Valentine's Dinner

xxdilemmaxx

Anyone have any ideas for a nice Valentines dinner?

Am working until about 6.30 so want to try whip up an impressive three courses in record time, or maybe have them prepared the night before.

Any ideas appreciated!

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Valentine's doesn't really have a traditional dish.

What about roast lamb hearts for main course, with some roast veg?

(H)artichoke's maybe....sorry:)

Hearts are gorgeous.

kenco

Im a home ill at the moment and was looking up recipes on rte.ie/food and they have one from the afternoon show for beef wellington and from reading it is all about preparing in advance (i.e. the day before)

Placebo

What would people recommend ? i was thinking of going for ready herbed/sauced full chicken from marks and spencers etc and roast patatoes, some veg and wine but i think il be capable of making something myself aswell.

any suggestions/recipeces?

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Threads merged

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The Sweeper

Something lavish and interesting. I think the less work the better though, so I'd just hit M&S up if I were doing Valentines cooking. (Or at least I would if they were in Australia...)

Delia this month has a good recipe for a lobster risotto, and it's a cheat recipe too so minimal effort...

Swampy

Starter

Rocket, Pear and stilton salad with a nice dressing.


Main Course,

Stuffed Chicken Breast wrapped in bacon.
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables -- sweet potato, courgette, red onion, peppers, carrot, potato. Cut into smallsih chunks, coat very generously with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

Desert
Something hot and chocolaty. Perhaps M&S Chocolate fudge pudding cake thing that goes in the oven.

Minder

Fan fried scallops with roast tomatoes, garlic and thyme.
Steak, a few chips and a handful of green leaves.
Raspberry creme brulee.
Bottle of Malbec from Argentina.

dulux

To start
Goats cheese tart (A little prep in this one, but only take 20 mins to cook)

Main
Fillet steaks with a Greek salad (lots of Feta, Sun Dried Toms and Olives) - 5 mins for the steaks and salad...

Dessert
Mango's covered in yougart, honey and crumbled ginger biccies, served in a large wine glass) - 5 mins.

Mmmm making me hungry...

xxdilemmaxx

Thanks everyone, some good ideas there. The other half has requested that chicken bake with the campbells soup, i posted it on one of the other threads here.

Will go with the mango glasses for dessert. Minder are scallops difficult to cook without ruining them? Wouldn't have a clue. How many would I buy for a starter for two?

Placebo

dulux wrote: »

To start
Goats cheese tart (A little prep in this one, but only take 20 mins to cook)

Main
Fillet steaks with a Greek salad (lots of Feta, Sun Dried Toms and Olives) - 5 mins for the steaks and salad...

Dessert
Mango's covered in yougart, honey and crumbled ginger biccies, served in a large wine glass) - 5 mins.

Mmmm making me hungry...

can i get steak in M&S and just oven it?

The Hill Billy

Mrs Billy & I are going for a selection of cheeses, nibbles & fine wine. Nobody needs to cook, no pots or pans to wash. Happy days.

dulux

Placebo wrote: »

can i get steak in M&S and just oven it?

You mean buy in M&S, yeah but go for the fillet - Olive oil in the pan, let it heat up, salt and black pepper rubbed into the steaks, both into the pan for three mins each side and adding a knob of butter about a min from the end and then transfer to hot oven for a couple of mins while you get the salad out and onto the plates. Put the steaks on the plates and dribble the hot juices and butter/oil over the steak. Simple. Lovely. Thats it.

I really think this is a great way to eat steak, you will not feel too full but its really tastey. Yum.

Placebo

thanks dulux, would these be ready herbed ? or is it just plain steak

Kurumba

Swampy wrote: »

Starter

Rocket, Pear and stilton salad with a nice dressing.


Main Course,

Stuffed Chicken Breast wrapped in bacon.
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables -- sweet potato, courgette, red onion, peppers, carrot, potato. Cut into smallsih chunks, coat very generously with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

Desert
Something hot and chocolaty. Perhaps M&S Chocolate fudge pudding cake thing that goes in the oven.

SOunds good, what would you stuff the chicken with? Just your breadcrumb mixture with herbs etc or cheese or what? Like the sounds of that!

Minder

xxdilemmaxx wrote: »

Minder are scallops difficult to cook without ruining them? Wouldn't have a clue. How many would I buy for a starter for two?

Scallops are easy to cook. Get the freshest you can find. Wash them and pull off any dark bits of membrane. If the come with the coral (The orangey foot) that can be cooked too, it's a little stronger than the white flesh. Five each will be plenty unless they are huge. Season them and pan fry them in a little olive oil for two or three minutes on each side, you want to get some colour on the outside so start with a hot pan. Chuck in a garlic clove that has been bashed and a couple of thyme strands. Lastly a couple of blush tomatoes - or some oven roast tomatoes.

dh2007

jessie1 wrote: »

SOunds good, what would you stuff the chicken with? Just your breadcrumb mixture with herbs etc or cheese or what? Like the sounds of that!

stuff it with goats cheese and basil! ummmmmm

dulux

Well how did they go? I had no time for the Goats cheese tarts at the start as we went out for a couple of pre dinner drinks. Steaks went great with the salad and took no time to do but i did season them and put them back in the fridge before the pub. Makes a better flavour I think. Dessert (Mango) was cool and tasty but we did open a box of black magic after and a bottle of sparkly to finnish off. Great night.

Placebo

thanks dulux, i fried the steak, blood kept comming out , [ kept slicing to check] so i left it in for a bit and then a bit in the oven, it turned out a bit chewy . Would that be due to over cooking?

got some corquettes etcm went well, thanks

xxdilemmaxx

Hi all, mine went well too, although wasn't mad on the scallops but that's prob because it's my first time to eat them - they may be an acquired taste!

Chicken pasta bake was yum and bought two of those GU berry crumbles that u put in the oven and had them with Mauds vanilla ice cream. All washed down with some icy cold champers, delicious!

jdivision

Placebo wrote: »

thanks dulux, i fried the steak, blood kept comming out , [ kept slicing to check] so i left it in for a bit and then a bit in the oven, it turned out a bit chewy . Would that be due to over cooking?

Yes sounds overcooked. I was a bit surprised by dulux's advice to eat them straight away as I'd usually leave them rest for a little while. Nothing wrong with some blood in steak though Placebo. I'm a medium rare man.

dulux

Yeah, there is nothing wrong with blood/red center with steak, of course I like mine on the rare side...
Chewy meat, sounds like it was a little over cooked, also I sugested fillet steak as its a really great cut and usually turns out most tender. If you are using sirloin and are doutful of how it will turn out if you like it cooked longer (I still remember the shoe leather steaks my Mammy used to cook) wash off the end of a wine bottle put you steaks on a hard clean surface and give then a good bashing. This is known as tenderising and is sounds mad but it works it works. Dont go too banannas now or nobody will want it

On the subject of letting steaks rest, yes it is the done thing and actually yes it makes the steak better again. In the interest of a quick thing to do on a night for just the two of you, I didnt mention it. Yes 3 mins each side in the pan and another addintional minute for rare, two for medium, etc, a short rest again depending how good the meat is a good rule of thumb BUT if you are taking it out of the pan and then transfering it to the oven for five mins I think its doing the resting there.

Oh I feel like a steak after all that...