We celebrated Valentine’s this year with a wonderful dinner at home. I did most of the preparation in the afternoon to facilitate a fun evening of cooking and eating.
Salmon Rillettes from Michael Chiarello’s At Home cookbook was a great starter to nibble while the salads were assembled and the soup was warming.
Following the starter, a salad of “HeartBeets” was served. Beet “ravioli” made with thin sliced beets cut into heart shapes and stuffed with seasoned goat cheese topped the salad made with greens dressed with a beet-goat cheese vinaigrette.
Before the soup course, we assembled the main course and popped it in the oven. We then sat down to eat Cream of Asparagus soup. By the time we had finished our soup, the Boeuf en Croute was finished and ready to plate. It was a small piece of tenderloin topped with dijon mustard and a red onion reduction and wrapped in puff pastry. The recipe was from Rachel Khoo’s The Little Paris Kitchen. I made a red wine reduction to serve alongside and green beans sautéed with some of the red onions. Superb!
We had a selection of cheeses and then some miniature gateau. I cheated on the dessert – it was purchased from the freezer section of Trader Joe’s. I could not have made such a selection of cakes easily and TJ’s does such a good job of them!
It was a lovely evening of cooking and eating with a special someone who is also the photographer of most of the great food pictures on this site. Happy Valentine’s Day!