Is Valentine’s Day an awesome day or WHAT!? So, St. Valentine’s Day is the day we lose our minds about love. We buy candy. We buy cards. We buy flowers. We buy balloons and teddy bears and carriage rides and engagement rings. All for the ones we love and the ones we want to love us. And yes, we buy dinners. Lots and lots of dinners, and at some of the finest, fanciest, schmanciest restaurants, too.

I love love and I love Valentine’s Day and I love to eat! It’s the perfect excuse, to sample a restaurant you’ve never tried that may be on the pricey side.

Still, I tend to fall on the more practical side of the scale on celebrations like Valentine’s Day. All of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds Valentine’s Day holds sentimental value for so many of us. Over the years, my husband and I have laid down  the equivalent of a mortgage down payment at the altar of St. Valentine.

These days my practical, pragmatic me would scream bloody murder if I even entertained for one second the idea of spending $70 for a box of chocolates (yep, that’s a thing, y’all) or thought for a minute my husband couldn’t live without a $50.00 miniature teddy bear to tell him that I love him. With all that love floating around in the ether on Valentine’s Day, we can lose all sense of ourselves and do some pretty impulsive (er, expensive) things.

Now practical me tells me “you can celebrate Valentine’s Day honey, but you can’t mortgage the house to do it.”  So, I cook a fabulous meal with all the bells and whistles I already have in my kitchen. The romantic me says cooking a fabulous meal at home is far more warm and fuzzy than sitting in a restaurant full of strangers or settling on some low-budget joint just for the sake of saying we went to dinner for Valentine’s Day. Practical me says, “Yay!”

I know, I know. “I want to go out!  I eat at home all the time, what’s so special in doing that?”  you whine. Well baby, it’s all about being creative and thinking beyond the everyday. You make it special.  Bring out the good stuff you know, the china you think you’re only allowed to eat on at Christmas. Set the table. Buy some candles. Dim the lights. Hell, create a tent on the living room floor and cosplay – the harem of one serves the sultan his meal and maybe dance for him during drinks and desserts (bet you can’t do that at Morton’s Steak House!). Amazingly, celebrating the day doesn’t have to be complicated or it can be as complicated as you want.  This is your thing. 

To give you a leg up, here’s a sexy meal that leans heavily on Italian cuisine (Italian food is so romantic). Take a couple of days to do all the prep work you need to do in order to roll out the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner without breaking a sweat (Mise en place… We’ll talk) . Because the last thing you want to be is too tired to enjoy after-dinner festivities, amiright?

Enjoy the day and the evening. Enjoy your partner, a good meal and drinks! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Menu

Bruschetta

1 small garlic bulb
Campari or cherry tomatoes, sliced
Fresh basil
Scallion
Olive oil
French baguette
Mozzarella cheese
Salt

Cut off the top of the garlic bulb.  Place garlic, cut side down on an oiled pan.  Roast in a 450-degree oven for about 8-10 minutes. Let cool. 

Slice baguette in about 1-½” wide slices, on the bias and toast in oven until lightly browned.  Drizzle bread slices lightly with olive oil and rub roasted garlic bulb across each slice.

Place cheese on toasted bread and top with sliced tomatoes and fresh basil.  Lightly drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes on 350 degrees.

Pasta e Fagioli

2 TBSP Olive oil
1 Spicy Italian sausage
1 16 oz. can or pkg dried cannelloni beans, cooked
4 Cups vegetable stock
1 Small onion
1 Small carrot
1 Rib celery
2 Cloves garlic
16 oz. Can crushed tomatoes
1 Cup ditalini noodles
2 TBSP – Reggiano or Parmesan  cheese
2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
3-4 sprigs of fresh Thyme
½ tsp dried Oregano
1 large dried bay leaf
Salt
Pepper

Soak beans overnight following instructions on bag.  Cook cannellini beans. 

If sausage is in a casing, remove casing and crumble. Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil and sausage.  Brown the sausage, add herbs, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. 

Drain and add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot.  Raise heat to high and bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Rosemary and thyme leaves will separate from stems as soup cooks. 

Remove herb stems and bay leaf from soup. Let soup cool for a few minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and top with grated cheese. 

Roasted Pork Loin with Brown Butter Lemon Caper Sauce

3 lb Pork loin
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 TBSP Rosemary,
1 tsp ground thyme
1-½ tsp pepper
1  tsp salt or to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Wash and dry pork loin.  Slice off the silver skin. If loin is too fatty, slice off some of the fat on top (fat cap) and let meat come to room temperature.  

Grind spices in spice grinder until rosemary is minced well. Rub olive oil all over pork loin.  Cover pork loin completely with seasoning mix.

Optional:  With kitchen twine, cut about 5 strings long enough to wrap and tie along the length of the loin to keep its’ shape during cooking.

Place pork loin on a pan with a rack and put in heated oven. Loin should take 20 minutes per pound to cook.  With a meat thermometer, test doneness. Meat is done when it reaches 145 degrees. 

Take pork loin out of oven, wrap loosely with foil and let it rest for at least 5 minutes to let juices redistribute. Remove kitchen twine (if used). Slice pork loin in 2-inch slices.

Brown Butter Lemon Caper Sauce

1 tsp unsalted butter + 2TBSP butter, softened
1 TSPB crushed capers
1 tsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 TBSP fresh lemon juice
Coarse ground black pepper

Heat 1 tsp of butter in saucepan until golden brown. Do not burn! Add crushed capers into butter and saute for about 1 minute letting moisture from capers evaporate.  

Once the capers begin to brown, stir in tarragon to incorporate then pour in lemon juice. Cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes to let sauce reduce. 

Take off the heat and  stir in the remaining butter and let it melt.

Duchess Potatoes

2½ lbs Potatoes, Yukon gold
4 TBSP Butter, room temperature
3 Egg yolks
2 TBSP chopped chives
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Parsley for garnish

 Peel and cut potatoes into chunks. Place in a large pot, cover fully with cold water, add 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil. simmer until tender, about 30 minutes.

 Preheat oven to 400F.

Drain and let the potatoes to dry few minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mash, add butter and stir until incorporated. Add egg yolks and stir until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and chives.

Transfer the mashed potato into a piping bag fitted with a wide star tip. Pipe mashed potato mixture in a mound onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 150-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Note: When adding egg yolks be sure that the potato mixture is not too hot, otherwise the egg yolks will cook.