How was your St. Valentine’s Day? A great success or not so good. You forgot to book a table. You always have to book a table regardless when it is. The number of times I’ve seen an embarrassed guy and a disappointed lady turned away from a restaurant, it’s totally avoidable. Book even if it’s a cold wet Monday night in the middle of February.
This post is not about restaurant booking but a meal idea to show your appreciation, or. Eh, sorry I won’t let that happen again.
A COLD SUPPER AT HOME:
First setting the scene, it’s St. Valentine’s week.
Don’t forget the flowers and candles. Everyone likes flowers and a nice smell from a candle. Girls, even guys like to receive flowers.
My favourite place for candles is L’Occitane, especially the lavender and amber candle, www.loccitane.com.
Decide whether it would be better sat at a table, maybe a low coffee table.
If your only pet is a goldfish you could sit on the floor on a nice soft blanket or rug.
Have a nice tablecloth for the spread of food.
Go out and buy a chocolate fondue warmer and the Ghirardelli dark chocolate at least 60% cacoa baking chips. Make sure you can get good quality strawberries. This is for the dessert and maybe afters as well.
Have few chocolate covered strawberries ready. Have the rest when you’re sat cosying up together.
Do some research, find out what romantic or happy weepy film your intended guest would like to see. It could be a relatively new film, French kiss or Four weddings and a funeral, maybe an oldie like Casablanca or Affair to remember. Not “Fatal Attraction”. “Love in the time of Cholera”, should be okay!!
A new friend of mine told me about Paradiso. But beware of foreign movies, one, you have to read the lines, two, your guest may not understand it anyway.
Now the meal, you can plan all this a few days before and do the shopping. There are only a few things that’d be better bought on the day. Like fresh bread and such.
This is going to be a cold dish casual supper. What you use is purely your choice and what you know your guest will appreciate. Here in Vegas, Smiths www.smithsfoodanddrug.com have a wide range of good quality cold cuts and cheeses as do the other major supermarkets. In the UK Sainsbury’s or Waitrose have always been very good. It’s hard to beat Marks & Spencer as well.
Selections you may think of: A good quality ham, turkey breast maybe roast beef. Italian salamis are hard to resist, if you like them that is. They’re so many types.
Smoked salmon is one of my favourites, you can serve with a soft cheese spread or dill spread. Salmon caviar or even proper caviar.
I really hit the spot one time and had a dozen oysters.
Pâté is a must, take your pick of the many choices, serve with wedges of lemon on fresh Italian or French bread. Don’t bother with toast, just break or cut off chunks of the bread.
Cheeses; you’ll have to be careful here. Not everyone likes cheese smelling of old socks, blue cheese isn’t for everyone. Go for European cheeses, much tastier than American varieties. Wholefoods market probably has the best selection here in Vegas. I don’t know of any cheese specialist here. Wherever you live they’ll be a good cheese shop.
Don’t forget the crackers, not Grahams. Get English style dry crackers for cheese.
Salad buy one of the pre-packed variety, save you time and messing about. Just to show you are a bit of a chef make your own dressings. They’re easy enough and quick to make, if you have a blender and much nicer than bought stuff.
What you’ll need: Balsamic vinegar, white vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon or lime juice, 3 garlic cloves, small onion i.e. shallot, Dijon mustard and pinch thyme or oregano, or any herb that you like and a little soft brown sugar (optional but nicer), sea salt and fresh ground pepper
My simple dressing: Crush or mince 2 garlic cloves into a cup or whatever container you use, add equal amounts of white vinegar and olive oil, lemon/lime juice and brown sugar to your taste. Mix it well or blend it all. Set aside, make it early it’s better when it’s stood for awhile.
Made too much, so’k it’ll keep in the fridge for a few days.
Balsamic vinaigrette; (from the South beach diet book): Combine 3 table spoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 minced or crushed clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon minced onion and a pinch of the herb. Whisk or blend all together, add salt and pepper to taste.
This also keeps okay for a few days in the fridge.
Bread, there are so many good breads around these days it’s hard to go wrong. I’d go for an Italian and French Artisan bread, really good stuff.
This would be better bought on the day if you know they’ll be plenty of stock.
Fruits, the magic strawberries, maybe some grapes or pineapple. Something that you can have all ready before hand.
Drinks; Sparkling mineral water, my preferred is S. Pelligrino.
Wine, you could go over board and have a bottle of champagne. A choice of a good white and good red will do. The choice these days is outstanding whether in a supermarket or booze specialist. For a white Pino grigio is nice and light. A lot of people play safe and go for a chardonnay, they can be a bit strong tasting for some though. Reds are more difficult as they can be more of a personal choice, Pino noir or Merlot are usually safe. The selection from Chile and Argentiniam Malbac are now getting the attention they deserve.
Don’t forget your guest might like a beer. Get something good like Fat tire, there are plenty of good Amercan dark beers around now, or a good English/Irish beer. For lager you can’t beat Stella.
A check list: Cold cuts of meat, salami, smoked salmon, pâté, cheeses, salad, bread, fruit, drinks.
