Valentine's Day Dinner

We typically don't go out for Valentine's day. For the most part we've found that it is tough to get a reservation, and they try to rush you out the door to accommodate more reservations. For the past couple years we decided to do Valentine's day dinner in. This year's menu started with goat cheese and caramelized onions on toasted french bread. This was followed up by Heart of Palm Salad with mixed greens. The main course was Filet Mignon with goat cheese, Shrimp and asparagus. The meal was capped off with fresh out of the oven Toffee Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream on top.



Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion on French Bread
Ingredients:
Goat Cheese
Onion
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Pinch Salt
French Bread

Instructions:
1. Melt Butter in pan and add onions. Let cook on med-low heat until the onions are soft (can take 5-8 mins)
2. While onions cook, toast french bread slices in oven
3. When french bread is almost toasted spread goat cheese on each slice
4. Add Onions to the top of toasts and salt to taste
5. Return to oven to soften the cheese and finish toasting the french bread


Heart of Palm Salad
Ingredients

1 pound canned hearts of palm, drained
1/4 lb shaved prosciutto (I like Jamon Serrano, but it is a little tougher)
1 cup greens or small mixed baby salad greens
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Champagne Vinaigrette

1 tsp chopped fresh chives
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c Champagne vinegar
2/3 c extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper


Instructions

1. For the Champagne Vinaigrette, in a mixing bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Season to taste with a little more salt and some pepper. You should have about 1 cup of dressing. Cover and set aside.

2. If using fresh hearts of palm, you should have some bigger, thicker pieces and some smaller, thinner pieces. Put the bigger pieces in a nonreactive dish and cover them with 3/4 cup of the Vinaigrette. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

3. Drain the marinated hearts of palm and wrap each piece in a piece of ham. After the pieces are wrapped, cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rings. Slice the smaller pieces into 1/4-inch thick rings and set aside.

4. In a mixing bowl, toss salad with the sliced small hearts of palm and 4 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mound some of the greens mixture in the center of each serving plate. Place the ham wrapped rounds around the salad. Drizzle the remaining Vinaigrette around each plate. Serve immediately.

Curried Lentil Salad

I decided to step out a bit and try some different flavors. This curried lentil salad is inspired by the salad at Fords Filling Station in Culver City. There are two options for this recipe, 1 is vegetarian the other is for meat eaters. Since I typically like a little meat with my meals, I chose the latter. Just substitute oil for panchetta and you should be good to go.

Ingredients
Mixed greens
Goat cheese
Lentils (precooked from Trader Joes Works)
1/8 pound panchetta
Walnuts
1/8 tbsp curry powder
1/4 tbsp cayenne
salt
black pepper
1 c balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp sugar

1. Toast the walnuts with a little salt
2. Reduce balsamic vinegar until thick
3. Mix in a blender with oil and sugar to create an emulsion
4. Cook Panchetta
5. Heat lentils in the pan with panchetta on low heat and add seasonings (don't go crazy with the curry so you can still taste the lentils)
6. Add lentils, greens and goat cheese to plate and garnish with walnuts.
7. Salt to taste and drizzle balsamic dressing onto the plate.

Gnocci with Fried Sage

Gnocci sounded like a good idea on a cold Friday afternoon. (Cold for Southern California standards). I made the gnocci from scratch with potatoes. I added some fried sage to give it some crunch and served it on a fennel creme sauce.

1 1/2 lb potatoes
1 egg
1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup sage leaves
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 cup white wine
1 cup whipping cream or half and half
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbsp Fennel Seed

Make gnocchi:
Boil peeled potatoes until soft
Run the potatoes through a food processor then let cool
Lightly flour 2 or 3 large baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
Beat together egg 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in a small bowl.
Gather potatoes into a mound in sheet pan, using a pastry scraper if you have one, and form a well in center.
Pour egg mixture into well, then knead into potatoes. Knead in 1 1/2 cups flour, then knead, adding more flour as necessary, until mixture forms a smooth but slightly sticky dough. Dust top lightly with some of flour.
Form ropes with the dough and cut into small pieces
Dust cut pieces with flour
Make an impression on each piece of gnocci with a fork

Fry sage leaves
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Fry sage leaves in 3 batches, stirring, until they turn just a shade lighter and crisp (they will continue to crisp as they cool), about 30 seconds per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Season lightly with salt.
Season lightly with salt. Reserve oil in skillet.


Make sauce:
Reduce white wine by half and add cream or half and half
Add Fennel Seed
Salt to Taste

Cook gnocchi:
Add half of gnocchi to a pasta pot of well-salted boiling water and stir. Cook until they float to surface, about 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to skillet with butter sauce. Cook remaining gnocchi in same manner, transferring to skillet as cooked.
Heat gnocchi in skillet over medium heat, stirring to coat.
Serve sprinkled with fried sage and on top of fennel sauce.
Sprinkle with Cayenne Pepper and Salt to taste.