Valentine’s Dinner Menu 2010

The trick to dining in courses is to keep it simple and time everything.  Set the table and decant the wine before you start cooking. Read the complete menu and recipes and have the timing set in your mind.

Hint: Keep the BBQ at a medium temperature. Put the Filet Mignon on about 10 minutes before dinner.  Turn it over right before you sit down and let it cook slowly while you eat your first course.

Another Hint: Serve a wine with a sexy name.

First Course

• Poached Lobster Tails
• Lemon Butter
• Cristalino Cava

Lobster should never be boiled, it should be poached.  Boiling causes it to cook too quickly on the outside and toughens the meat.  Put the lobster in cold water in a large pot and add high quality salt–salt it like the Mediterranean.  Once the water gets hot enough to create tiny bubbles, retain the temperature and poach for 20 minutes per pound. Microwave the butter in individual bowls, add fresh lemon juice before serving.  Serve the lobster tails on individual plates with lemon wedges. Serve with your favorite chilled bubbly.

Second Course

• Petite Filet Mignon
• Porcino Mushroom Risotto
• O’Brien Estate 2006 Seduction

Prime USDA Filet Mignon is wonderful with just salt & pepper.  Sauces are a good idea with Choice cuts (hint–Costco doesn’t carry Prime Filet Mignon.) It’s worth paying a few more bucks per pound every once in awhile. Risotto is fun to make and should be part of every good cook’s repertoire, but frankly, if you can get a good risotto from a local gourmet grocery store (Paradise Foods for me), it makes the 2nd course so much easier.

Third Course

• Breyer’s All Natural Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
• Banana Slices
• Vanilla Mini-Cupcakes
• Giana’s Natural Cookie
• Casa Nuestra 2008 Late Harvest French Colombard

This was a fun pairing.  The bananas and ice cream are wonderful with my new favorite dessert wine.  Bobby bought the mini cupcakes as a gift to me & I bought the cookies as a gift to him.

The best occasions are fun because we don’t take ourselves too seriously.  We enjoy our favorite foods and wines and we share in the preparation of the meal. Bon Appetit!