Recipes for a Romantic Valentine's Celebration at Home

This was our third Valentine's Day together as a couple and our track record for celebrating is pretty weird.

• Year One: matinee viewing of "A Good Day to Die Hard;" fun, but not a 10 on the sexy-ometer. 
• Year Two: I ditched a sniffling, sick J to rush to my best friend's side and watched her give birth to her third daughter, aptly called Potbelly; J cooked a lovely dinner while I rushed home totally in a tizzy with a flat tire. 

 And here we are at Year Three - wanting to do something truly special without shelling out a lot of money or having to make elaborate plans. So what did we do? We cooked a delicious dinner at home that was simple, yet elegant and then tackled one of our bucket list recipes - French macarons.

Of course, the evening was not without a theatrical twist. A huge wind storm with gusts upwards of 40 mph ascended on our neighborhood and we frantically tried to batten down the hatches and get our outside cats inside. Which meant J was running around moving lawn tools and wood to keep it from blowing away Twister-style and I had to make a mid-gale run to the store for cat litter. Quite sexy, really. 

GoJoe quickly made herself comfortable & began shedding everywhere.

But even with the dramatic interlude, dinner still turned out great and we had a wonderful evening together cooking, eating, Scrabble-ing and praying our house wouldn't blow away. 

And that brings me to my first Date Night (at Home) Tip:

If you're wanting to have a special evening together, you don't need to go for something super complicated. Life happens and gets in the way and if you choose a classic, easy-to-prepare menu it will probably stand up against obstacles or be easily repaired. 

We chose dishes that we love and have mastered, but added some new twists and cooking methods. For dinner we had ribeye steak with herb butter, cauliflower puree and sweet glazed carrots. These carrots are J's speciality; my mom requests them every time we have a big family meal together. And making cauliflower puree couldn't be more simple (steam cauliflower florets, blend in food processor with 2 T butter and/or EVOO, s&p and any other flavorings you'd like). We experimented a little with the steaks.

Date Night (at Home) Tip: Valentine's Day means BIG sales at grocery stores on normally expensive items like steak, lobster, shellfish, fresh salmon etc. This is a great opportunity for Date Night and to 1. keep an eye on your store's meat counter near the end of the sale, they'll reduce "older" items on top of the sale price, and 2. stock up and freeze extra meat. Now you'll have cheap supplies for V-day and your next romantic night in, too!

In the summer time, a grilled steak is wonderful. However, after using this method, we believe pan searing and basting is the best way to cook a steak. Period. We consulted this super handy article from Buzzfeed for instructions.

Here are the highlights:

1. Forty-five minutes before cooking dab any excess moisture off of your steak and season liberally with salt & pepper. Leave on a plate for at least 45 minutes to come to room temp. 
2. Twenty minutes before cooking, start heating your cast iron skillet over medium-high heat to get it screaming hot. Yes, they are serious when they say cover your smoke detector; I'd like to add you should open a window or two...
3. Pat dry your steak again of any moisture the salt pulled out. 
4. Add 2T vegetable oil (not EVOO) to your pan and get the oil hot - shimmery and just beginning to smoke. 
5. Turn the heat to high and add your steak. Leave it alone for two minutes - DO NOT TOUCH IT!
6. Flip and sear the other side. Again, LEAVE IT ALONE. 
7. Continue flipping every few minutes until it reaches 120 at its thickest point. 
8. Lower the heat and add 3 T butter to the pan and let it melt. Then, add around 5 sprigs of fresh thyme (rosemary or sage would also be yummy - be creative!) 
9. Spoon the butter and herbs over the steak until it reaches your desired internal temp. 
10. Remove from heat and let your steak rest for at least five minutes. 

Since we were going for super decadent steaks, I also prepared an herb butter earlier in the day. This is an incredibly easy way to impart extra flavor and juiciness to a steak. I stirred half a stick of softened unsalted butter with about 3 T of chopped fresh thyme (removed from the twiggy part); rolled it into a log in plastic wrap and returned it to the fridge. When plating your hot steak (or mashed potatoes or anything you'd like herb butter on) place a 1/4" medallion on top and let it melt all over the food.

Date Night (at home) Tip: Even if you're eating take out, never underestimate how much a cute tablescape can "set the mood." Take the time to set the table with nice plates (use the good china, why else do you have it?!), pretty glasses, and unscented candles. I even broke out our cloth napkins and my cat napkin rings! A little effort goes a long way - that goes for dinner, romance, manners and so many other areas of our relationships! 

For the "entertainment" portion of our evening, we decided to attempt to make French macarons.

Via pastrygene.com

These are allegedly one of the hardest, most finicky pastry recipes out there. Food Network magazine (where we got our recipe) actually devoted an article to their difficulty and explained the immense struggles of their test kitchen in preparing the meringue sandwiches. So, we were nervous. But we'd seen a boy on MasterChef Junior make them, and he's 15+ years younger than us and that was somehow comforting.

After making them I will say that it's more trouble to find inexpensive almond flour than to make the macarons. They are undoubtedly time consuming and it takes some skill to make uniformly shaped wafers, but if you can make meringue you can do this! And, pretty much anyone can make meringue.

P.S. They're gluten-free, filled with fruit preserves
& use very little sugar. I think these count as healthy.. 

Last year, in my frantic excitement over a new niece, I flubbed the chocolate souffles I had planned to accompany J's V-day menu. I actually was "cooking" the mixture on the stove for 5+ minutes before I realized the eye was off. But this dessert was a success!

We made the blueberry cheesecake and pineapple versions featured in the FN recipe. And they were delicious. Furthermore, I don't know why I haven't been blending cream cheese and jam all these years! The wafers are crispy and light with very subtle flavor and the creamy filling is so sweet but still delicate. This is tea party food at its finest! I can only imagine how big of a hit these beauties would be at a brunch!

Quick tip: Macarons don't store well as sandwiches,
 so if you're not eating them right away, hold off on the filing.
Fill immediately before serving. 

While they were delicious, it's more important to me how much fun we had together making them. We were talking while we measured, dancing as we mixed and playing Scrabble when they were in the oven. It was good, quality time together sharing something we both enjoy.

And that's my final tip:

Date Night (at home) Tip: You don't have to be cliche or meet archaic romance standards. Do something you enjoy. That could be something you share a passion for, like cooking, or have your partner teach you about something they love but you know little about, say salsa dancing. It's all about sharing experience and joy. 

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and hope this article inspires more romance (or at least better food) in your life.

XOXO,

J & A