New Zealand boneless leg of lamb from Trader Joe’s, slathered with a mix of olive oil, stone-ground mustard, minced garlic, minced fresh rosemary, Penzeys Lamb Seasoning, and s/p. Roasted at 375° until medium-rare, then pulled to rest before snipping the netting and carving.
Roasted Herbs de Provence potatoes and steamed green beans alongside, with Ballymaloe Mint Sauce for the lamb.
I’d normally source Valentine’s Day dinner from multiple places. But the times being what they are, the freezer and our stash of winter vegetables came to the rescue.
On the plate: Pork roast stuffed with provolone and prosciutto roasted atop carrots and a leek; spinach with garlic, olive oil, and lemon; and creamy mashed potatoes.
We splurged by buying this chocolate cake with strawberry cream frosting from a local cafe. Also we got these pretty cookies to treat our neighbor. Just because.
One of my best friends who’s going through a lot personally and has two little kids had surgery this week. I signed up for her meal train, so the kiddo and I made a kid-friendly meal together: turkey and Pecorino meatballs, homemade papardelle pasta, Hazan’s tomato-butter sauce, country white bread (in the breadmaker) and spinach and arugula salad with cucumbers and grape tomatoes with maple balsamic dressing. We dipped strawberries and Bing cherries in dark chocolate for dessert. I forgot to photograph anything but the fruit.
For our own meal, DH and I split a strip steak with creamy Morel mushroom sauce over cauliflower mash with sauteed asparagus. Nice Russian River red in our glasses. DH got the kiddo an ice cream cake, while we had some local chocolate truffles for our dessert.
It’s so beautiful. This afternoon was the best. We were playing a board game in front of a big picture window, and these big fat flakes were softly falling all around, landing on the doug firs. I think this storm, the southern areas were supposed to be harder hit. Hope you are good where you are until it melts out!
We had an outstanding Valentine’s Day dinner at Cafe Panache. We normally don’t dine out on a holiday but they assured us we would have the table for 2 hours and would not be rushed, and they kept their word. I also liked that they had a nice a la carte menu with a lot of excellent choices. We enjoyed Moroccan crab cake, foie gras with poached pears, tuna tartare, black sea bass, and filet mignon. It all went great with an excellent 2013 Malbec. For dessert we enjoyed Mrs. P’s chocolate sin cake and a 20 year old port (not pictured).
After debating what to do for dinner tonight, we decided on pizza. We’ve both been cooking our brains out the last week and no offense to anyone eating out tonight, but a restaurant on Valentine’s Day is honestly the last place we wanted to be. While we did have an excellent V-Day meal two years ago at the Revere Tavern in PA, this night is up there with New Year’s Eve as “Amateur Hour”. Ask anyone in the restaurant industry their least favorite nights (especially servers) and I guarantee you will hear those two back to back. We both enjoyed the pizza, some themed cocktails, and a low key evening.
Drinks: The classic champagne and Chambord with fresh raspberries, and then a “Chocolate Covered Raspberry” Martini with equal parts Chambord, Trader Vic’s Chocolate Liqueur, Stoli Vanilla, and heavy cream.
We had a Valentine’s home restaurant set up tonight for my sibling and spouse.
Of course, everything was late because the kids both had friend time (masked, distanced, outside) after weeks, so it went much longer than scheduled.
Prepping everything last night enabled us to eat at a normal time!
The menu they served (with full supervision and direction from me, but they actually did it themselves):
Bread service of homemade bread (regular and GF) with a selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, and chunks of aged cheeses
Arugula salad with grape tomatoes and mozzarella pearls, dressed with olive oil and orange shrub
Truffled three cheese risotto (in the instant pot)
Piedmontese skirt steak cooked sous vide and finished in the air fryer
Mushrooms stuffed with artichokes and cheese
Crispy Brussels sprouts
Molten (GF) chocolate cakes with bourbon vanilla ice cream and strawberries
Sib wanted everyone to eat together but the kids were having a lot of fun playing servers and chefs. We served the three “kitchen staff” at the same time, though, and did eat mostly together.
last night’s din-din at seester’s was take-out Thai - crab fried rice, khao soi, and “lava” fish in a sweet curry sauce with red peppers, thai basil, and eggplant. All fantastic.
Tonight I made an umami bombshell - short ribs ala Bourguignon (or something): tons of shallots, shitake and oyster shrooms, garlic, cherry toms, tomato paste, carrots, bay leaves, fresh sage & thyme, red wine. Braised the ribs in that for a good 2+ hours. Ottolenghi’s miso onions (better with actual onions this time), and buttery rice made with a porcini bouillon cube. And a green salad with a garlicky/oregano vinaigrette. That rice with all the sauciness soaking into it was almost the best thing on the table.
And a friend dropped off a bottle of Sonoma’s Landmark Vineyard Pinot as a gift. Really good, went perfectly with dinner.
Yes we both did! A+ on the drinks, I must say, especially the martini.
Happy with our decision. Normally we would have just went out despite my dislike but the desire was not there this year. Neither of us could decide on a place or even what to cook. Pizza it was.
I inherited my dislike of going out on “holidays” (a loose descriptor) like this from my parents, who while avid restaurant people when dad was alive, were always home on V-Day, etc.
Certainly not the most photographic photo but man this cauliflower was amazing!!! Ny strip, roasted broccoli and this awesome cauliflower. Followed a recipe from the latest milk street mag. Make a paste/thick sauce from sun dried tomatoes, cilantro, almonds, cumin, pumpkin seeds Ave jalapeno. Massage it on the cauliflower and bake at high heat. Side is more of that paste with sour cream and lime. Yummmmmmmmm!
SAME. We recently discovered that our local Frank Pepe’s (of New Haven, CT fame) delivers to our side of town and we were delighted to enjoy their meat lover’s (loaded with their housemade meatballs, sausage, pepperoni and bacon) with a nice Italian red blend last night, from the comfort of our own home.
