BE SWEET TO YOUR SWEETIE
On Valentine’s Day, presentation is everything.
Not only do we want our special homemade dinner to taste good, we want it to look spectacular.
If you’re serving a simple pasta dish, decorate it with heart-shaped peppers. For the salad, cut little hearts out of cooked, sliced beets.
For dessert, serve mousse in a bowl made from red vanilla-flavored candy coating. Or, make a favorite white cake recipe in a heart-shaped cake pan, and top it with a raspberry sauce.
Here’s an easy menu you can prepare for a sweetheart dinner.
• Bourbon-pecan chicken
• Bibb lettuce salad with raspberry vinaigrette
• Steamed asparagus with lemon butter
• Wild and white rice
• Tomatoes with garlic
• White chocolate mousse in dessert cups
Bourbon-pecan chicken
• 2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Bread crumbs
• Crushed pecans
Bourbon sauce:
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons bourbon
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 6 ounces butter
Roll chicken breasts in mixture of equal parts breadcrumbs and pecans. Place in a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve with bourbon sauce.
To make sauce: Whisk together mustard, sugar, bourbon, soy sauce and Worcestershire. Bring to a low simmer and remove from heat. Whisk in 6 ounces butter. Keep warm and drizzle over baked chicken.
Tomatoes with garlic
• 12 ripe cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• Black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 teaspoon chives, chopped
Place tomatoes in sieve; dip in boiling water 3 to 4 seconds to loosen skins. Remove skins and place tomatoes in baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, and let stand 15 minutes and drain.
In a saucepan, melt butter, add garlic and pepper. Stir. Pour over tomatoes; shake to coat. Warm in preheated 350-degree oven for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not overcook. Sprinkle with chives. Makes 2 servings.
White chocolate ricotta mousse
• 3 ounces white chocolate, melted
• 1 pound ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
Combine the melted chocolate, ricotta cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and honey in a blender or food processor bowl and whirl until very smooth. Pour into dessert cups and chill. Just before serving, combine the heavy cream, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and the maple syrup, and whip until stiff. Serve the mousse topped with whipped cream.
Dessert cups
• 4 small round balloons
• 8 ounces red vanilla-flavored candy coating, cut into pieces
• 4 clothespins
Thoroughly wash and dry balloons. Inflate each balloon to 3 1/2 inches, twisting top and securing with clothespin. Twist ties used for plastic storage bags can be used in place of clothespins. Be sure sharp ends of twist tie do not puncture balloon. Do not tie balloon into knot.
Melt candy coating in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Pour onto 12-inch square of foil. Cool until lukewarm but still melted. Candy coating must be cooled to lukewarm to prevent balloons from bursting.
Line cookie sheet with foil. Roll each balloon in candy coating, rocking back and forth across bottom and 1/3 up sides to form bottom and sides of cup. Stand each coated balloon on foil-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate until set. Release air and remove balloon. Leftover candy coating can be reheated and used later.
Raspberry sauce
• 2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen raspberries
• 8 ounces sugar
• 2 tablespoons raspberry brandy
Thaw raspberries. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine raspberries with sugar and heat until sugar is dissolved. Cool, and process in food processor with a few on-off pulses. Strain to remove seeds, cool, and add brandy. Serve sauce in small decorative pitcher.
FOR THE BEGINNER
If you’re a novice cook, you still can prepare a homemade meal. Bowtie pasta makes an attractive base for a simple tomato sauce. With that, serve a salad, French baguette slices, and heart-shaped cake.
Bowtie pasta with fresh tomato sauce
• 3/4 pound small red cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 to 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Scant 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound bowtie pasta
• 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
In a large saute pan, combine tomatoes, green onions, olive oil, hot pepper flakes, and salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat and simmer until tomatoes render their juices, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat before the tomatoes completely collapse and lose their shape.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Just before pasta is done, reheat sauce gently. Stack the basil leaves a few at a time and slice them into fine ribbons; add to sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning. Drain pasta and return it to pot. Add contents of skillet and toss well. Serve on warm plates. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
To make heart-shaped peppers: Using a small knife, cut the peppers into 2 pieces and remove membranes. Using a tiny heart aspic cutter and working from the inside of the pepper, cut out about 25 little hearts.
LABOR THAT SAYS "LOVE"
A Valentine cheesecake topped with fresh roses and chocolate leaves is something that will give extra meaning to your Valentine's Day celebration.
When you spend hours making something as special as this elegant cheesecake, it will definitely say, "I love you."
Valentine cheesecake
Chocolate shortbread crust:
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits
• Small pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cheesecake filling:
• 2 cups cottage cheese, small curd
• 1 pound cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups sour cream
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Put all ingredients into a food processor with steel blade. Pulse on and off until dough just begins to ball up.
Press dough into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 15 minutes. If crust has pulled away from edges, gently press back. You want a good seal.
To make cheesecake filling: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Have cottage cheese and cream cheese at room temperature. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cottage cheese and cream cheese at high speed until creamy. Blend in sugar. Add eggs and beat gently.
(After the initial high-speed blending to ensure that the cheeses are smooth, you should not overbeat. This may cause the filling to rise too fast and crack.)
With the mixer set on low, add the cornstarch, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add the butter and sour cream and mix until just blended.
Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and bake for 1 hour or until the cake is firm at the edges and maybe slightly brown. Turn off the oven. After 15 minutes, open the door 2 inches and allow the cake to cool another 15 minutes.
Place the cheesecake on a cooling rack. After it has reached room temperature, place in the refrigerator for 10 to 12 hours.
Chocolate leaves and heart
Choose nicely formed rose leaves. Rinse and pat dry. Melt 3 ounces of semisweet chocolate in microwave oven. Using a small soft-bristled brush, coat the undersides of leaves, and place on a sheet pan. Place in refrigerator until set. Put on a second coat of chocolate.
Cut a heart pattern. If you use a heart-shaped doily, it is quite easy to cut the center from one for your pattern. Lightly coat with butter. Follow the same coating procedure for heart.
To assemble, you will need:
• Large plate or tray
• 12-inch doily
• 6-inch heart-shaped doily
• 4 fresh sweetheart roses
• Baby’s breath
• 1 yard red ribbon, 1/4-inch wide
• 1 yard red ribbon, smallest width
Remove sides from pan. Gently run a long spatula under bottom to loosen crust. Place doily on plate. Gently lift cheesecake (using spatula) onto doily. Center ribbon ( 1/4-inch wide) around sides and cut off excess.
Place heart-shaped doily in center of cake. Put small-width ribbon around edge of heart, letting the ends extend about 2 inches beyond point of heart.
Cut head of roses with about 1/2-inch stem. Stick one rose into the point of the heart. Place two more roses on either side and slightly lower than the first. Place the last rose at the top of the heart.
Working quickly, gently peel the leaves away from the chocolate. Do the same with the heart. Place the heart in the center of the doily. Then, handling leaves as little as possible, place leaves around the edge of heart, sometimes lifting the ribbon, sometimes placing leaves over it. Poke baby’s breath around roses and leaves.
Chill. When ready to serve remove decoration and slice. If cake sticks to your knife you may want to dip it in warm water between slices. Place rose and chocolate leaf beside slice of cheesecake.
