Valentine’s Day Menu
Valentine’s Day Menu has arrived! Begin with French 75’s with a twist and a light caprese salad. Next indulge in a rich, effortless carbonara entrée. Finish with chocolate covered strawberries…and the rest of the bottle of champagne! I walk you through each step of my simple and delectable menu below, so you don’t need to plan anything else for your special evening!
Begin by making the chocolate covered strawberries so they have time to chill in the fridge.
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES
1/2 lb (about 10) fresh strawberries, can leave stems on if preferred
3 oz (about 2 chocolate bars) semisweet chocolate, chopped
1-2 tbsp milk or heavy cream, to thicken out if necessary
Instructions
Wash strawberries with cold water and baking soda for about 12-14 minutes to extract any germs, dirt, and chemical residue on the berries. After the time has elapsed, rinse the berries gently and pat dry.
Bring a few inches of water in a medium-sized saucepan to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, turn off the heat.
Place your chopped chocolate into a glass heatproof bowl and place the bowl over the saucepan. Stir the chocolate consistently until fully melted. If you’d like the chocolate to be slightly more creamy, go ahead and add the milk or cream and mix until combined.
**Note: you can also use store bought chocolate melting wafers and microwave according to the instructions.
Once melted, dip the strawberries in the chocolate mixture and be sure to fully coat each berry.
Set the berries on a tray or baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let them chill in the fridge to allow the chocolate to set for at least 30 minutes. Preferably an hour!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
ROSY 75
Ice
1 oz gin
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz rose water
3 oz champagne or dry sparkling wine
Lemon twist or edible flower(s) for serving, if desired
Instructions
In an ice-filled shaker, combine gin, fresh lemon juice, rose water, and simple syrup. Cover and shake vigorously for about a minute until the mixture is chilled thoroughly.
Strain into champagne or coupe glasses and top with champagne. Finish with a lemon twist or an edible flower and serve.
Next, let’s make our light, simple appetizer: caprese salad. Seriously, it will only take about 5 minutes to prepare this and with good ingredients, it is hard to beat!
Ingredients
CAPRESE SALAD
1-2 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced 1/4” thick
12 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced 1/4” thick
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Good balsamic vinegar
Salt & freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
Layer your tomato slices and mozzarella one after the other on a serving platter.
Drizzle with EVOO and good balsamic vinegar. Add sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to finish. Enjoy!
**Please note: I did not include measurements for the EVOO, balsamic vinegar, or salt and pepper because I believe these measurements are entirely up to you and how much or how little you prefer. I personally love more EVOO than balsamic vinegar and more pepper than salt on my caprese. This salad traditionally includes basil, but it is not entirely necessary to include if basil is not readily available.
Simple enough, right?
Now let’s make our carbonara pasta entrée.
Ingredients
CARBONARA
1 cup fresh pasta, can use dried as well**
3 egg yolks, rule is 1 egg yolk per person plus one for the pot
4 oz pancetta or guanciale, diced into small cubes
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano
Freshly cracked black pepper
Salt for the water
**Note: For the pasta shape, you can use spaghetti, rigatoni, or even spaghetti alla chitarra (A.K.A. tonnarelli pasta - which is what I used because I had some on hand!)
Instructions
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil; generously salt the water once the water has come to a rolling boil. The Italian rule is that the water should mimic sea water (that’s how salty!)
**Knowledge tip: the salt flavors the pasta noodles as they cook.
At the same time, heat a medium-sized skillet on a medium-high flame. Dice the pancetta and add to the skillet. Saute for about 3-4 minutes until the fat renders out and is glistening in the pan amongst the crispy, golden pancetta. Turn the flame off from beneath the skillet at this time.
Add in your pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente.
Whisk egg yolks in a bowl and add in your cheese. Whisk until the ingredients are well combined. Freshly crack the black pepper into the mixture and whisk again. If you like your carbonara more peppery - add more!
Use a slotted spoon or smaller wooden spatula and take the pancetta out of the pan it was cooking in and add it to the egg yolk mixture. Mix to combine the flavors.
Set aside about 1/4-1/2 cup of pasta water and drain the pasta in a colander.
Put the pasta into the skillet that the pancetta cooked in and allow the pasta to absorb all the pancetta rendered fat. Pour the egg mixture and pasta water you saved over the pasta. Stir consistently until all is combined and egg mixture thickens slightly. If the egg mixture is not thinning out, feel free to add more pasta water until you have more of a sauce consistency.
**Note: The residual heat from the pasta will cook the eggs in the egg mixture and thicken into a creamy substance.
Plate delicately on your serving dishes and top with more cheese. Enjoy!
Finally, enjoy your chocolate covered strawberries and the rest of the champagne bottle, if it’s still around. Otherwise, crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy the rest of your Valentine’s evening!
