A candlelight dinner...

Valentine's is a day of romance filled with love and candlelight dinners. It’s the day of the year that couples express their deep and abiding love for one another. A time when expressing one’s love is shown through small gestures – a small wrapped box filled with a sparkling piece of jewelry or maybe a box with a silky red négligée or perhaps a romantic dinner at home with the one you love.

Whatever you choose to do this Valentine's Day, make sure it comes from the heart and it shows your special love just how important he or she is to you.

Being a cook, I feel the best way to a heart is through food. So, I suggest this three course dinner menu ending with champagne and espresso. Each of these recipes is easy to prepare and filled with flavors that will definitely add to the romance in the air.

So take the hand of the one you love and rekindle the spark of your first kiss by saying, “Will you be my valentine?”

Mesclun Greens with Lemon-Miso Vinaigrette

Steak au Poivre

Sauté of Baby Vegetables

Individual Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé

Champagne

Espresso

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Recipes for your above Valentine's Day dinner…

Mesclun Greens with Lemon-Miso Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1 pound mesclun greens
1 pear, cored & sliced
6 ounces goat cheese

For vinaigrette:
4 tablespoons Miso (found in Oriental markets)
1 cup salad oil
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari
2 small shallots, chopped
2½ tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

In a large salad bowl, toss mesclun greens and set aside. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice on pear slices and set aside. Crumble the goat cheese and set aside.

In a food processor, blend all ingredients until the consistency of light cream. Add additional water to thin dressing if necessary.

To assemble salad: place a generous handful of mesclun greens on your serving plate, arrange a few pear slices around the greens and sprinkle goat cheese top your salad and dress it with your vinaigrette. And serve.

Makes about 2 cups



Steak au Poivre

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, crushed
2 teaspoons white peppercorns, crushed
2 eight (8) ounce strip steaks
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2½ tablespoons butter
½ cup minced shallots
1 tablespoon flour
¼ cup cognac or brandy
1 cup beef stock or canned broth
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish

Press peppercorns into both sides of the fillets; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Season with salt.

Using a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until hot. Add steaks and cook on each side for 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Discard the fat wiping the skillet clean. Add 1 tablespoon butter and shallots to skillet and cook for 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the cognac and reduce, stirring for 1 minute. Add stock, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Swirl in remaining butter and parsley.

To serve; place spoonful of sauce on plate and pour sauce over the steaks.
Garnish with chopped parsley.

Serves 2



Sauté of Baby Vegetables

Ingredients:
1 pound haricots verts or tender young green beans
1 pound baby carrots with tops, peeled
¾ pound pattie pan squash
¾ pound baby purple pearl onions, peeled
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

In a large heavy sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add carrots, pattie pan squash and pearl onions; sauté until tender. Add green beans and sauté for 5 additional minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 2



Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé

Ingredients:
½ cup sugar, plus additional for dusting
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks
1½ cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
6 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt
Garnish with confectioners' sugar

Prepare a 6-cup soufflé dish with butter and sugar, knocking out excess sugar. Butter and sugar a 6-inch wide piece of foil long enough to fit around dish. Fit prepared dish with collar extending 2-inches above rim.

In a bowl, whisk together flour and 1 tablespoon sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks and ¼ cup milk. Add to flour mixture, whisking until smooth.

In a heavy saucepan heat remaining 1¼ cups milk over high heat until it boils; whisk into yolk mixture in a slow stream.

Transfer mixture to a saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until it comes to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until very thick - stirring constantly. About 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and chopped chocolate until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

In another large bowl, beat egg whites with salt until they form stiff peaks. Stir ¼ of whites into chocolate mixture and fold in remaining whites gently until thoroughly mixed. Pour mixture into prepared dish. Soufflé can be prepared to this point up to 1½ hours before cooking.

Bake soufflé in a preheat 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until firm and set in center. Remove collar carefully and sift confectioners' sugar over top.
Serve with a dollop of sweetened whip cream.

Serves 6

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George’s notes:

• Saint Valentine's Day (commonly shortened to Valentine's Day) is an annual holiday held on February 14 celebrating love and affection.
• Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269. Saint Valentine was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD.
• While some claim the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer this may be the result of misinterpretation. Chaucer wrote: "For this was sent on Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."
• Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.
• The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards.

My Internet message to you ~

The above dinner is one I did several years ago and the photographs were taken at different times for different occasions.