An Ode to Romance

This post is for all the lovers out there. Now I know when you conjure up an image of a romantic dinner, you are all dressed up in a fancy restaurant enjoying gourmet food. For me – I’ll take the gourmet food, but I want to be in my pajamas. This post is a tribute to two wonderfully romantic meals I have shared with my husband – in our PJs.

First – an “a little late but worth the wait” post regarding our New Year’s Paella. Now, I will be the first to admit that my paella is not “auténtico”, but it is amazing – so back off. I do not use saffron (just can’t justify the expense) and I don’t use a paella pan (just too lazy to buy one), but the end result is phenomenal. I made my first Dutch oven paella on December 31, 2009 with crab, lobster and andouille sausage. It was good, but this New Year’s version blew it away completely. This proteins used this year were lobster, clams, and chorizo (Spanish, not Mexican) and it was delicioso.

Now, no romantic dinner is complete without a luxurious dessert, and our New Year’s celebration was no exception. As the recipient of a mini blow torch this holiday season – it only seemed appropriate to make crème brûlée, however, to keep with the Spanish theme of the evening I chose Crema Catalona (same technique as crème brûlée, but lemon and cinnamon instead of vanilla bean). 

 

Add champagne and a fire – perfection!

Now on to Valentine’s Day – admittedly one of my least favorite holidays. Forced romance, plus  a nearly 100% mark-up on red roses is just ridiculous (Don’t get me wrong – still love receiving said flowers, but still...) In the wondrous tradition of gourmet food in our jammies, for Valentine’s Day I decided to tackle lobster risotto. (Just saying “risotto” made me fear that Gordon Ramsey was going to knock down my door and tell me I was rubbish, but I appear to be safe for now). 

The recipes I had found for lobster risotto disappointed me when it came to one key component – the stock. Most suggested either vegetable or chicken stock. This seemed like a cop-out to me, so my first challenge became making my own lobster stock.

After roasting my two lobster tails in the oven, I removed the meat and added the shells to my moiré poix (carrot, onion, celery) that had been sweating for a few minutes.

Next came the garlic, fennel, parsley, tomatoes, mushrooms, bay leaf and white wine.

I added enough water to cover everything by 2-3”, and then I let it simmer for about 90 minutes. Now, my chef bio mentions that my favorite thing about cooking is all the smells of a dish coming together – and making lobster stock was no exception. Wow – the apartment smelled AMAZING! Isaac returned from work and immediately asked “oh – so you started lobster-ing” to which I was able to respond , “Oh – I’m just making lobster stock for our risotto.” A sly smile crept across his face…he knew this was going to be awesome!

A quick strain through some cheesecloth (thanks for taking this photo, Isaac) yielded a magnificent batch o’ lobster stock.

Now from tons of reading (and despite watching Hell’s Kitchen), risotto itself did not appear challenging. It just requires patience. I bought the appropriate Arborio rice, sautéed some shallots (I thought onion might overwhelm the delicate flavors) added a splash of brandy, and then patiently ladled my glorious lobster stock one half cup at a time until I was rewarded with creamy, delicious risotto. I folded in my cooked lobster tails, oven roasted some asparagus (that had marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and sliced garlic) and bon appétit– Valentine’s Day Dinner!

Now from the previous menu, you know that this had to be followed up with a scrumptious dessert. In a Bacon v. Pie first (and in honor of the only our favorite chef couple, Pat and Gina Neely) we decided to prepare dessert together. Now don’t get me wrong, we have both contributed components to each other’s meals in the past, but these collaborations have followed the strict code of “while I’m in the kitchen, you better not be”. We each have our own methods in the kitchen, and have found that it’s best if we leave the other chef alone.

The dessert of choice was chocolate soufflé. I melted chocolate and mixed in the yokes, Isaac beat the egg whites. Together we produced perfection. (Please note Isaac’s robe – and you thought I was kidding about the jammies thing…)

After a quick 20 minutes, we had wonderful, puffy soufflé.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

--Mary