Valentine Shmalentine 2012

Once again, I found myself single on Valentine's Day.  Not a problem here!  Just like last year, I used the holiday as a reason to prepare myself a special meal.  Last year's Valentine's supper was so delicious I knew I had to step up my game, which means it was theme time.  I decided to prepare three courses, each one featuring some shade of red or pink.  It's only "too cutesy" if you don't deliver on flavor.  My dishes not only fit the day but tasted great, taking this meal from cutesy to creative.

The salad is one I had not made before but will definitely repeat.  I used endive and radicchio as the base and then topped with sliced radishes, halved grapes, and blue cheese.  Grapes and blue cheese are a fabulous combination, made better with high quality blue cheese.  I like to read the little signs with descriptions of each cheese, and when I found one that read "The best blue cheese we have in stock.  If you haven't tried it, now's your chance," I knew it was the one for me.  Turns out, Whole Foods did not oversell.  This cheese was creamy, not too pungent, and evened out the crunchy radishes, endive, and radicchio.  All this salad needs is a light vinaigrette and you're set.

Half of the main course came already prepped from the fish counter - crab stuffed salmon.  True, it turns coral when cooked, but it starts pink.  And no, I didn't make it myself but 1) I couldn't pass up a full serving of crab stuffed anything for under $6 and 2) when you realize what I made as a side dish, you'll understand why I took the easy way out with the fish.  That's right, that is HEART SHAPED RAVIOLI next to the salmon.  Not only did I cut my ravioli into little hearts (using wonton wrappers as the noodles), I created that gorgeous fushia filling by mixing roasted beets, egg, parmesan, and goat cheese.  It's a little hard to tell they're heart-shaped in the picture, but believe me when I tell you this is a show-stopper.  Better yet, it tasted amazing.  Just top with a little butter/oil and parmesan and you will have your beloved eating out of the palm of your hand.  In this case, I was my own beloved but whatever - I turned out to be a great date.

For dessert, I tried to recreate a dish I had at a restaurant recently and topped fresh ricotta with raspberries, almonds, and honey.  Unfortunately, I used a new brand of ricotta that was unusually salty and I didn't candy the almonds like I wanted to (I got out of work late and had to make some sacrifices).  Those small blips aside, it was a good dish that I know would be great with just a few tweaks.

See what you're missing out on, boys?!