Valentine's day menu

How do you woo your amour on Valentine's day? Do you keep things simple and sweet with a box of chocolates, or do you go for a full Monty and cook a 3-course dinner? Or do you fancy recreating that famous food scene from Nine and a Half Weeks? You know, I have just watched it again on Youtube and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. Oldies are always goldies.
While I might be showing my age by reference to 9 and 1/2 weeks, I like to make an effort and cook a special meal on Valentine's day.

Valentine's day menu

If you are looking for a menu which is easy and romantic, the Italian cuisine might be a source of inspiration. The Italians certainly know how to woo their loved ones with the most tantalising recipes. Take Caprese salad, what could be simpler than slicing tomatoes, mozzarella and tearing some basil leaves? Yet it's one of the most satisfying salads.
For my starter I prepared a light Caprese with a twist, as I also added a sliced blood orange to the classic ingredients. Don't knock it off before you tried it.

Caprese salad with blood orange

For a Caprese salad, slice the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, as well as a blood orange. Arrange the slices so that overlap each other. Drizzle some olive oil, tear fresh basil leaves, season with a bit of pepper if you fancy.

Strawberry Spumante cocktail:

To put you in the romantic mood, how about a cocktail with fresh strawberries?

Whizz 4-5 big strawberries into a thick puree, pour 5tbsp of puree in each glass and top up with a sparkling wine. I used Rosamore Vino Spumante Rosato Brut, an Italian fresh pink sparkling wine. It is a lovely aperitif, fresh and fruity.

For a main course impress your love with a dish of duck breast served with a strawberry and blood orange salsa.
Duck with sweet and sour salsa is a winning combination.
Duck with strawberry and orange blood salsa
Ingredients:
2 duck breasts, skin remove
1tsp grated ginger
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 garlic clove
sea salt
2tbsp olive oil

For the salsa:
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1tbsp maple syrup
a small punnet of strawberries
1 blood orange
a handful of pomegranates
1tbsp fresh thyme

First marinade two duck breasts in a mix of grated ginger (1tsp), juice and zest of 1 lime and 1 garlic clove, grated or pressed through the garlic press. Leave them in the marinade for an hour and a half or more.
Cook the breasts in the frying pan with the olive oil. I like my meat well done, so I don't give any suggestions on the time, it depends on how you like your meat.

Mix the balsamic vinegar with the maple syrup, zest and lime juice. Chop the strawberries and put in the bowl with the marinade. Remove the skin from the blood orange, slice it and put together with the berries. Add the pomegranate seeds and chopped thyme. Ideally the salsa should be left to infuse for a couple of hours. Give it an occasional stir.
Serve the duck breasts with the salsa spooned over.

Chocolate for me is a final indulgence. This Nutella and whisky cake tastes divine and finishes the Valentine's day nicely.

Nutella cake

Nutella cake
Ingredients:
4 medium eggs
100g Nutella+ more for decorating
150g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
3tbsp whisky
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
40g ground almonds
zest of 1 blood orange (optional)
100g butter, melted
Dr Oetker Shimmer spray gold and gold pearls (optional)
30+ minutes

Beat the eggs with Nutella and caster sugar. Add the vanilla essence, whisky, flour, baking powder, ground almonds, orange zest and melted butter, mix well. Pour in a heart-shaped cake tin. Bake at 180C for 30+ minutes.
Once cool to touch, spread some Nutella with a knife and smooth the surface. If you like, add a touch of glamour with Dr Oetker shimmer spray gold and gold pears, but this is optional.

If you are full, and feel a bit of slumber, perk up yourself with a nice cup of latte or cappuccino, sprinkled with cocoa.

To help me cook my Valentine's day dinner, OXO sent three kitchen gadgets of my choice to play with. I love OXO Good Grips, and use all my products from the range regularly. If you visit my kitchen, you'll see that I constantly use OXO Good Grips herb mincer, measuring cup and juicer to name but a few.

My first choice was an OXO Good Grips 3-piece Berry Bowl and Colander set. This jolly colourful set is just the right size for rinsing berries, beans and more. The set comes as a nest for compact storage, it has a non-slip bottom. The set is very easy to clean. The colander has an elevated ring along its bottom, so it also stays stable on the working surface or in the sink when you wash the berris. The holes are elongated for efficient draining. There is a lid with seals the bowl for storing the food in the fridge.

I used the set for washing the strawberries for both the salsa and cocktail and used the bowl for preparing the salsa.

OXO Good Grips Simple Mandoline Slicer is an easy-to-use kitchen gadget. I have fancied a mandoline for a long time. You choose a thickness you need for the food you selected: three slice thickness setting, julienne setting and storage setting. The stainless steel blade is angled and cuts the foods into slices with ease. You hold your piece of fruit or vegetable with a spring-loaded food holder which has a big rim to protect fingers. Textured runway prevents food from sticking.
A soft handle is comfy and soft, plus the mandoline comes with non-slip feet which keep it stable.
Once you finished the job and cleaned the mandoline, its leg folds for compact storage.
I used the mandoline for preparing the salad.

Tomatoes sliced with a mandoline

And finally OXO Good Grips Baker's Dusting Wand is a cute little kitchen gadget. It is useful for flouring the cake tin evenly, for sprinkling surfaces for rolling the dough, and of course, for adding icing sugar to your baked goodies or sprinkling cinnamon or cocoa over cappuccino. It is very light. Twist the wand open, scoop some icing sugar or cinnamon, twist to close and dust whatever you fancy.

Disclosure: I received a selection of OXO Good Grips to prepare a menu for Valentine's day.

Sous Vide Duck Breast in blood orange marmalade sauce

- Mummy, what are you cooking for dinner?
- A duck
- Mummy (with a sigh of horror), a duck should be in a bath.


In the last couple of weeks I have been playing with my new toys, PolyScience vacuum sealer and PolyScience Sous Vide Professional Thermal Circulator. Until recently I had only a very vague idea of what sous vide cooking system is supposed to be. When asked if I might be interested in testing and reviewing these gadgets, I got thrilled with an idea of experimenting with new gadgets and style of cooking. Together with my equipment I received a brilliant cook book, Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking which got my creativity flowing.

There is over a hundred of tempting recipes in the book, which is divided into themes like meat, fish, fruit and vegetables etc plus ideas for compressions.

After trying the chicken and cod as well as vegetables, I have decided to cook the duck breasts with marmalade. I have read the original recipe for Duck Supreme in the book, it looked delicious and simple enough to master.
First I mixed a heaped tbsp of blood orange marmalade with the zest of 1 orange and a generous amount of Schwartz Thai 7 Spice blend. From the classic combination I moved to a slightly more Oriental theme as I wanted to serve the duck with noodles and mushroom and vegetable stir-fry.
Two duck breast were mixed with the marinade, and added in a pouch together with a sliced plum. Once sealed, the pouch was put in the bath preheated to 54C for an hour and a half.

Once done, the breasts left the pouch, were patted dry and fried in a small pan, skin down to make it more crispy. It wasn't as crispy as if you roasted the duck, and there was still a layer of fat left, but I wasn't sure if I kept cooking it, it wouldn't be overcooked. Personally I like my duck well done, even if I know it should be served pink. For me this was the challenge. But I wanted to test it as it is supposed to be, so I left it pretty pink.

It was gorgeous served with the plum & marmalade sauce (after frying the duck, I let it rest, and quickly reduced the liquid from the pouch in the pan with the juice of 1 blood orange.

Happy to report that despite my reservations on the duck being very pink, it was perfectly cooked and absolutely melt-in-the-mouth. By far one of the best duck dishes I ever cooked. 

Before I will have to return my toys back, I will try to cook the duck at least another time. 

I have used Blood Orange marmalade from The Artisan Kitchen for this dish, but I suppose any good quality orange marmalade would work in this recipe. It has won Taste of the West Best Sweet preserve of 2013, and I can see why. It has an intense deep flavour, and is absolutely wonderful on a slice of bread, fresh or toasted. It has inspired me to make my own marmalade. Last week I made a batch of Seville & Blood Orange marmalade, and was mightily pleased with my results (I might do a blog post about it as well, just to boast how pretty my jars look).

Disclosure: I received PolyScience Sous Vide gadgets on loan for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine.

Duck with red cabbage: our last meal of 2013

After the lavish Christmas lunch our new year's eve's dinner looked very modest in comparison, but I was feeling absolutely rotten and had no energy to cook a three-course meal. We didn't have guests either. We didn't celebrate, my guys went to bed rather early and didn't stay until midnight to greet 2014. I kept reading until 12am, listened to some boom-boom of the nearby fireworks and then decided it was time for me to join my sleeping army as well.

For the last meal of 2013 I have picked Nigel Slater's recipe for Red Cabbage with Prunes and Port. It was a starting point for my dish of Duck with red cabbage.
I went to Waitrose with the very good intentions of buying a jar of duck confit needed for his recipe, but after looking at the price (£10.99), I decided against it, as the fresh duck legs would cost less than a half of that, and I still had some duck fat left in a jar from Christmas.

Duck with red cabbage 
Ingredients:
2 duck legs
2tsp duck fat
a dash of sherry+ a squeeze of lemon juice
150g prunes
port, enough to cover the prunes in a bowl
1 small red cabbage
4tbsp cranberry & port sauce
2tsbp cranberry jelly (optional)
juniper berries
sea salt, pepper

Put the prunes in a small bowl and pour the port over, enough to cover the prunes, let them soak for an hour. I didn't stone the prunes.
Put the duck legs in a roasting dish, slightly smear with 1tbsp of duck fat, season well and put the tray in the oven preheated to 200C. Roast until the skin is crispy and the duck is cooked well (none of that pink nonsense please). Squeeze some lemon juice and add a dash of sherry if you want mid-way through cooking.
Put the finely shredded red cabbage in a deep frying pan or wok with 1tbsp of duck fat and add the juniper berries, add a bit of water, cover with the lid and cook for at least 30 minutes.
Nigel Slater's timing of cooking the red cabbage is much shorter, but while I love fresh crunchy cabbage in slaws and salads, it has to be cooked well in a dish like this in my opinion. Keep checking the cabbage, and adding a bit more water if necessary. Add the cranberry sauce and jelly (we had the remains from Christmas). Add the prunes and port as well, mix well. The cabbage should be soft, not crunchy, but not overcooked to the point when it is disintegrating.
Shred the duck meat, add to the cabbage and serve while hot.

It was a lovely combination of flavours and textures. Duck was nicely complemented by the sweet prunes and cabbage, the port added the richness to the final dish, so all in all, a very satisfactory meal, albeit not exactly as Nigel Slater planned when he wrote his recipe.

And if you wonder what our first meal of 2014 was, I'll tell you: we had pancakes. What about you?

I

Soy sauce and chilli glazed sticky duck with fruit salsa

My husband spent a week in Hong Kong recently, and on coming home confessed that he was tired of eating the Chinese food for a week at all the official functions, but he also managed to sneak out once or twice to Pizza Express (my poor Italian hubby, a week without pasta must have been a torture, lol). Personally I love the Chinese food, as it is so versatile, and varied. A week passed after his return, and I thought it was safe to prepare a Chinese-influenced dish for dinner.
This is by no means an authentic recipe but more of a fusion of cuisines and flavours, but it works really well.

Amoy has recently launched a new Special Selection Soy Sauce. To mark the occasion, lovely blogger and creative foodie Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews has teamed with Amoy to invite her blog readers to experiment with the new soy sauce and create their own recipes. The recipes will be judged, and the best entry will win a Chinese-themed goodie bag, courtesy of Amoy.

Soy sauce and chilli glazed sticky duck with fruit salsa
Ingredients:
for the salsa
2 kiwis, cubed
2 medium slices of watermelon, cubed
1 orange, sliced
a handful of fresh mint
1 tbsp Amoy special selection soy sauce
1/2 orange, juiced
1/2 lime, juiced
1tsp honey

2 duck legs
3tbsp chilli jam
2tbsp Amoy special selection soy sauce
1tsp hot chili powder
salt
olive oil

rice or noodles to serve

Start by preparing the fruit salsa. The idea of pickling the watermelons is not a new one. It is very popular in the Southern Russia to pickle slices of watermelon in salty brine, and it is lovely on a hot summer day.
Slice the orange (peel it first). Chop/cube the watermelon and kiwis. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with the orange and lime juice, honey and soy sauce. Let it infuse for a couple of hours, occasionally stirring. Before serving tear a few mint leaves and add to the fruit salsa.

Rub two duck legs with a bit of olive oil, season and sprinkle the hot chilli powder to coat them evenly. Place in the oven preheated to 200C in a deep dish for about 30 minutes. Mix the chilli jam with the soy sauce, and spread over the duck legs. Roast for another 30 minutes, until the skin is crispy and really caramelised-sticky.

Serve with the noodles or egg-fried rice.

I have received a bottle of Amoy Special Selection Soy Sauce to take part in the cooking challenge.

Our Christmas duck (The Quilters Kitchen recipe)

I came across Jennifer Chiaverini's books by pure chance, browsing the Returned Fiction shelves in the local library. Having read one, I got hooked and started looking for the other books in the series (I believe there are 14 in total). I haven't read them all, but the escapism of the series has a strong appeal.

"The Quilter's Kitchen" met some serious criticism among the fans of the series who complained that the plot was thin and the characters were flat. I think they missed the point that the plot is just the thread that holds all the recipes together, as first of all, it is a cook book, and should be appreciated as such. I read the recipes with great interest, as they are holding the key to the past and I felt immersed in a different world and reality.

I don't mind the American measurements or cooking ingredients. But as these recipes mostly cater for a crowd or at least a big family, it won't be as easy for me to recreate some of them, as simply halving the amount doesn't work, you still need to know the ratio etc.

I planned to cook a duck for our Christmas, and Chiaverini's recipe for the roast duck with the raspberry coulis was very inspiring.

Roast Duck with Raspberry Coulis

serves 6

1 whole duck (about 7 pounds), excess fat and skin removed from neck and cavity

Kosher salt and black pepper

1/4 cup molasses

Juice and rind from 2 oranges

3 garlic cloves, minced

For the raspberry coulis:

12 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp molasses

1tbsp brandy

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Using a sharp knife, carefully score the breast of the duck, about four times on each side, cutting through the skin to allow fat to render. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Place the molasses, orange juice and garlic in a small bowl and stir to combine. Place the orange rinds inside the cavity of the duck. Place the duck in a small roasting pan or large oven-proof skillet and brush with about one-quarter of the molasses mixture.

Transfer the duck to the oven and roast, basting every hour with the molasses mixture, until very tender and the legs move easily in their joints, about 4 to 5 hours.

 

 

Prepare the coulis: While the duck is cooking, place the raspberries, sugar, molasses and brandy in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Refrigerate until ready to use.

As often, I used the recipe as an inspiration and changed a few bits. I didn't have molasses, but have read that the treacle is the closest in flavour and texture, so I used the treacle instead. Less garlic too.

Plus I added stuffing inside the cavity. The stuffing was Heston Blumenthal's duck and pork stuffing with red cherries (again my curiosity defeated me, as the stuffing was just OK, nothing to write home about, won't be buying it again).

And I cooked it for about 3 hours, not more.

I served the duck with the coulis and also the cranberry & orange relish.

The recipe works well, and my thanks go to Jennifer Chiaverini for an inspirational cook book!