A Valentine's dinner for two

Restaurants heaving with loved up couples and pushing overpriced set menus at you isn’t really the most romantic of scenes for a Valentine’s day meal. A great alternative is to just stay in and cook for yourselves. You can eat dessert on the sofa in front of the TV and won’t risk overhearing what another couple’s pet names for each other are. The recipes for this three course meal are a little extravagant, but remember it will still be far cheaper than a decent three course meal in a restaurant. Plus pushing the boat out when it comes to dinner means you can let each other off the hook when it comes to buying each other Valentine’s gifts.

Starter: fresh calamari with mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• One large squid or two small ones
• A few spoonfuls of plain flour
• One lemon
• Salt and pepper
• Mayonnaise
• (optional: garlic)

At least two hours before you plan to eat, slice your squid into rings (the fishmonger should be happy to do this for you, and certainly happy to clean it for you). Put the rings into a bowl and add enough plain flour so that the rings are covered in a light coating. Season the mixture and then cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

By the time you’re ready to eat, the flour should have formed a batter around the squid. Heat the vegetable oil until it sizzles when a breadcrumb is added to it. Then add the squid (you’ll probably have to do a few pieces at a time) to the pan and leave it for a few minutes until nice and golden. Remove the squid with a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil off it by placing it on some kitchen roll. Serve the calamari with lemon wedges and mayonnaise (if you’re not worried about smelly breath, feel free to add garlic to the mayo).

Main course: lamb with ratatoutille and gratin dauphinois

Ingredients:

• A lamb fillet (around 250g)
• Rosemary
• Olive oil

For the ratatouille:

• One onion
• One aubergine
• One courgette
• One red pepper
• One can of tomatoes
• One clove of garlic
• One teaspoon of ground coriander
• One teaspoon of cumin
• Fresh coriander

For the gratin dauphinois:

• Two large potatoes
• A small tub of cream
• Butter
• One clove of garlic

For the ratatouille, slice the onion and heat some olive oil. Add the onion to the pan, followed by (in this order) the chopped aubergine, the sliced courgette, the garlic and the red pepper. Put a lid over the pan and leave it over a gentle to medium heat for half an hour. After half an hour, add the can of tomatoes, the groud coriander and cumin and leave it on the heat for another half hour. When you’re ready to serve it, add some fresh coriander

For the lamb, season it on all sides and make a cut in the middle to stuff the rosemary into. Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the meat on all sides for a couple of minutes. Then place it in a pre-heated oven (180 degrees) for 15-20 minutes.

For the gratin dauphinois, peel and VERY thinly slice the potatoes. Layer them in a baking dish, adding small knobs of butter, seasoning and some garlic between the layers. Pour the cream over the potatoes. Cook the potatoes in a pre-heated over (180 degress) for at leats half an hour. To check the potatoes are cooked, try putting a knife through them.

Dessert: Dame Blanche (or vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce)

An easy dessert as you might be tired by this point, simply melt 100g of dark chocolate in a bowl placed over boiling water and serve it over two scoops of vanilla ice-cream (whipped cream optional). See if you can eat it before the chocolate hardens over the ice-cream!

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.