Rethinking Valentine's Day
A menu + recipes
I’m a romantic and a great believer in love, but this year, Valentine’s Day feels a little hollow. It seems as if the pressure to spend is greater than I remember in previous years. There is such a push to make special reservations and buy Valentine’s-themed chocolates, flowers, pajamas and coffee cups…I could go on.
You’ve probably also seen those highly curated online gift lists– the ones that recommend you buy ‘must-have’ holiday items such as luminous red heart-shaped bouclé pillows complete with matching blankets. I’m not sure about your partner, but I know my husband doesn’t want any of the tat featured in ‘what to buy him’ gift guides. Is there anyone out there who actually wants a wooden dual foot massager or a $84 giant tin of salted chips?
Don’t get me wrong, I love an old-fashioned heart-shaped box of chocolates just as much as the next person, but I find myself feeling more and more connected to the idea of making something out of nothing. Maybe it’s something to do with approaching my mid-thirties, but I realize I don’t really need anymore stuff.
Spontaneous gestures, good food, homemade gifts, little handwritten notes - for no reason in particular - this, to me, is romance. So, on that note, I’ve created a menu for you to make as an offering, a nurturing gift to signify the value of love. It could be for someone special, or even for yourself in celebration of your life.
Everything on the menu is seasonal and highly achievable. These recipes are designed to leave room for you to get creative, so don’t let the details trouble you unduly; this is simple food masquerading as fancy cuisine. For instance, I could not, for the life of me, find fresh tarragon, so for the main course of spatchcock chicken, I'm using dried instead!
The menu
Spicy blood orange and lime mezcal margarita
Parmigiano reggiano with burnt sugar
Fennel and lemon spatchcock chicken
Radicchio and citrus salad with a pomegranate and sumac vinaigrette
Blood orange with blood orange cream caramel
The recipes
The aperitif
Spicy blood orange and lime mezcal margarita
Blood orange spicy mezcal margarita: smoky, acidic, spicy and sweet. More love potion than cocktail.
Ingredients
Serves 2
4 ounces mezcal
1 ounce lime simple syrup
2 ounces freshly squeezed blood orange juice
2-4 jalapeño slices, according to taste
Lime simple syrup
Ingredients
250 ml water
200g sugar
The juice and zest of 1-2 limes (approx. 125ml)
Method
To make lime simple syrup
1. In a saucepan, combine water and sugar.
2. Add lime zest then heat the mixture over low-medium heat until the sugar has dissolved - approx. 5-8mins. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in lime juice then let the syrup cool. Strain, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To make the cocktail
Combine mezcal, simple syrup, fresh lime juice, blood orange juice and jalapeño slices in a cocktail shaker or mixer. Add plenty of ice cubes and shake/mix.
Serve immediately with fresh lime zest.
To begin
Parmigiano reggiano with burnt sugar
A delightful fusion inspired by the late Russell Norman's book, ‘Brutto’. Although in Norman’s book this delicious offering is included in the dessert section, I think that it also deserves to be featured as an impressive appetizer requiring the dramatic touch of a blow torch. Drama, darling, drama!
Note
I couldn’t find any pecorino locally, so I used a delicious aged parmigiano reggiano I had on hand. The sweet and salty contrast together with the mezcal marg drink pairing was the perfect starter.
Ingredients
160g parmigiano reggiano (or pecorino), cut into triangles
40g light brown sugar
Method
Slice the cheese into triangles approx. 1 inch thick. Lay the slices on a baking sheet and sprinkle evenly with sugar.
With a blowtorch on low-medium flame, gently caramelize the sugar until golden brown with a slight char. Serve immediately.
A side
Radicchio, citrus and fennel salad with pomegranate molasses vinaigrette
I adore these salads for their simplicity; no cooking required, yet the end result is impressive. The pomegranate vinaigrette is really very addictive – just be cautious not to devour it before serving.
Ingredients
1 blood orange, segmented
1 pink grapefruit, segmented
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
5 kumquats, thinly sliced
250g radicchio, separate leaves
1 shallot, thinly sliced
Flaky salt, to taste
Optional: manchego or parmesan
Pomegranate molasses vinaigrette
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoon honey
150 ml olive oil
1 tbsp sumac
1 tsp smoked paprika
Optional: any remaining citrus juice from the salad prep
Salt, a pinch or three
Freshly cracked pepper
Method
Vinaigrette
Mix all the vinaigrette ingredients together and set aside. If refrigerated, the vinaigrette may appear to separate slightly. Do not worry, give it a stir and the ingredients will once again amalgamate.
The salad
Toss the radicchio in the vinaigrette then arrange the leaves on a serving platter. Top with the orange and grapefruit segments, shallots, fennel + fronds, and kumquats. Add little chunks of cheese then sprinkle with salt before serving.
The main event
Fennel and lemon spatchcock chicken
This recipe is a slight adaptation of Julius Robert’s ‘Epic Tarragon Roast Chicken’ from his wonderful book ‘The Farm Table’.
Catherine declaring her love for Heathcliff -
"If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger."
(Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë)
Recently I've noticed “Marry Me Chicken" recipes making the rounds on social media. Frankly, some seem more like a recipe for divorce, but fear not, this chicken dish with its delicate flavors and simple preparation method will not disappoint.
Before cooking, allow the chicken to rest at room temperature for an hour and generously season with salt to achieve crispy skin. The sauce, made from mascarpone, Dijon mustard, herbs, and white wine, is delicate, yet packs a punch. The end result is rustic, romantic, and complex, much like the tragic character of Heathcliff.
Note
Let’s talk cookware. As I've just returned to my California kitchen without all my gear, I’m having to work with what I have on hand. So, for a perfectly golden chicken skin, I would strongly suggest using a slightly larger baking dish than the one shown. Additionally, I'm currently dealing with a temperamental oven, *sigh*. Nevertheless, despite these obstacles, the chicken remained incredibly delicious, further attesting to the brilliance of this recipe!
Tip
If you have extra time and want perfectly crispy/golden skin, you can easily achieve this by patting the chicken dry and leaving it uncovered in the fridge overnight.
Ingredients
1 organic chicken
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic bulb
A knob of butter
1 tub mascarpone (you can always use heavy cream instead)
Lemon, juice and zest
A bunch of fresh tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped (or 15g dried tarragon)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
100ml white wine
1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped
500g fingerling potatoes
Method
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spatchcock the chicken by cutting along one side of the spine from tail to neck, then flatten it by pressing down firmly on the breast. You should hear a lovely loud crack.
Lay the chicken in a large roasting tin (see note above), season generously with salt and allow it to sit at room temperature for 1 hour then pat dry.
Drizzle the skin with olive oil, ensuring the chicken is well coated. Break open the garlic bulb and scatter the cloves around the chicken then cook for 20-30 minutes or until the skin begins to turn golden brown.
Combine the mascarpone, lemon, zest, tarragon and mustard in a bowl and then season with salt and pepper.
Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Remove the chicken with care from the oven then arrange the potatoes and fennel around the chicken. Pour the white wine into the bottom of the tray, then pour the sauce over the chicken. Return to the oven for 30-45 minutes until cooked through and the chicken juices run clear.
Once cooked, let the chicken rest for 10 minutes and cover with foil.
Serve with a fresh radicchio salad.
Sweet things
Blood orange with blood orange caramel
Caramel has the stubborn tendency to recrystallize at the best of times. Valentine's Day should not be spent battling with hot sugar on a stove, rather, spent whispering sweet nothings whilst eating delicious confections. So, I've created a caramel cream that cannot, no matter what happens, go wrong. Comprising equal parts heavy cream, blood orange juice and sugar, this unctuous liquid love potion needs to reach a gentle simmer. It is ready when little bubbles flutter and dance on the surface. The combination of cold blood orange slices with the sweet and sour, hot and sticky caramel, makes kisses taste luscious and the heart expand in warm appreciation.
Blood orange caramel
Ingredients
150ml heavy cream (approx. 1 cup)
150g sugar
150ml blood orange juice
4-5 blood oranges, segmented
Optional additions
1 tsp vanilla extract
Flaky salt
Method
Combine all ingredients together on low-medium heat, stirring often. When the caramel starts to simmer, remove. This should take approx. 10-15 minutes.
Cut the oranges into segments and arrange artfully in a bowl (see how to segment below using a grapefruit as an example)
Note
This recipe produces 400ml of blood orange caramel.
And that’s all for this week friends, I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s day!
If you make these recipes, don’t forget to tag me!
Let’s connect on Instagram
Follow my cooking adventures on Tiktok
For a treasure trove of delicious recipes head over to agoodtable.com
Everything looks so delicious. Love all the ingredients in the Mezcal Margarita. Definitely want to have that this weekend! I’ll have to try the spatchcock chicken sometime soon! Great ideas!