Dragon Fruit Rum Cocktails

This would be great for Valentine's Day! The color is so bright, fuchsia pink that it looks totally fake, but it's all from the dragon fruit. You chop it up and infuse the rum with it (dragon fruit has almost no flavor so it's really just for the color). It's super tasty and beautiful.

Makes 4
Ingredients:
1 cup white rum
1 dragon fruit, 3/4 chopped up and 1/4 reserved for garnish
1 tbsp superfine sugar
1 tsp honey
juice of 2 limes
juice of 2 tangerines
tonic water

Directions:
Mix the rum and the chopped dragon fruit in a bowl or measuring cup and let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two. It should turn a bright fuchsia.

Uni Pasta with Crab

Yum! This is such a subtle, tasty pasta. I know some people are turned off by uni (sea urchin), but you wouldn't know it was in here. It just gives a subtle sweet, briny flavor. I was at Cor J and saw that they had uni and I'd always wanted to try it, so I googled around and found this recipe. I based this on that. It's such an elegant pasta, especially with fresh tagliatelle. It was a perfect Valentine's Day starter. (We ate too much.)

Valentine's Day Heart-Shaped Ravioli

Jamie and I had some friends over last weekend for a Valentine's Day dinner party. I made this awesome ravioli, but in pink and white hearts. 

Seersucker

I'm just regretting that this is the only picture I took to show how great Seersucker was. I'd been meaning to go forever and Jamie took me for a Valentine's Day dinner. It was so. good. The cocktails were great, with a special smokey chipotle whiskey sour. The biscuits they served to start were flaky and fluffy and buttery. The star of the night was the fried chicken. Wow! It was so herbaceous and juicy, even though it was boneless. It was just so flavorful. I can't wait to go back!

Tournedos Rossini

La Sirene is one of my favorite restaurants, so I tried to recreate their wonderful Tournedos. I made them with some frites and asparagus for Jamie for Valentine's Day, then made them again with Alice the next week. (I've been teaching her to cook, and she's been so good!) They're very impressive and not very hard to make. Jamie can't wait to serve them at a dinner party. For the french fries, I just use Trader Joe's frozen fries, serve them in a newspaper cone with some aioli, and sprinkle truffle salt on them. You have to try it! It also looks adorable.

Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 filet mignon
2 slices of French bread about the size of the filets
2 slices foie gras
2 tbsp red wine
salt and pepper
1/4 cup beef stock
1/4 tsp truffle oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:
When you buy the filets, season them liberally with salt and pepper. If you're eating them later, wrap them up and put them in fridge.

Valentine's Day Dinner!

Jamie sent me two bouquets of roses! One the day before Valentine's Day to psych me out, and then an even prettier one on actual Valentine's Day. Isn't he the best?? We have a Valentine's Day tradition of staying in and having some sort of special dinner, then going out to Long Island the weekend after and having a long, relaxing weekend, just the two of us. I wanted to make him something special and toyed with a few ideas and decided on salmon roe caviar and creme fraiche as an hors d'oeuvre, lobster pot pie and salad, and pink cupcakes. (It was going to be a pink heart shaped cake, but they heart shaped cakes fell apart, so I just used the cupcakes!) All of this was complemented by a bottle of our favorite bubbly, Graham Beck. (We were introduced to it by Luvo Ntezo, the amazing sommelier at One&Only Cape Town in South Africa - it's fab. Made in the Champagne style, so very yeasty and dry, not sweet. And about $15 per bottle. Love!!)

I was able to whip this up on a weeknight, but it was a bit crazy, so I'd recommend saving it for a special weekend night home-date, or intimate dinner party.

Lobster Pot Pie
This was really decadent, but great and choc full of lobster. I used Ina's recipe, but used puff pastry instead, and didn't do the bottom layer. Also, I didn't use any Pernod because I didn't have any.

Post Valentine's Day Pick Me Up

The lull after Valentine's Day is creeping in - I've been eating that heart cake for every meal and consequently had a cavity filled this morning and the next holiday isn't until Easter, if that counts. But, to save the day, I still have some absolutely beautiful roses from Jamie on my desk. All is right with the world, I just need to floss more.


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Fondue for two

I wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day and make something we've never had. I got my mom's old fondue pot and we had a cute little fondue dinner. I opted for meat fondue, or fondue bourgignonne. I made four sauces - chimichurri, horseradish, mustard, and mango chutney (this I bought).



To make chimichurri, chop up garlic, cilantro, and parsley, add olive oil, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and a little red wine vinegar. For the horseradish and mustard sauces, start with mayonnaise and sour cream and add the horseradish/mustard (half dijon, half grain) and season w salt and pepper. I also added a little vinegar to the horseradish and some dried tarragon to the mustard.
For the meat, I chopped up filet and pork tenderloin into little cubes and tossed them w olive oil, salt and pepper.
Heat oil (I used half veggie half olive) over the stove w a garlic clove and a bay leaf. Once it bubbles, light the sterno and pour the oil into the fondue pot. Then just cook the meat for 30 seconds or so, less for filet, and enjoy w the sauces!
It was fun and delicious and interactive. Will definitely have a fondue party in the near future.
And of course, a sweet dessert for Jamie!



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