Gooo for you, Jessica!

That would work for me and I'd be a lot less miserable, you know I'm a big advocate of "eat less, move more", but Elery is one of those very "extreme" people. He loves the fad diets. Sigh. He is quite a lot heavier than I am too, something about a couple of glasses of wine and some cheese every night since he retired. He shares the cheese with Cooper and Cooper is getting too fat too, LOL. So, in trying to be supportive, I told him I'd do it too. Bad choice on my part!

So, anyway, what can I fix for Valentine's Day? I'm leaning toward salmon because we both love it. Maybe a peach salsa with that?

Annie

I was looking for a particular serving dish last week and ran across my fondue plates. I was planning to make something with chicken breast tenders so ended up marinating them and stir frying as for Velvet Chicken and then serving them and roasted tiny Yukon Gold potatoes with a selection of dipping sauces. We also had a broccoli and dried cranberry salad. It was a fun and relaxing meal without dragging out the fondue pot and a change of pace for chicken breast meat.

This post was edited by ruthanna on Sun, Feb 10, 13 at 13:36

My how things can change.... I was running a few frantic errands this afternoon, and discovered my fav butcher has GORGEOUS whole tenderloins on sale through Thursday.... sooooo..... our Virtual Valentines Day Dinner is now going to be Chateaubriand! Talk about rocking it old school, when was the last time you heard of someone making (or a restaurant serving) Chateaubriand?

That opens the door for a Lobster Risotto appetizer and probably a Ceasar salad instead of the spinach I had planned.

THe only constant is the champagne! LOLOLOL!

Alexa

Alexa, that sounds great. It's been a long time since I've made that.

We are having a simple dinner on Valentines Day. We both love a good braised pork shoulder. I have my farmers market in the morning and needed something easy for dinner.

On Saturday I will make a more involved Valentine dinner. I have everything I need, just not sure what recipe yet. I'm still deciding on dessert. Chocolate? Fruit? Creamy? Maybe all three in one....
I'll pick up some micro greens if possible, otherwise baby greens with fresh fruit and brie and a sweet sour dressing.

How is everyone else doing?

Nancy

Well, I've not officially joined the virtual VD dinner but DH told me this morning that it looks like we hit the jackpot this morning in the POD and he thinks he's found the kitchen stuff. He's busy hauling in boxes. It looks like tomorrow we are going to make that roast chicken dinner we've been craving since Sandy. If nothing else, we can make grilled cheese sandwiches in OUR kitchen!

/tricia (now if we could just find the bathroom towels we'd be happy campers - been using the same two towels we took with us when we evacuated in October 2012)

This post was edited by triciae on Wed, Feb 13, 13 at 11:44

Malna, your venison Wellington must have been great! I've been reading a book about the history of cooking and eating in Britain and there were many laws regulating the harvest and consumption of venison. For centuries, it was the most prized meat. You did make a dinner fit for a king.

That's fabulous news Tricia. Even grilled cheese will be a celebratory meal indeed. This is the best news I've heard all week!
Jane

Ruthanna, you never disappoint with your cute dishes. What a nice dinner.

Looks like I either need something simpler for tomorrow or wait until Sunday to do my Valentine's Dinner. Monday Christy had a MOH's on some skin cancer on the side of her face in front of her ear. It's about an inch and a half incision so it is a bit sore and she can't do any more shopping for me, so I have to make from what's on hand. Plus I won't want her to try helping me cook, so it will have to be somewhat simple. Hmmm.. I have shrimp in the freezer, fresh green beans.... maybe a scampi, which she loves, with some saffron rice and the beans? I'm going out now to make some of Colleen's lemon curd with the Meyer lemons. Think I'll make a cheesecake to have it on?

Thinking...thinking...

Tricia, I'm so excited for you. If you don't find what you need for the chicken, I'll bet those grilled cheese will be the best ever!!

Tricia, So excited for you both!

Well, it is funny how plans change. It looks like we will have Maggie's little brother, Max, over for Valentine Dinner. He's a bacon eater too so we still have bacon wrapped chopsticks on the menu! Maggie has a social life that I forget about sometimes ;-)

I'm thinking Osso Bucco. But I'm at a loss for sides. Any ideas?

Duh, I'll have risotto to go with the Osso Bucco. I also make a Gremolata of minced parsley, lemon zest and garlic to go on top.

I'm thinking a salad?

Wayne will be away on business this VD. So it will just be us girls. We won't be making anything special for dinner. We will wait till Wayne comes home to celebrate. We usually go out to dinner for VD. I have been reading and enjoying this thread though. Many great menus! Happy Valentines Day everyone! NancyLouise

Alexa, are you going to do all the vegetables surrounding it too? I haven't had that for years. It was always a show-stopper and I bet yours will be too. Can't wait to see it.

Tricia, that is exciting news. I am happy to hear it.

Coconut, I really love the commercial made in the USA plates like Shenango and McNicol and have a few of many different patterns. We went to a fabulous restaurant auction in December and although I bid on quite a few lots, I came home with only a stained glass lamp and a carton of sake sets. :(

We had our dinner tonight. We participate in a soup/bread dinner every Thursday night to benefit our local food bank. Tomorrow night will be so special with 6 of us bringing our homemade soups and bread.

We had a fresh raw beet salad with an orange vinaigrette :

DH made his homemade pasta and a shrimp sauce with sauteed shallots/grape tomatoes/capers/cilantro stems. Garnish was parmesan and fresh cilantro leaves.

We had a toasted homemade sourdough..forgot to get a pic..this is how it looked before we cut it. Great thread !!!

Trailrunner, that looks like a wonderful dinner! Thanks for sharing it.

Not exactly food but I had embroidered this table runner and intended to use it for our special dinner but I forgot where I stored it. You can pretend I used it.

We had our Valentine's dinner on Friday night.

We started with a salad of greens, beets, peaches and pecans with a tangerine-maple vinaigrette.

The main course was the Crab Imperial, parslied potatoes and minted zucchini sticks. The crab tasted just the way we remembered it from years ago and we both enjoyed it.

Dessert was chocolate-orange mousse.

Thanks for the inspiration. It was a great way to spend a snowy evening.

This post was edited by ruthanna on Wed, Feb 13, 13 at 22:36

Great dinner's!

Trailrunner and Ruthanna, your dinners look wonderful.

We did ours Tuesday night, as Tuesday was our anniversary. We were in Tahlequah, and had another couple over for dinner. Sadly, Jerry was coming down with a virus that's been going around, so he had little appetite. And, as he's the photographer, and I was busy just trying to get the dinner made, we totally forgot to take photos.

I decided to go with the Chicken Marsala recipe that Lpink recommended. It turned out very well, thank you, Lpink. At least, the guests, and even Jerry liked it. I had a portabella mushroom.

Desert was almost a disaster. I think I took half my kitchen with me to Tahlequah, but unfortunately, I took the wrong half. I forgot to take any cake pans, so I didn't make the lemon mousse cake. I had lots of meyer lemons to use, so I decided to make lemon curd, for the first time, of course. I retrofitted a pie pan into a tort pan by using foil, then, and make a tort shell. Then I made the curd.....well, tried to make curd. I've never made it before, and don't know exactly what it's supposed to look like, but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to look runny hours after it's finished cooking. On to plan B. I'll make a pound cake, and use the runny lemon curd as a sauce. I had to retrofit a 9 x 11 pan into a 9x5 pan with foil, which worked beautifully. So, desert was pound cake with blueberries and lemon sauce. It was a hit, and one of the guests went back for more. Whew.

I wish we had pictures to share.

Sally

Calillo.....funny you mentioned Chateaubriand..I just had this at my cousins wedding 2 weeks ago and I said to DH I cant remember the last time I had this.....it was delicious! By the way Rachael Ray was a couple tables down from me with her DH John!

Everything looks and sounds so good !! Thank you ruthanna and sally !

I posted our Valentine's breakfast on the other thread. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. There are so many great ideas on this thread. I need to go and list them in my notebook ! c

Nice looking (and sounding) dinners!

My dinner will be tonight, and the house is smelling pretty good. So far I've made the risotto which will become risotto cakes, and I'm about to start the mushroom ragout which will go with it. Ann T's white chocolate/cream cheese/ raspberry tart is about five minutes from coming out of the oven. A lamb stock has been simmering for a few hours now; that will be used for a sauce to go along with lamb chops. There's still a bunch to do (including lots of clean-up) but I'm feeling pretty ok with where I'm at.

Funny thing about the tart. The dough would not come together no matter how much I tried. I added a bit more butter, still just crumbs. Finally I realized what I did: The recipe says the filling is enough for two, so I halved everything in my mind. Unfortunately I didn't stop with the filling - I halved the butter in the dough! I think I recovered ok...

Will keep you posted!

I just posted this on the other Valentine Dinner thread....so am repeat posting here, in case that was the wrong place.

Here's a fun dessert I made the first time on Saturday for a dinner party. It was the perfect ending to the evening.

This is a recipe from my grandmother, who would be 110 years old, if she were still here to grace my life. She had these wonderful small tartlet molds I used, and they came in all kinds of shapes -- heart, squares, oval, fluted, etc. These molds are small enough that at most you get 2 bites out of the tartlet. This was the first time I'd ever made the recipe or used the tartlet pans (they're aluminum, I believe).

I made both chocolate (using Joy of Cooking's recipe for chocolate pie filling) and lemon filling for the tartlets. the guests raved about how pretty they looked and how wonderfully they tasted.

"Sandbakelsens" -- Makes 3 dozen tartlets

1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
3 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 egg yolk

3 hours before serving (or up to 3 days ahead):

Measure flour, sugar, butter, water, extract and egg yolk in medium sized bow. With hands, knead to soft dough consistency. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes till easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Shape into 3/4 inch balls. Gently press a ball into bottom and up sides of each tart mold. Work quickly, because as the dough warms up, it becomes more sticky to work with.

Prick in several places to prevent puffing during baking. Set molds in jelly roll pan. Bake about 20 minutes till golden. Cook in molds on baking racks for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from molds. Cool completely on wire racks before filling.

Fillings:

Fill with any flavor -- Chocolate pudding, lemon, butterscotch, etc.

Lemon filling:

3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs corn starch
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbs. grated lemon peel
1/8 tsp. salt
2 eggs

Mix cornstarch with a tiny bit of water to mix well and ensure there are no lumps. Add rest of the ingredients, and beat till well blended (whisk or beater). Cook over low heat, stirring constantly till thick -- about 10 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

Fill tartlets and garnish with a bit of whipping cream and lemon zest.

FOAS - too funny! That tart is incredible. I made a practice run with it a few days ago and it lasted precisely 1 hour in my house. Yes, the men decided 1/4 of it was a "single serving". I hid the last tiny sliver for myself in the back of the fridge.

Ruthanna and Eileen, I am definitely doing veg and Chateau Potatoes with the Chateaubriand. Thinking I might do a medly of roasted root veg (parsnips, carrots, turnips) as a slight twist onthe original.

I have not had Chateaubriand in 20+ years... and I can't even tell you why that came to mind when I saw the tenderloin, but I can guarantee that I will enjoy it immensely!

Happy Valentines Day all and I can't wait until Sat!

Alexa

FOAS - too funny! That tart is incredible. I made a practice run with it a few days ago and it lasted precisely 1 hour in my house. Yes, the men decided 1/4 of it was a "single serving". I hid the last tiny sliver for myself in the back of the fridge.

Ruthanna and Eileen, I am definitely doing veg and Chateau Potatoes with the Chateaubriand. Thinking I might do a medly of roasted root veg (parsnips, carrots, turnips) as a slight twist onthe original.

I have not had Chateaubriand in 20+ years... and I can't even tell you why that came to mind when I saw the tenderloin, but I can guarantee that I will enjoy it immensely!

Happy Valentines Day all and I can't wait until Sat!

Alexa

Well according to my wife the Meyers lemon salad dressing was "the best dressing ever." Crab cakes were "good." She never got the risotto cakes because they fell apart hopelessly. Just as well because leading up to making them I realized they were entirely out of place. The mushroom ragout was good but not eaten, either, as a result. The lamb chops with their spicy wine gastrique were "possibly the best things [she's] ever eaten." As as stuffed as we both were, Ann's tart was "OMG" and we both had thirds.

With the exception of the failed dish, there was a certain amount of CF influence in each course. Thanks everyone! Off to bed so I can avoid the disasterous mess that extends even out past the limits of my kitchen, until the morning!

FOAS, you have a very lucky wife. Your dinner sounds wonderful. Maybe you can make something with that risotto - scramble some eggs with it....add it to soup....something like that. If you don't want that mushroom ragout, I'll take some. :-)

Saturday we both work, and as Jerry is still feeling poorly, I may or may not do something then. I've got a whole bunch of leeks and several red bell peppers Jerry bought that we haven't used yet, so maybe I'll do something with them. Red bell peppers could look very valentine-y.

Sally

FOAS, your dinner sounds wonderful. Don't you love it when you get "best ever" feed back?

We are having dinner with our neighbours on Saturday, so I'm postponing our "Virtual dinner" until Sunday.

I'm liking the idea of Chateaubriand.

~Ann

Well I am boring! Strawberries with prosecco (not him, but for me), lobster, and a hot fudge pudding cake. But the little fellar and I enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. I hope everyone enjoys themselves! (if you haven't already)

FOAS, your dinner from last night sounds great. Glad you enjoyed it. Ours was good too. It was just a simple favorite pork roast dinner but, I just want you to know you weren't the only one doing kitchen cleanup this morning. I went to bed last night with a dishwasher that needed ubloading ans sink full of dishes to go in it.

Maybe Saturday I can be a little better organized for our Virtual Dinner!

Nancy

Well best laid plans! Looks like I will be cooking on Sunday with Ann. Wont that be funny if we both make Chateaubriand a day late? LOL! Anyway, yes life has gotten in the way so tomorrow it is. Hope everyone who is cooking today has a great time!

Alexa

I'm cooking tomorrow too, but it won't be Chateaubriand. Smiles. On Valentines Day Christy was feeling better and wanted to cook something so she made some tasty burgers and steak fries. It was good. We don't do major cooking on Saturdays since it's our cleanup day and just too much going on. Four litter boxes, taking all the trash to the dump, plus she does our shopping Saturdays. So, Sunday it will be. I also have her birthday Thursday. Luckily she wants to cook for our Anniversary Friday. Now I'm thinking a Chicken Marsala for tomorrow. I'm still not sure what to go with. My mind is still on saffron rice but I could make that to go with Scampi for her birthday. Our veg will be dictated by what looks best at the store today. I have a feeling I'll decide on the main dish at the last minute, aka when I go to the freezer to decide what protein to thaw. I think the Citrus Cheesecake is still the front runner for dessert.

The pics posted have been great. So pretty and delicious looking. Trailrunner, if I didn't loves shrimp so much I'd just eat all that bread and call it a day. Looks sooo good. Of all the food posted, Ruthanna your Crab Imperial is my top pick. I just love it and sure haven't made it in ages. Love to get out my scallop shells too. Your table runner is beautiful. Maybe I can serve the Scampi in them on Thursday. Dcarch, that Lemon Pie is so pretty. Love the strawberry hearts and the clever lemon heart presentation.

Anyone cooking for tonight yet?

I just made salad dressing and I have some lobster tails thawing, I changed my mind when I looked at a recipe yesterday for Lobster Newburg. It's something I love and haven't had in years.

I need to get my potatoes cooked for the Duchess Potato recipe I decided to make. Green beans need prepping.

The day is slipping away fast, we'll be eating late.

Nancy

Another one doing the virtual dinner tomorrow.

Today was spent being handcuffed taken to jail (where the heck did that come from?) eating pizza and cuddling with my grandson. Hey, we were playing!

Tomorrow will be roasted turkey, I can do that in my sleep, but hope to at least get creative with the side dishes.

Can't wait to hear what else everyone is preparing.

Di

BF and I just finished our virtual dinner. My pics are bad but I have a cheapo camera and can't be bothered to set a very good stage. I want to eat! We had spinach stuffed flounder with shrimp sauce, wild rice brown rice confetti pilaf with shitake mushrooms, and sauteed yellow summer squash. I couldn't justify the price of beets at the store--four small beets for $3.50, and asparagus was $5.00 a bunch. So I went with the summer squash for a treat. One of my usual Jackson Pollock meals! On the plus side, I took my first visit to the new seafood market two blocks from my house. Great place. But I couldn't find sole anywhere and went with the flounder. It was undercooked somewhat since the recipe made way too much sauce and stuffing for my four small flounder fillets. Oh well, lots left over for a sauce for pasta tomorrow. It was fab. We have some leftover chocolate cheesecake for dessert but one glass of vidal blanc is enough sweet for me.

Two out of focus photos, one of the meal and one badly lit one of the table.

We had dinner today, Traverse City chicken, made with chicken breast and sweet cherries from the freezer. Roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. No dessert. It was OK.

We also had a birthday party today for Elery's granddaughter, so I made these, but we didn't eat any. The kids loved them, so there was a dessert of sorts, I suppose.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Annie

Lpink, your dinner looks yummy. Flounder with shrimp sauce sounds really good (hold the spinach on mine). I'm sure you will find a use for the extra sauce.

Annie, nothing wrong with a cherry chicken, nice you had a stash of cherries. Kids seem to love anything on a stick right now so I'm sure they were happy.

Our dinner tonight was very rich. I knew it would be, so I held off on making a dessert. We had salads of baby greens, blue berries, mandarin oranges and blackberries. Dressing was house special sweet and sour that we love.
I made Lobster Newburg for our virtual dinner. We also has fresh green beans and Duchess Potatoes.

I'm glad I didn't make a dessert, neither of us would have been able to eat it. As it is there is enough of the lobster left over for a really good Lobster Benedict breakfast...Yay!

This was fun!

Nancy

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! We had our VD dinner tonight, and it was very tasty!

My gift for Valentine's Day, from DH, is one of Ann's boards and a knife rack! Yay me! You will see both in the pictures below.

We prepared Osso Buco, Parmesan Risotto, Garlic-Roasted Asparasgus and a caperese salad.

This is a picture of the prep before we cooked. This picture is one of my old boards from Ann and Moe.

This is the knife rack. I'm still deciding where I want to mount it.

And now for the meal!

Osso Buco

¼ pound pancetta, diced into ¼-inch cubes (Do not substitute bacon. I had to substitute prossiutto with a little additional olive oil.)
2½ to 3 pounds veal shanks
½ cup diced carrot (¼-inch cubes)
½ cup diced celery (¼-inch cubes)
1 medium onion, diced into ¼-inch pieces
2 tablespoons (about 4 cloves) chopped garlic
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1 cup dry white wine
1-2 cups chicken or veal stock
Flour for dusting the meat before browning
Salt and pepper

Gremolata

2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon jest
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat a dutch oven over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally. When pancetta is crispy, and most of the fat has rendered (about 5 minutes), remove the pancetta to a plate covered with some paper towel and set aside. If necessary, drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan.

Season the veal shanks well with salt and pepper. Dredge the shanks through some flour, shake off any excess, and add the meat to the hot fat in the pan. Increase the heat to medium high and cook the meat on each side until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the shanks to a plate and set aside.

Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the dutch oven. Cook the onion mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, and then toss in the garlic and thyme. Continue cooking until the vegetables just begin to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add the pancetta and shanks back to the pan. Pour in the wine, and then add enough stock to come a little more than half was up the side of the shanks. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and put it in the oven to cook until the meat is tender, about an hour to an hour and a half.

Combine the gremolata ingredients and place in a separate small serving dish.

Serve the veal on top of risotto or polenta. Sprinle with gremolata.

Serves 4 to 6.

The salad is on the stunning board I got for VD.

And after gorging on the scrumptious meal, we feel like a couple of overstuffed court jesters!

Everybody did such a great job! LPink your dinner looks very yummy. Flounder with shrimp sauce, what's not to like. Your rice gave me an idea. Annie, your chicken looks good to me and cauliflower and brussels are our favorites. Um, Nancy, Christy and I are on our way for the leftovers. Ok, I'm the only one that eats lobster but that's no problemo. Karen, ooooo... your hubs knows a good girl when he sees one! Excellent Valentine's gifts!! The food looks almost as good as the Jesterette. LOL.

Well Christy came home from the market with her own Valentine's surprise for me. A nice bag of barely steamed crab legs! There is a woman that comes a few times a month with the seafood. Christy only bought/paid for 1.35 lbs of legs and the woman kept throwing claws in and such. She likes Christy. She doesn't eat crab except crab cakes [what kind of Nola girl is she???] so she heated them up for me in a little water with a Meyer lemon and some garlic. I spent about an hour and a half in crab heaven. Still have all the crab on the right of pic to eat. There is a very pretty napkin peeking out of the left side that I got from our last swap. Thanks again Gellchom!

I'll be cooking for her tomorrow as I said.

Wow, these meals are amaayzing! I am so jealous. Now I wish I had planned ahead, not that I could ever make anything to compare to the culinary masterpieces here.

Not wanting to feel left out, here is my Valentine meal:

Ta da! A heart shaped PBJ sandwich!

And now it is a broken heart:

Gives new meaning to the phrase "eat your heart out", doesn't it? (please try not to notice the snowman on the plate. The only red plate I had was from Christmas).

Totally amazing meals everyone!

I wish I was your Valentine. :-)

dcarch

Beautiful dinners, wow! I wish I had remembered photos for mine, although we ended up serving buffet style, so plating would have been whatever people put on their plates.

I'm going for another dinner today, with something totally different. I bought leeks and Jerry bought 3 beautiful red bell peppers last week, thinking we'd use them. We didn't, so I'm planning to do something with them tonight. Red bell peppers look sort of valentiney to me, although I'm sure Dcarch could really make them look like valentines.

This has been fun. I'm glad you thought of this, Nancy. Thanks.

Sally

Love to see all the meals shared here. Nancy, your lobster Newburg looks wonderful. Haven't made that in a long time.

Coconut, now that is a crab feast.

Pam, you crack me up.

LPink your dinner sounds wonderful.

Karen, one of my favourite meals. (love your charger plates).

I made Moe Cioppino on Valentine's Day, and tonight I am making our Virtual Dinner.
~Ann

I'm late. We did have our roast chicken dinner. Very simple. So good! Had mashed potatoes with just S/P, butter and a touch of cream. Since the oven was already on we roasted fresh green beans while I made the gravy (also with a couple tablespoons of cream). We changed our minds on dessert. Was going to have chocolate pudding cake but with all the talk about Meyer lemons we decided to make a spicy gingerbread with lemon sauce.

We've been working really hard the past few days and the kitchen is 95% functional. There's still a lot I have to replace but we can eat with what's available. I've been working on a grocery list all day. DH will shop mid-week to avoid the weekend crowds since he'll have a couple carts to manage. We haven't replaced the freezer yet because getting to it in the garage would still be a challenge so we'll wait for the Memorial Day sales.

Our kitchen is open for dinner! Oh Happy Day! Tonight is beef stragonoff over homemade noodles & fresh beets w/oranges. Can ya tell we're on a comfort food kick? :)

/tricia

Ooooooh my I wish had played! These dinners are so much fun and the meals all sound so wonderful. Just wasn't in the cards this time unless restraunt meals count..... :-(

Great menus everyone

Ooooooh my I wish had played! These dinners are so much fun and the meals all sound so wonderful. Just wasn't in the cards this time unless restraunt meals count..... :-(

Great menus everyone

I finally made our Virtual Dinner tonight.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin "Greek Style" with Orzo.

The pork was rubbed with garlic, lots of black pepper, salt, oregano and juice of a lemon and left to marinate for 20 to 30 minutes before grilling.

The Orzo was cooked and then tossed with seeded chopped tomato, chopped green onion, dill, baby spinach, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon and baked for 15 minutes.

Pam, that's so cute! Hey the plate was red and you did make a very nice heart! Good sport.

Ann, that Ciopino looks so good and I don't even eat mussels. LOL

Tricia, I'm so glad you two got your chicken dinner. However, Stroganoff is one of my favorites!

Aw, Sharon, I wouldn't mind seeing your restaurant meal!

Well, Ann, the pork looks great! We bought a whole tenderloin this week so it's in our future soon too. The orzo sounds great and we both like it.

My dinner was sort of hit and miss. I did make Chicken Marsala. Since I was having trouble being in the kitchen I decided to cube the chicken instead of whole or half breasts, so it would go faster. A method more than a recipe.
In a nice hot pan a few turns of oil and seared the chicken. Remove from pan, add some butter and quickly sauteed some giant shallots, then a bunch of halved or quartered mushroom. Deglazed with about a cup of Marsala and then another cup of chicken broth. Added back the shallots and chicken and cooked for another four or five minutes until sauce reduced some and chicken was cooked. I wanted pilaf but Christy really wanted mashed potatoes and since it's her birthday week, that's what I made. She was in charge of steaming the green beans and while we both like our veggies cooked through, these....were.. smiles.

For dessert I made a citrus cheesecake with zest of Meyer lemon, lime and orange and the juice from the Meyer lemon and the lime. We were a bit too full so we did try a sliver late and it is delicious but I'll have to take a pic of it tomorrow.

Starting the chicken. I do like to see it starting to cook on the underside right away so you can count on some good fond on the pan by time you deglaze.

Plated. The lettuces were all crap except the romaine hearts so we had a small salad with some tomatoes I had ripened but forgot to take a pic of that.

I got to make our Valentines Day Virtual Dinner last night too... ended up with Panko Shrimp, Chateaubriand (with Bernaise, RoastedCarrots, Chateau Potatoes and Brandied Mushrooms) and Peanut Butter Tart for dessert. The guys loved it all!

I just want to add "Congratulations!" Tricia on reclaiming your kitchen!

Yes, congratulations Tricia! I'm sure a homecooked meal was the best Valentine's dinner you could have asked for.

The dinners all look and sound great! Alexa, it looks like your bearnaise held just fine.

That steak really looks good Alexa and the Bernaise held up great.

I made the citrus cheesecake Sunday but we only finally got around to eating some tonight. It really was an excellent cheesecake. I'll make it again. I didn't put the sour cream on top of the cheesecake, in case I wanted to make the lemon curd for it. Also, instead of just zest I used the juice from the Meyer Lemon and the lime. I also added a tablespoon of cornstarch to make up for the added juice.

Classic Cheesecake [modified]
Serves:
8 to 10 servings

This is a classic cheesecake -- velvety, rich, sweet and so satisfying. We are major fans of a thin sour cream cap on top of
cheesecakes; it's the perfect balance to this rich cake.
Ingredients
Crust:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch fine salt

Filling:

2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups sour cream
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla paste (see cook's note) or extract
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest [used zest from 1 Meyer lemon]
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest [zest from half an orange]
[added zest from 1 lime]
As said above I added the juice from the lemon and lime plus a tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in the juices.
Topping:

3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
Berries, optional

Directions

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

For the crust: Melt the butter, covered in the microwave, in a medium microwave safe bowl, or a saucepan. Brush a

9-inch springform pan with some of the butter. Stir the remaining butter together with the crumbs, sugar, and salt. Press

the crumb mixture over the bottom of the pan, taking care to get the crust evenly into the edges. Bake until golden

brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool. Wrap the bottom and up the sides of the pan with foil and put in a roasting pan.

For the filling: Beat the cream cheese on medium speed with a hand-held mixer until smooth. Add the granulated sugar

and beat just until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl and beaters as needed. Slowly beat in the sour cream,

then eggs, vanilla and both citrus zests; take care not to over whip. Pour into the cooled crust.

Bring a medium saucepan or kettle of water to a boil. Gently place the roasting pan in the oven (don't pull the rack out of

the oven). Pour in enough hot water to come about halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake for
about 1 hour and 10 minutes---the outside of the cake will set but the center will still be loose.[Mine took almost 1hour and a half]

For the topping: Stir together the sour cream, confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Spread over the top of the cooked

cheesecake and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Turn the oven off, cook the cheesecake in the residual heat in the oven

for about1 hour. This gentle finish minimizes the risk of the dreaded crack in your cheesecake.

Remove cheesecake from the roasting pan to a rack. Run a knife around the edges and cool to room temperature. Cover

and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Bring cheesecake to room temperature 30 minutes before serving. Remove the springform ring. Dip a knife in warm

water, wipe dry before slicing each piece. Serve with berries, if desired.

Notes

We love vanilla bean paste. It has intense vanilla bean flavor in a convenient paste form. It's a great way to add great

flavor and distinctive vanilla flecks without having to use a whole bean.

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My note: Do let it set in refrigerator for time suggested. It's a very creamy cheesecake.