Valentine's Day Revisited

Valentine's Day is one of those days that I am ambivalent about. Single or in a relationship who cares? All I know is that on this day that everyone feels they need to be flamboyant about their love I would rather stay in and be with people I care about. With that said I have pulled some recipes (old and new) that I think will go perfectly on this day and at the end a special dessert that will put you in a food coma :)

Starters:

• Truffled Mushroom Bruschetta - this recipe is still one of my favorites and a definite crowd pleaser. While this is a little heavier, it's a perfect start to any meal.
• Ricotta and Honey Toast - this recipe is essentially a lighter version of the one above. They both involve ricotta (one of my favorites) and toast, however this will start you off more on the sweet than the savory side. 

Entrees:

• Butternut Squash Ravioli - the brown butter sauce over the smooth, light raviolis still makes my mouth water. This is staple in my kitchen when I have guests over or in from out of town. It's fairly easy and always delivers.
• The Perfect Sirloin - while this isn't the most "exciting" thing that I have to offer, it's incredible good. The technique and flavors are simple, but when you have a good cut of meat you don't need any more. I love this recipe! 

Dessert

So this is a recipe that I was inspired to create by something I saw in Bon Appetit. Thier recipe look good and intense. I wanted to take is down a bit and just concentrate on the flavors. After one successful attempt I created the blackberry jam and lemon ice cream masterpiece...

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon
• 1 pint of vanilla ice cream
• 1 container of blackberries
• 1 cup watter
• 1 cup sugar
• Graham crackers (optional)

Directions:

Listen. This is pretty straight forward and bottom line, look at those ingredients. Can you really mess this up? If you can I would like to know because everything on that list is sheer heaven. Sugar, ice cream, blackberries - COME ON!

Let the ice cream become soft and transfer to a bowl. Add the zest and juice of one lemon to the ice cream and mix together. Place the ice cream back in the freezer. 

On the stove add one cup of water and one cup of sugar. Keep stirring the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add in your container of blackberries (after rinsing of course) and then bring the entire mixture to a boil. 

Once the mixture has started to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring every few minutes or so until the "jam" has reached your desired consistency (I like to let mine simmer for an hour).

After your delicious meal, take a scoop of ice cream and a hefty spoonful of our blackberry mixture and create a sundae. Crumble graham crackers on top and there you have it - the dessert that is so good you won't be able to move afterwards.

No matter what you do, I hope you have a wonderful weekend with whoever you spend it with :)   

Read more...

Course 3: Sake and Soy Marinated Rib-eyes

So for the third course I was thinking that nothing says “Be My Valentine” than a nice thick, big hunk of meat (rib-eye that is). This is a great marinade courtsey of the “real Frugal Foodie” Jef. Like the butternut squash raviolis this can be made ahead of time and needs to marinate about 24 hours before you intend to cook (ok not really 24 hours, but the longer the better, I would minimum of 2 hours).

It’s so easy, only 5 ingredients (including the steak) and I promise, you and your valentine will both love it.

Ingredients:

• Soy Sauce
• Sake
• Orange Juice
• Minced Garlic
• 2 Ribeyes (make sure they are good and marbleized)

Directions:

Basically all you want to do is combine equal parts soy sauce, sake and orange juice and pour over steaks (generally for two steaks I would do a ¼ cup of each, which seems like a lot but whatever). You can do this in a large plastic bag or Tupperware.

Then toss in about a tablespoon of minced garlic and let that mixture soak on the steaks for 24 hours. Be sure to flip several times in between.

Then once the 24 hours are up, I say fire up the grill or grill pan and cook till desire temperature. I think any steak above medium is a crime, but cook it however you like.

If you aren’t sure how to long to cook you steak, click here for a chart that will explain everything.

Now as for sides, I think something simple that can be done while the steaks are cooking is best; something like Rosemary Roasted Potatoes.

The potatoes take about 30 minutes start to end so plan out your timing accordingly.

Read more...

Course One: Ricotta and Honey Toast Appetizers

This is a great easy recipe that only takes about 20 minutes to make and can be made for two people or many!

Ingredients:

• Loaf of French Bread
  


• Ricotta cheese
  


• Honey
  


• Olive Oil
  


• Salt
  


• Pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, cut toast into ½ inch slices, however many you and your valentine will eat J

Line the slices of bread on a cookie sheet and drizzle with some olive oil. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Once the bread is warm and a little crusty, spread a dollop of ricotta cheese on top, and then drizzle with some honey. Throw a little dash of pepper and salt and serve.

Boom. Roasted. Done.

Read more...