chives, and lightly steamed green beans with garlic butter. My DH's fave dinner. Not sure about dessert yet, but would like to hear what others might be thinking of serving....
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Diablo, The merlot sauce sounds great! I think I'll serve it with a tenderloin roast. I like the idea of serving baked potatoes too since I am making a lemon cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. That should be enough richness and calories. Thanks for the idea!
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I've been known to drink the merlot sauce straight :) I think I may do the starwberries for dessert as well---so romantic...
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This Merlot sauce sounded good to me (I suddenly found out that my husband was going to be around for V-day after all, so my fallback meal with the kids no longer seemed appropriate)-- I made the sauce today, and though I reduced it the appropriate amount, it seems a bit "thin"; is this the way it is supposed to be? Tastes good, but I fear it won't really "stick" to the meat if you know what I mean.
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I don't know DGresh. I never seemed to have that problem, but it's not an especially thick sauce. Maybe add a bit more butter?
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I made this for New Year's Eve, and it was delicious. I liked that it was quick and easy and fancy all at the same time. Love, love, love.
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Vacationing in Hawaii, celebrating spouse's birthday as well as Valentine's day.
Plans for the 14th include a meal of Steamed King crab, served with a rice pilaf and green salad with waimea grown lettuce and tomatoes locally grown.Starting with a Lobster bisque. dessert will likely be ice cream served with a yummy chocolate dipped macadamia nut shortbread cookie on the side, Simple , but delicious!
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My husband loves macdamia nuts and cookies, would you please share the recipe for the shortbread recipe? Thank you.
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Paprkutr,
Sorry, I don't have the shortbread recipe as I buy the cookies from a local bakery, here on the Big Island (Big Island Delights) They are so delicious, hand-dipped in either milk , dark or white chocolate. We take a good number of them home as gifts.
I'm sure you could modify an existing shortbread recipe of yours with the addition of some crushed macadamia nuts and dip in chocolate to finish.
It does make a most tasty sweet treat.
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I have put the husband in charge of dinner since my work has been and will be crazy. Since it is a weeknight, we will probably do something simple like mussels mariniere and some crusty bread. Our anniversary is the 15th, so we will have that be our night out and avoid the crowds the night before.
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We have decided to do the same. I love to cook and I've been so busy lately that I haven't cooked a good meal in awhile. Valentine's Day is here to the rescue. Here is the meal I've planned for the night:
First Course: Warm Pancetta, Goat Cheese and Spinach Salad
Entrée: New York Steak with Boursin and Merlot Sauce, served alongside Roasted Thyme Fingerling Potatoes and Asparagus
Dessert: Molten Chocolate Soufflé with melting Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle Centers
I'm still debating on an appetizer and a pre-dinner drink to start the meal off. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open!
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We are having souffles, both savory and sweet.
My bf is doing the savory one, and it's going to be a surprise, but I am guessing there will be wild mushrooms somewhere...
I am in charge of the dessert souffle, chocolate would be the easiest, but I am tempted to do something with noyaux or candied citrus peel.
Any favorite souffle ideas out there?
Also, I want to surprise him with a nice caviar and/or oysters!!!
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We are doing a re-do tonight as dinner did not go so well last Thursday.
Made it through some delicious Kumamoto oysters and truffled (and cheap!) caviar, but the souffle was a miss.
We are trying again tonight, but will probably go in a totally different direction. Lamb chops perhaps.
Incidentally, I've never seen the appeal for chocolate dipped strawberries before, but made some on a whim and they were delicious. Must have been that Vosges bar with the chilies!
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This is interesting, because I always feel like the strawberries matter more in the chocolate-dipped strawberries than the chocolate. I like doing them in the summer when the strawberries are truly wonderful.
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My boyfriend is making a cassoulet with duck legs and sausage. We've never had that so it will be a new experience for us. I want to make a few things to go with it, but keeping it light so the cassoulet is the star.
Was thinking of a green salad, but just putting some different things in it (like mint, parsley and maybe some fruit) so it seems different and new. And then a kind of light dessert. But what? A fruit thing? Financiers? (We like those.) Any other thoughts for me out there?
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We're doing an all-crepe meal. I thought it would be fun since we like to cook together. We'll probably do two different fillings for the crepes, not sure what yet, but I'm putting pressure on for ham and gruyere. The other one will be something more out there, maybe goat cheese, cranberries and pine nuts. Also not sure on a filling for dessert crepes, but granny smith, dulce de leche and walnuts sounds good. Also a salad, and I decided to be really cheesy and am going to roast heart shaped slices of beet as a topping. Not an especially unified meal but the emphasis was more on fun together than something super put together.
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We're having a bake-off at work, and I'm making red velvet cupcakes as my entry.
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We're having:
spinach phyllo bundles
lamb chops with apricot sauce and spicy couscous
Chopped moorish salad with greek yoghurt (cukes, bell peppers, onions & tomatoes)
dessert is meringue with melted chocolate drizzled over, dressed with fresh whipped cream and blackberries. Not a pavlova per se, but similar.
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We're having linguine with shrimp and white wine cream sauce, focaccia bread, and bananas foster.
Now that I think about it, I forgot until this moment that DH requested escargot. Doesn't really go with pasta, but he likes it, so I suppose I will pick up some.
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Do you mind posting a recipe for the white wine cream sauce?
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Here it is. I think this came from Epicurious. It calls for shrimp and scallops but I think I will only do shrimp:
Shrimp and Linguine in White Wine Cream Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1 cup whipping cream
8 ounces uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined
8 ounces bay scallops
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12 ounces linguine, freshly cooked
Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until onion is golden brown, about 6 minutes. Stir in flour and coriander and cook 1 minute. Add wine and cream and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add shrimp and scallops and simmer until shrimp are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Mix in parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over linguine and serve.
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Chicken tagine with almonds and apricots over coucous (for me, moroccan cooking is very romantic for some reason), then a sour cream tart with raspberries.
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I had no idea what I was cooking, and probably wouldn't have done anything special, but my husband just called to say that the 4oz of Oregon black truffles he ordered arrived. So, we're having truffled egg pasta from a Richard Olney recipe:
http://macleodfood.blogspot.com/2005/12/christmas-eve-dinner.html
I made it over Christmas at my mother's, and it was fantastic -I'll probably use the same kind of noodles this time:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/47261...
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Since the truffles arrived on Tuesday and were presumably at their freshest at that point, we ended up having our meal that night. Black truffles, butter and egg noodles - no need to say more.
Cheap sushi tonight.
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HOLY YUM
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We are both working so I want to keep it simpe. I'm going to start out with kir royals. Main course will be Shrimp Scampi with Spinach over rice. Dessert will be very simple - perhaps ice cream. I'm hoping to make a traditional Nigerian dinner over the weekend when we have more time.
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fun and easy.
champagne and homemade macaroni and cheese.
not sure what should go with it—I hate when vinegar in salads overshadow the wine...
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I made this salad for our anniversary, out of the same concern regarding the champagne:
Pear and Endive Salad with Bleu d'Auvergne and Toasted Hazelnuts
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/481815
I used just a little lemon juice in the dressing, instead of vinegar.
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How about trying some white verjus?
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That's a clever idea - I should buy some to have on hand - do see it in the stores.
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Be sure to refrigerate after opening. I will get moldy if you don't.
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Maggie, if you can find some decent tomatoes, how about a buttermilk ranch dressing over them and some scallions or other greens? Maybe some roasted veggies with the mad & cheese?
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Or a nice butter/bibb/Boston lettuce salad with a buttermilk chive dressing?
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As Vday is a weeknight, we will be doing something simple that both Mr D & me can make together. We patronize a local butcher who recently had a terrific special on porterhouse steaks. We are starting with tomato, avocado & mozz salad/ with balsamic vinaigrette, chargrilled 2 in thick steak (for two - it's almost 3 lbs.!), grilled asparagus, a twice stuffed baked potato for Mr. D. (I make a bunch of them , freeze and reheat in toaster oven), and some lemon bars (hopefully there are still some in freezer - LOL!). We have a nice bottle of burgundy in the cellar but both os us are on antibiotics so the wine will have to wait.
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Ooh, Diane, could you please tell me more about your twice baked freezing technique? That sounds like a great idea. Thanks!
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Dizzied, very simple. I make traditional twice baked potatoes, large Idaho or Russet potatoes, coat with a little EVOO and kosher salt at 375 for 45-60 min (have convection oven, we like crispy skin). Slice top 1/3 off, scoop all flesh into mixing bowl. Add butter, some heated cream (FF 1/2 & 1/2, whole milk, whatever), a little sour cream, s&p, some roasted garlic if I have some, some kind of cheese possibly, minced parsley & chives. Pack stuffing mixture back into bakers. I individually freeze them using a Food Saver machine. To serve, let defrost at room temp (usually takes a while), reheat in convection toaster oven at 375 for 15-20 min. This defies my mother's rule that you can't freeze potatoes, turns out very well. Do want to note, I believe the convection oven and the convection toaster oven make a difference.
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It's going to be a disaster in my case, as I forgot V day and started my yearly springtime (yup, it's spring here in CA) South Beach diet last week! No sweets for me...Luckily (for the hubby and a child) I have to make a 100 butter cookies for a V-day school concert on Wednesday, so I will save some dough and bake them on Thursday for dinner. Also, I have guests on Friday- they are bringing a cake, so I thought I will make some ice cream (thanks for your suggestion to buy a Perfect Scoop- it's a wonderfu book!). I will make the rum-raisin and honey -lavender ice creams, so they will have something besides the butter cookies.
As for the actual dinner, maybe we will gril some chicken breasts, and have a couple of non-carb salads- hey, let them suffer a bit too!
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Thanks for posting this thread...I've been looking for menu suggestions. I knew I wanted to cook a meal after tasting a wine called Chocolate Amore...a red dessert wine laced with chocolate, it inspired me to make a Valentine's Day Meal!
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yum where did you find that wine?
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drewb123
you're in arizona i think? If so, AJ's carries this. It's a chocolate port.
http://www.trentadue.com/product/12
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yes i called thanks. is it worth buying?
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It's a fun dessert wine. A friend sent some to me a few years back and I've bought it for dinner parties a couple times. People always seem to enjoy trying ti. It's got a lot of raspberry tones in it as well as the chocolate.
I'd prefer a straight port in general but like I said this is a fun thing to try...particularly with chocolate.
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BBQ'd Baja steak and garlic smashed potatoes. Steamed Santa Maria Valley broccoli. Sherbet and local red.
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Somewhat traditional - grilled lobster tails, lobster bisque, grilled marinated root veggies, bittersweet chocolate torte and champagne
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I cook all of the time for my girlfriend, so Valentine's is going to be pretty special.
- four varieties of raw oysters to start
- foie gras three ways (brioche sandwich, seared over mache, stuffed into poached pear)
- lobster risotto
- milk chocolate creme brulee w/raspberries
Does this sound okay? Do these things go well together? What alcohol should we be drinking with these courses?
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champagne would work the whole way through!
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Pretty standard fare and we celebrate with the kids too. Breakfast is red heart pancakes. Dinner is twice baked potatoes, lobster tails, green beans, and chocolate souffles for dessert. Champagne and sparkling cider too. I might go out and get some oysters and try my hand at shucking them.
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Cheesy, if you buy the oyster for shucking, I wish you better luck than DH. We were spending a week in Hilton Head in a condo and I sent him for oysters. They were a little cheaper unshucked, so of course he bought those. First he tried a can opener knife, then a butter knife to open them, then a steak knife and the next step was the ER! He very nearly sliced his hand off. Hope you do better!
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Thanks for the encouragement and tips of sorts. I do have a oyster knife but I've never used it. I think I'll see if I can find a video online. I'll have to remember to wear a leather glove!
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