I thought I would post a few recipes to inspire a Valentine's dinner menu.
Enjoy your special day!
Asian Pear and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese
This simple salad has a perfect mix of bitter (arugula), sweet (Asian pear), tangy (lemon dressing) and crunchy (pumpkin seeds). Try it with green apples or Bosc pears if Asian pears are hard to find.
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper
5 ounces baby arugula
3 Asian pears or whatever pear you can find (1 1/2 pounds)—peeled, cored and very thinly sliced on a mandoli
1/2 cup salted roasted pumpkin seeds or any favorite nut
3 ounces fresh goat cheese crumbled
Sea salt
Instructions
1.In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil with the lemon juice, honey and chopped thyme. Season the salad dressing with salt and pepper.
2.In a large bowl, toss the arugula with the pear slices and pumpkin seeds. Add the dressing and toss well. Top with the crumbled goat cheese, sprinkle lightly with sea salt and serve right away.
Make Ahead
The salad dressing can be refrigerated overnight.
Yields: 10 Servings
Bay Scallop Chowder with Sweet Cream and Leeks
The sweet flavors of cream mingle with fresh seafood to create a soup that's worth savoring.
Ingredients
3/4 pound white potatoes peeled and diced
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green portions)
1/2 cup white wine
1 bottle (8 ounces) clam broth
2 pints heavy cream or 3 cups cream and 1 cup milk
2 pounds bay scallops or sea scallops cut in half horizontally
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon paprika
8 sprigs dill
Instructions
In a medium saucepan, cover potatoes with salted water and bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add leeks and cook 3 minutes, until softened. Add wine and clam broth. Increase heat to medium-high; boil 10 minutes or until mixture is reduced by half. Add cream, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add potatoes and simmer 7 minutes. Add scallops and simmer 3 minutes (5 to 6 minutes for sea scallops), just until opaque (do not boil). Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Garnish with parsley, paprika and a sprig of dill.
Yields: 8 Servings
Caramelized Apple Stuffed Chicken Breast with Fontina and Bing Cherries (you could sub cranberries if you like them better than cherries)
Ingredients
Marinade:
2 ounces red wine vinegar
3 ounces apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dry mustard
4 teaspoons honey
7 ounces olive oil
8 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 medium Fuji apples
1 ounce unsalted butter
6 1/2 ounces fontina cheese shredded
6 1/2 ounces dried bing cherries roughly chopped
Instructions
For the marinade: Place the red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, the mustards, and honey in a food processor. Turn it on and drizzle in the olive oil until fully incorporated (emulsified). Marinate the chicken breasts overnight in this mixture.
Preheat grill or grill pan on high. Remove chicken breasts from the marinade and transfer to a plate. Season them with salt and pepper. Mark the chicken breasts by grilling them only long enough to make grill marks and then rotating them about 45 degrees to make crosshatch marks. Do this on 1 side only. The chicken breasts should still be completely raw inside. Hold breasts in refrigerator until ready to stuff.
For the stuffing: Peel, core, and very roughly chop the apples. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium/high heat and add the apples. Cook the apples for roughly 5 to 10 minutes or until they are deeply browned. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the fontina and cherries and mix. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
For the chicken: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cut a slit in the side of each breast (in the thicker part) about 1-inch wide, creating a pocket almost as large as the breast itself. Stuff the breasts with the apple stuffing mix – cramming in as much as possible without ripping the breast. At this point the breasts are ready to bake and can either be held in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours or baked right away. When ready to bake, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 155 degrees F in the thickest part of the breast.
Yields: 8 Servings
Lasagne Ligure
Vegetarian Dish
Ingredients
Arugula pesto:
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/4 cup toasted pinenuts
2 cups packed arugula
1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
Squash puree:
1 butternut squash deseeded and cut in half
2 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/2 cup water
Caramelized onions:
2 onions, sliced thin
1 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoons salt
1 pinch black pepper
Sauteeed mushrooms:
1 lb. oyster mushrooms washed and sliced thin.
1 lb. cremini mushrooms washed and sliced thin.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoons garlic minced
Lasange:
3 cooked fresh pasta sheets ( approx. 8 x 10 inches)
1 lb. crescenza cheese
1 lb. fresh mozzarella cut into slices
Instructions
1. Start by preparing the arugula pesto. Combine garlic and pine nuts in food processor with salt and pepper and pulse until well chopped. Add arugula leaves and pulse until well chopped. Add cheese and oil and pulse again until well blended. Pesto should be thick and creamy.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. for the squash puree. Toss squash with honey, salt, pepper, olive oil and roast face down on cookie sheet in oven. Roast for 1 hour or until very soft. Remove and cool to room temperature. Remove skin from squash and reserve pan drippings.
3. In food processor, combine squash, water and pan drippings and blend until smooth.
4. Time for the carmelized onions. In sauté pan over medium heat cook onions in butter and oil with salt and pepper. Cook until onions are golden brown.
5. Sauté the mushrooms, In sauté pan over high heat, add oil. Add mushrooms and garlic and salt and pepper and cook, stirring constantly. Cool on baking sheet.
6. Assembling the lasagne carefully: In a 1 inch deep baking pan, grease pan with olive oil. Lay one layer of pasta, cover layer with a half of squash puree, then half of onions, then half of mushrooms, then a third of pesto, then 4 oz. crescenza cheese and four ounces mozzarella.
7. Add layer of pasta and repeat. Top final layer with rest of pesto, mozzarella and crescenza cheese. Bake in oven until hot, about 15 minutes.
8. Garnish with fresh arugula tossed with lemon juice and olive oil.
Enjoy!
Yields: 6 Servings
from Chef Tom Fosnot
Maple Black Peppercorn Filet Mignon on Anson Mills Jalapeno Grits and Chili
One note - you will need to surf the web for the Chili Aioli recipe or just an Aioli recipe and add a bit of chili to it. Also the Jalapeno Grit recipe - I would keep it simple - normal grits and add jalapeno cheese to grits.
Ingredients
1 cup Maple Syrup
2 tbsp. Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
2 cloves Garlic peeled and finely chopped
1 large Shallot peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp. Fresh Sage finely chopped
1 tsp. Fresh Thyme finely chopped
1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
2 lb. Beef Filet trimmed of all fat and silver skin center-cut
Salt to taste
2 tbsp. Vegetable Oil
Jalapeno Grits
Chili Aioli
4 sprigs fresh cilantro
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine maple, black pepper, garlic, shallot, sage, thyme and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and pour over the beef filets. Allow the beef filets to soak in this liquid for a minimum of 24 hours. Remove the beef filet from the maple mixture and cut into 8 ounce filets.
Season each filet with salt.
Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, lay beef filets in skillet and brown for 5 minutes. Turn and brown for an additional 3-5 minutes or until desired degree of doneness is reached.
On 4 warm plates, place evenly, 1cup Jalapeno Grits in the center of the plate and a tablespoon of Smoked Chili Aioli.
Yields: 4 Servings
From: Chef Dean Fearing
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