An OS Valentine's meal?

xx_Jo_xx

Hmmmm, this thread has given me inspiration!!

We werent going to do anything for Val Day as Im off to Disneyland Paris for my little ones Bday for the half term week with my friend and her little boy.

But dinner at home on the Friday sounds good!!

What about Salmon Fillets in the steamer with some baby new pototoes. You would only need to go into the kitchen to add some veg to the top tier of the steamer for the last few mintues! It would only take a few minutes to make up a sauce or dressing for the fish.

M & S have some great deals on food at the minute and they do a lush chocolate fudge cake in the bakery section at the minute for £1.99. You can heat up a slice in the micro for 12 secs and serve with cream or vailla ice cream, and its fab!! That will definately be my desert x

xx_Jo_xx

Ems! wrote: »

Hi - Im doing tapas for valentins - I bought a little tapas cook book the other day and thought it would be a nice change - i can post a few of the recipes if you are interested? if so tell me what kind of things u fancy....

Hi - i would be really interested in tapas recipes!! The easier and more straightforward the better!

We are having dinner tonight - paella (bought on special offer from M&S!) and some tapas ideas would be fab.....

We both like anything really but im not too keen on onions.

Thanks, your a star!!

Boodle

I see I had already posted last year's valentine's meal but this is what we are having this year:

Apple and Pecan Salad (apples I have in, bag of seasonal salad 49p, pecans £1.08 for a large bag that will do for other things too, extra virgin oil I have in)

"Venison" Stew with Mash and Peas (the venison is actually organic stewing steak £3.84, marinated with a tbsp or two of gin - about £4 small bottle -, slug of red wine - have some left by last dinner guests - and olive oil, then slow cooked with chopped parma ham from freezer, onions, stock, bay leaf, dried cranberries I have in, and 1/2 a tin of chestnut puree. This should make enough to freeze a good couple of portions too.)

Burnt Honey and Thyme Ice Cream with Orange Tuiles (inspired by a Good Housekeeping recipe but different method so I don't have to keep whisking - to buy: cream only as everything else - i.e. icing sugar, milk (will make up dried) thyme, honey, orange juice, flour, eggs - I have/buy in weekly anyway.)

Organic Cheddar (got 2 packs on offer last week) with Oatcakes (left from Xmas - will crisp up in oven) and Celery.

And a small bottle of dry white for the fella (being preggies I can't have any ) for £1.59.

So all in all a pretty good deal for valentine's this year - especially as we do this instead of token for-the-sake-of-it pressies! :j

Jasper27_2

We have some nice wine left from Christmas and I have some fillet steak I got 50% off as a "whoopsie". I'll be doing it with a nice garlic mushroom sauce and crushed pototoes and veg. I'm not keen on starters as I like to have lots of room left for large portions of dessert! I have some very luxurious brownies left from christmas (I made too many and froze them) which will go very nicely with some Ben and Jerry's ice cream I stocked up on when it was only £1.95 in Tesco some months ago. I got a free box of Thorntons Continental with a voucher in the Saturday Telegraph so if we've any room left we'll share them later. OH is wonderful and I'd spend a fortune on him if I had it. Luckily we are both pretty thrifty and would rather save for other things rather than go out for an overpriced meal. I think restaurants really hike their prices up for special occasions so we'll have a meal out another time. Just got a 2 for 1 main courses voucher for Cafe Rouge from the Sainsbury's magazine so we'll use that later in the month.

frugalswan

Simple is best for Valentine's for us this year. It'll be a freshly baked (well, a part-baked from a pair in the freezer) baguette, cut in half and buttered (well, spreaded) and steak lightly pan-fried. There'll be salad with it, and perhaps some onion rings. It's our favourite, and more importantly, it's becoming a bit of a tradition. Valentine's and our anniversary, we have a treat in the form of some lovely steak sandwiches. Dessert will be whatever we fancy at the time that we have in, but I'm thinking some stewed apple over sweet pancakes, with a dollop of ice cream.

x Frugalswan x

Patchwork_Quilt

purplemoon wrote: »

If anyones still there... Do you know what I can undrunk pink cava for (its flat!)? I'm guessing it'll add to things you add white wine to- but any food in particular it'll work well with? I don't eat meat btw.

I always put undrunk wine in a box in the freezer. Keep it the right way up as not all of it freezes. Carve out a spoonful at a time and add to casserole, soup, tomato dishes. We did this with pink champagne once (Mum bought it!) and it was lovely

Ems!

xx_Jo_xx wrote: »

Hi - i would be really interested in tapas recipes!! The easier and more straightforward the better!

We are having dinner tonight - paella (bought on special offer from M&S!) and some tapas ideas would be fab.....

We both like anything really but im not too keen on onions.

Thanks, your a star!!

Hi , i think I am too late for your dinner! Really so.rry! But hopefully you will be able to use some another time!

Will just post a few random things, hope you will fancy some of them!!

Herb Fritters (serves 4 as a tapas dish)

I haven't tried this yet, but as its made of things most people will probably have in anyway thought I would include it)

- 1 separated egg
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 100 ml prosecco or sparkling mineral water
- oil for deep frying
- 50 g mixed herbs (eg. coriander , mint , sage, basil,)
- salt and pepper

Beat the olive oil,egg yolk, prosecco or water with the , flour and some s&p seasoning.In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white until its stiff then fold into the batter. heat abt 2 inches veg oil in a deep sauceman until v hot! Dip the sprigs in the batter then deep fry for approx 30 seconds each.

Chilli fried Panisse

2 tbsps olive oil
1 litre water
250 g chickpea flour
sea salt and pepper

Either use shop bought chilli oil if you have it, or make your own by putting 4 dried red chillis and 2 whole peeled garlic cloves in a sealed bottled with 300 ml extra virgin olive oil and store in a cool drak place for a week. it should keep for a few months.

Boil the water. Sieve the flour into a bowl and stir in 1tsp seasalt. Add the 2tbsp olive oil to the bowl then whisk in the boiled water until mixture is smooth. In a pan, bring to the boil and cook for 5-6 mins until thickened & smooth. Transfer to an oiled 9x12 inch tin and leave to cool, then turn it out and cut into fingers. fry the fingers in the chilli oil for about 1-2 mins each side.


Grilled sweet potatoes with coriander and lemon salsa (serves 4 as tapas)

-500g sweet potatoes
-4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
- salt and pepper

For the salsa:-
- 4tbsp chopped coriander
- 1 small deseeded finely chopped red chilli
-1 crushed garlic clove
- 6tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon (grated rind and juice)
- 1/2 - 1 tsp ground cumin

Scrub potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices , dry , and put in a large bowl. Mix the oil and garlicand season well. Pour on the slices and toss to coat them.
Put the slices on a single layer on the grill. Tales about 6-8 mins each side to cook.

To prepare salsa- simply combine all the ingredients and season. serve over the potatoes.


Hope those are OK for now! need to go cook my tea but will be back later with some more ( inc some meat /fish based ones!)

Zed42

DH and I haven't gone out for a Valentine's Day meal in years and we have no intentions on doing so this year either. Overpriced, bad service, poor quality and rushed ... to name a few reasons.

However, we do like to do a good "cook off" as we put it and do ourselves a good meal...

We're still formulating our plans, current theory goes like this:

Chilli prawns
Steak with a pepper sauce, potato wedges, mushrooms and peas
Raspberry souffle (a la Gordon Ramsay recipe)

What is everyone else doing for Valentine's Day, any good menu plans!!!!

jamsandwhich

Sounds lovely!!

We are staying in and having takeaway pizza and beer from a local brewery!!! We have one of the best pizza places in the world (and I have tested many as pizza is my downfall:D ) and a brewery down the road which makes the most fantastic ranges of beer ever - I have also got through quite a lot of that too over the years!!!

Have resisted having a pizza for ages so am really looking forward to it - I just need to get rid of my cold now so I can taste it:rolleyes:

I do a lot of cooking anyway so it will be a nice rest - once the girlies are in bed we will put the dvd on and put feet up!

thriftlady_2

Well, I was contemplating doing the thai-inspired meal for 2 in this month's Good Food mag (crab and corn cakes with sweet chili sauce, thai roast chicken, coconut rice). But then I made a list of all the food I'd need to buy and decided that it was daft as I have loads of food already. Then I also decided that cooking 2 meals -one for the kids and one for us was daft too, and we'd have to wait till really late for them all to be in bed. So, I'm doing beef stew for 5 and ignoring Valentine's day:D There'll be wine and chocolate though when the kids are in bed. It's our wedding anniversary on the 25th and we will have lunch out alone then.

I love the sound of your meal though Zed and agree about eating out