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So what did you cook for Valentines?

post #1 of 20
2/14/09 at 6:10pm
Thread Starter 
Here was our valentines.


started off with this...

then these.












finished off with


BDL - Great lemon panna cotta recipe. only thing "I" would have done differently is made mine "taller" but.....well we are trying to cut back on the calories. :blush:

Super simple, and it's exactly what NRatched requested.
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post #2 of 20
2/14/09 at 6:19pm
Polished off leftovers: Turkey tamales, chile verde enchiladas, a rice in achiote oil, dried ground chile, garlic, onion and so on though no tomatoes--not really a spanish/mexican rice but inspired in that way, refried beans, a little salad with a lime cilantro vinaigrette.
more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #3 of 20
2/14/09 at 7:06pm
Made what I would have made last night had we not gone out:
Casserole of sauteed cabbage and shallots with mushrooms, noodles, sour cream, dill, and Red Hawk cheese
Fried kielbasa slices
Sauteed snow peas with smoked paprika
Mixed salad with olive oil and sherry vinegar (actually, he made this, as he almost always does)
1 bottle of beer between the two of us.

Hey, we've been together since 1974. No romantic mush for/from me. :p :lol:
"Notorious stickler" -- The New York Times, January 4, 2004
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post #4 of 20
2/14/09 at 7:30pm
We did the same. Went out last night so that dinner was tonight. The DD and DW had spinach salads and I had a bowl of really nice, ripe Golden Hawaiian Pineapple to start. Then it was Chicken (bone-in) marinated in lemon juice, cajun seasoning (my own private blend) and olive oil then grilled served with curry couscous with pink lentils and green beans.
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post #5 of 20
2/14/09 at 7:49pm
My husband was born on Valentine's Day, so we usually have a double celebration. So ... we had smoked salmon with crackers, bread, asparagus with aioli sauce, pureed broccoli with mint, steamed foie gras with a balsamic and banyuls sauce, and champagne. By the end we were too full for dessert!
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post #6 of 20
2/15/09 at 2:28am
Looks great RPM :)

I cooked nothing at all :)

Went out for very nice dinner for first time in living memory.... shared starter of hummous with crispy flat bread.

Appertisers: I had bbq oriental style calamari with cucumber pickles and onion relish - sooo nice, other half had goats cheese filo pie.

Main: both had poached atlantic salmon - so soft and flaky. Fish was lovely, but it had been paired with asparagus in butter then a warm noodle and julienned veg salad, which supposedly was an asian dish. No soy, garlic, ginger, chilli....a bit odd, so just had the salmon which would have been great simply on a crisp salad. Left the rest.

Desert: oh boy mine was good. Chocolate tart with pastachio icecream and also some kahlua icecream with a chilled chocolate lattice. Very nice. Other desert was a summer bery pudding (english style) which kinda fell flat..... so I shared mine.

Not many people in restaurant (local festival was on here) so it was even better, no loud music, great unobtrusive service, and the other diners were in a great mood as well and good to talk to.

Young man proposed to his young lady, all very romantic, ring in the glass of champagne, long red stem roses....ahh young love. She said yes :)
 Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein
 
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post #7 of 20
2/15/09 at 7:19am
I did a short-rib braise, loosely based on a recipe from Gourmet magazine, that was only semi-successful. The sauce and vegetables were wonderful, but I had picked up some "boneless" short ribs to try and they were not good. Just chunks of rubbery beef that never did get tender and came out kind of tasteless. Whoops.

Had some good asparagus on the side and some great wine. Remembered why we got married in the first place. A nice evening, even if the meat was a little sub-par.
If you can't put it on a plate, it probably isn't all that important.

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post #8 of 20
2/15/09 at 7:23am
Leg of lamb slow roasted for 12 hours with roasted winter vegetables, a bottle of Bolly and a movie.
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post #9 of 20
2/15/09 at 7:36am
We went out for dinner - to make up for the DISASTROUS meal we had for my birthday last Tuesday. I think I had the WORST meal of my life... no names, no packdrill, but we won't be gracing that place with our presence ever again!
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post #10 of 20
2/15/09 at 9:02am
Cabrito shanks, braised in Negra Modelo, garlic and aromatics, then smothered with a nice raisiny pasilla chile sauce. Asparagus vinaigrette salad. Negra with the meat and Carlos I brandy and coffee with the almond flan for desert.
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post #11 of 20
2/15/09 at 11:46am
An extra thick Ribeye, butterflied into a heart shape :D, with a Brandy Portobello Demi
Baked Potato with all the fixin's
Sautéed Asparagus

And we shared a Brownie Sundae.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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post #12 of 20
2/15/09 at 8:42pm
Valentines Day I was pretty much down and out with a nasty cold - leftovers and laying on the sofa watching an old DVD, not exactly what we had planned.

Tonight I was feeling better, broiled a garlic - lemon spatchcocked chicken with some pan roasted rosemary potatoes and stir fried sugar peas with sesame seeds.

By next saturday I hope to be back to 100%, we're having some guests over for dinner. We'll se how it goes.

mjb.
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post #13 of 20
2/16/09 at 3:49am
Yum, did you roast it covered? Would love to hear method, recipe, and temp for this.

For V-day we made pasticchio together. His favorite part is the noodles, and my favorite part is the bechamel.
In a nutshell
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post #14 of 20
2/16/09 at 4:51am
Vin de Glace poached pear salad

Palm Sugar Pan Seared Scallop

Slow Roasted Grilled Duck, white asparagus, roasted tri-colored fingerling potato

Chocolate Tort, English Toffee Caramel, Orange Chocolate Ganache
I am a reduction of my youthful mistakes mixed with the roux of a few adult successes
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post #15 of 20
2/16/09 at 8:02am
Simple homefoods that were friendly to my 1200-1550 calorie per day eating plan.

I chopped 6 slices of bacon, then cooked some chopped onions and peppers in the grease. I added a quart of tomatoes (frozen from my garden last summer) and let it cook and reduce. We had that sauce served over rice and I made some low cal brownies sprinkled with powdered sugar for dessert.

It was very simple but the family loved it and stated they wish to have it again! I know some don't consider bacon to be healthy but I feel in moderation, it's not too bad. Of course, had I eaten those 6 slices alone, it would have been a lot worse but divided between 4 people, it wasn't too bad.
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post #16 of 20
2/16/09 at 5:55pm
So... after all the planning, scheming and whatnot, I got specific instructions on what we were doing for Valentine's Day and they weren't like anything I'd planned.

Lunch: We went to a favorite restaurant of Linda's, a Oaxaqueño place called Guelaguetza. She had mole negra which was predictably wonderful, while I had a fantastitic huachinango (snapper) in a sort of deconstructed Veracruzana.

Dinner: I made her favorite waffles (using a little polenta and some pecan pieces) bacon and sausage; and for dessert, a caramel flan.

"The best laid plans o' Mice and Men. Gang aft agley."

BDL
What were we talking about?
 
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post #17 of 20
2/17/09 at 3:36am
I'd like to say that I ate one of the specials on the menu,
but really:
too much beer followed with 2 bean and cheese quesadilla accented with Tapatio and a bag of microwave popcorn.
I'm single (for obvious reasons).

edit: I don't mean to imply that there were two different beans in my quesadilla, but that I consumed two of the said quesadillas.
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post #18 of 20
2/17/09 at 5:32am
Hi all :)

Nothing too notable. I made my wifes favorite biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. Our kids wanted to have people over for a Valentines party :crazy: They spent a good part of the day, last week, making hearts and various decorations for the house. So we invited some family and had too many desserts, cheeses, chocolates, homemade chocolate ice cream (thanks Nicko), fruit, punch and coffee.


You've really got to love the enthusiasm in children :D

dan

Enjoy the Food!

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post #19 of 20
2/17/09 at 6:48am

First try!

So this is what I cooked

I took steak and stuffed it with pepper jack cheese, mushrooms, bacon, and a little italian dressing. I seasoned the steak with pepper and garlic salt.

I served it with fresh steamed green beans and tomatoes along with garlic mashed including bacon within.

Wine was a cab called The Show. Ended up being very good.
Source for the best butchers block.
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post #20 of 20
2/18/09 at 12:06pm
I made a load of picnic food and spread out cushions and blankets on the floor. After cooking for him so much previously I wanted to be able to spend all my time with him instead of putting finishing touches to dishes away from him in the kitchen. So we had...

a duck liver and orange pate with homemade bread
king prawn skewers with garlic butter and parsley
pieces of salmon fillet with a chilli dip
smoked salmon and cream cheese canapes
homemade sausage, apple and thyme rolls
mozzarella and cherry tomato tartlets (puff pastry - unfortunately shop-bought not made, I've never been good with pastry!)

and for dessert...

strawberries and orange segments dipped in milk and white chocolate
mini chocolate and cherry fairy cakes (made with creme de cassis and pieces of cherry)

All washed down with a bottle of champagne!

Not the most advanced cooking but meant I could spend the entire night with him and there was almost no washing up!
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