Looking for a special recipe or just some fresh ideas? Take a look at these recipes, personally created by Executive Chef Tammy Lipps.
If you look closely at the berry BEFORE you do anything to it…. you can already see that if you carefully remove the green top with a pairing knife, you have to do very little to actually shape the strawberry into a heart.
At the top, cut into the side of the green top on 2 sides into the center, as if you are “coring” the berry, leaving the two round, mounds, (as if it were a heart) you may have to do a little creative shaping with the pairing knife. …THEN, after washing, slice through the berry vertically to create 2 or 3 thick strawberry-Heart Shaped slices, (depending on size and thickness of the berry.)
Wash and spin lettuces in salad spinner and toss together in salad bowl with edible flowers, onion, candied pecans, fresh mint and heart shaped strawberry slices. (Or place the strawberries on top of the dressed salad for a romantic touch) Lightly dress with Champagne Vinaigrette right before serving.
Mix all ingredients together in small bowl. Slowly Wisk in the olive oil until the oil and other ingredients have emulsified. Set aside until ready to dress the salad.
This is my variation of a recipe that I love by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa
Individual Lobster Pot Pie
Preheat oven to 375.
Melt the butter and sauté onions and fennel in large sauté pan on medium for approximately 10 minutes or until slightly translucent. You are now making the roux for the filling of the potpie by adding the flour and cooking another few minutes. Flour has to be cooked so it doesn’t taste like flour in the filling…. stir the flour mixture every minute or so. Slowly add the clam juice, (it is better to add at room temperature then straight out of the fridge and cold), Pernod if using, salt and pepper and simmer, stirring every so often while sauce thickens. You are looking for a “pot pie filling” thickness here. If it gets too thick, add a little more clam juice or even warm water or cream to loosen. Then add the cream. Stir into the sauce and turn off heat.
Cut Lobster meat into nice meaty chunks so it is not lost and shredded into nothingness…. add the lobster, frozen peas, frozen onions, fresh parsley and tarragon into the sauce, taste for seasoning and set aside.
Butter 2 entrée size ramekins or individual baking dishes of your choice….
Open your Puff Pastry Sheets. (It is easier to work with them cold, not frozen so allow some time on the counter to thaw slightly.) Measure the opening of your entrée ramekins and cut a piece/circle of the puff pastry, slightly larger that the opening of your dish so that when placed on top of the filling in the dish, it will hang over the sides and create an amazing butter crust for the lobster filling.
Add the lobster mixture to the buttered ramekins/baking dishes and top them with the puff pastry circles. You may crimp them as if you were making a pie around the edges or just leave them hanging but secure then slightly by pressing them into the outside of the baking dish to keep all the lobster goodness inside while baking.
For a nice valentine decoration use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut out smaller heart shaped pastry and add to the top of the crust, glue the heart to the unbaked crust top by using a drop of water.
Make a few cuts- (you can do this in a decorative pattern), with a small pairing knife into the crust to vent while baking. Brush the top of the pastry crust with a little egg wash (one large egg and 1 tablespoon of water whisked together) with a pastry brush for a glistening finished crust.
Pop into the preheated oven to bake for 45 minutes or so, or until it is bubbling and crust is puffed and golden. Let rest a few minutes before serving.
You can prepare this ahead of time (on the same day) except for the egg wash step, and keep in fridge for a few hours, remove from fridge with enough time to let it come to room temp, pop in the oven while enjoying champagne and appetizers then remove from oven and serve.
Simple, easy, elegant and definitely do ahead…
You need a 9 or 10 inch round spring form pan, buttered with buttered parchment paper. (Butter the pan; place the parchment round on the bottom of pan to help unmold cleanly after baking, and then butter the parchment paper in the pan.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt chocolate and butter over a baine marie or double boiler…. simmering water in a sauce pan with a metal mixing bowl set on top for melting the chocolate butter mixture without burning it. Once melted and mixed together until smooth, remove from heat.
Whish in sugar and then whisk in eggs one at a time. Sift cocoa powder into the chocolate mixture just until combined. Pour batter into pan and bake until the toothpick test comes out with moist crumbs, about 35 minutes. (Everyone’s oven is different…I always check baked goods after 20 minutes to see how they are doing.)
Cool cake in pan until cool enough to release from the pan, invert on plate to remove the parchment paper and invert again onto platter for pretty presentation. Dust cake with additional cocoa powder.
Rinse all the raspberries and drain. Reserve 1/3 of the berries for topping the cake. Blend the rest of the berries in a food processor or blender to make the puree or coulis. You may add a small amount of sugar if berries are not quite sweet enough for you. Pour the coulis into a container to save for serving with the cake.
When ready to serve, cut small wedges of cake…it is very intense and rich…before putting wedges on plates, pour a puddle of raspberry coulis in the center of the plate. Place cake wedge on top of coulis puddle. Drop several berries randomly over the top of cake wedges…top with whipped cream if desired and serve.
Enjoy a COMFORTable dinner at home with someone you love or just like A LOT!