Valentines day. what's cooking?

let me preface this first. i think Valentines day is the biggest marketing scam ever!! okay, i feel better.

i was working on dinner reservations, when a friend called. she is lonely for V-day, since she is man-less. oooookkkaaay! trying to be supportive, i cancelled our dinner reservations (with my wifes absolute blessings). i am going to cook something. AND my BIL and his girlfriend is coming too.

so now i have to cook a decent meal for five. and my wife swore off all store bought meat (for now)..ARGH!

i am going to make Sunday Gravy. using deer meat, and wild boar parts. what do you think? good hunk of local bread, some great local Sonoma wine... keep it simple, and minimum dishes. most of it can happen in the oven.

what are you doing?

That tomato sauce sounds like it will be really good -- you can never go wrong with wild boar. Although the 'parts' thing worries me a little... Hopefully it isn't something Valentine's related...

Volunteered last night to either make mussels or linguine w/ clam sauce for my wife. I'll likely have linguine w/ a red sauce.

If my "dates" have their way, I suspect I'll be serving home made chicken nuggets and plain buttered noodles. 4 bouquets. Rough crowd.

I made the deal long ago that we do not really do V Day. A card and chocolates and dinner some time during the year at a fancy joint no spending limit. Wife wants cinnamon rolls so I got out easy. I am thinking about ordering a pork rib roast though and putting it over smashed potatoes and some sauteed greens. Chocolate pots de cream or mousse is the only way to go on vday.

rahimlee54 said:

I made the deal long ago that we do not really do V Day. A card and chocolates and dinner some time during the year at a fancy joint no spending limit. Wife wants cinnamon rolls so I got out easy. I am thinking about ordering a pork rib roast though and putting it over smashed potatoes and some sauteed greens. Chocolate pots de cream or mousse is the only way to go on vday.

Click to expand...

you had me at cinnamon rolls!!

Sounds good. I'd toss in a fancy side as well. duck fat fries with gravy and deer steak. Would be epic. Toss down a flourless chocolate cake and a raspberry coolis for bonus points. Super easy super decadant. All and all just keep it simple and just elevate everything one notch above the regular and you defiantly get lots of complements. Oh and good luck with your friend. I'll be cooking sous vide salmon, gf can't handle meat.

Duck fat fries, drool��. It's half the reason I cook duck 2-3 times a year.

72 hour short ribs for us with garlic mashed potatoes and a vegetable tbd.

Ramen, full seasoning packet...no adjuncts.

Gnocchi with slow cooked pork ragu.

Need to work on my gnocchi making but overall was happy with it.

Going out for burgers. Wife couldn't be happier. I love low maintenance.

Valentines day is a day for making money - especially on a Saturday! Three sittings. Special foodie packages available to buy for the next day too.

All new recipes for me yesterday. Wedge salad with bacon and homemade blue cheese dressing. Lobster(cooked sous vide) scampi and a double chocolate tort (first time baking a cake from scratch) deserts are usually the wife's thing.

Another first was when the food thermometer fell to the ground and landed on the readout. As I reached down to pick it up the probe impaled my hand by about an inch. Grossest feeling ever.

Ouch!

Wound up getting a reprieve from mussels/ clams. Wife picked up a 2 lb prime aged ribeye from Whole Paycheck; roasted it to ~120 deg F with a rosemary sprig on top, let it rest for an hour or so, then gave it a good sear on the stove. Threw some butter in the pan to pick up the rosemary flavor and coat the outside of the steak. Sliced it up and topped with some grey sea salt. Perfect medium rare throughout, with a nice thin crust. It was pretty frickin' good!

Also made some crispy roasted potatoes tossed with rosemary, garlic, butter and salt, and steamed some asparagus.

Finished up with chocolate souffles served with raspberry whipped cream. That and the steak were the real stars.