Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and some of you may be brainstorming to cook up a romantic Valentine's Day dinner. Since Valentine's Day falls on a Tuesday, many people will no doubt be rushing home from work, or school, to cook this romantic dinner. Keeping that in mind, this post features a sophisticated, yet easy to prepare, 3 course dinner. The best part is that it takes very little time to prepare, and cook this 3 course dinner. Today's post will feature Ricotta, Feta, and Mint Layers w/Honeyed Blood Oranges; Roasted Rack of Lamb, and Chocolate covered Strawberries.
To save on time, get dessert done first. Once you have it chilled in the fridge, prepare your lamb. While it's roasting in the oven, you can use that space of time to prepare your ricotta and mint layers. You should be able to turn out this 3 course dinner in the time frame of 1 hour.
- Original photo from food52, their slideshow features more step by step photos
Ricotta, Feta, and Mint Layers w/Honeyed Blood Oranges - courtesy of food52.com
Serves 3 or more
4 ounces feta
4 ounces ricotta
large bunch of fresh mint leaves
olive oil
sea salt
4 tablespoons honey
2 blood oranges, segmented and chopped, membranes reserved
Instructions
In a shallow bowl or dish, mash the feta with the back of a fork. Add the ricotta and stir together very well.
Lightly oil a 3” x 6” mini loaf pan with olive oil.
Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture into the bottom of the pan. Cover with a single layer of mint leaves, and gently press them into the cheese.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Continue with another layer of cheese, followed by a layer of mint leaves, drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt.
Spread the last layer of cheese on top, another drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. Wrap with plastic wrap or cover with a damp towel to keep it moist.
Combine the honey and chopped orange segments in a bowl. Squeeze the juice from the reserved membrane onto the segments. Stir together gently.
Remove the plastic wrap from the cheese. Run a knife around the edge of the loaf pan and invert the mini loaf pan onto a serving dish. Spoon the honeyed oranges over top.
* Garnish with additional fresh mint leaves. Serve with pita chips, pita bread wedges, or crostini.
- I did not use the suggest loaf pan, which didn't help it aesthetically
- I used grapefruit instead of blood oranges, which required a little more honey
- Spread on crostini. Serve immediately, or the layers will become soggy as pictured in the background
Moving onto the entree. I usually don't cook lamb because I am a pescatarian. However, both my fiancé and my father love lamb, so I dared to try my hand at roasting a lamb rack. This was literally the first recipe I pulled off of the web. We purchased the lamb rack from Costco for about $18. This same entree would have cost probably $30 per person if we had dined out. The original recipe used fresh chopped rosemary, which you should definitely use if you have it. Unfortunately my plant is struggling to survive, so I turned to the dried herb instead.
- Please forgive the plating and bad pictures. My fiance took them; he and Dad were so hungry they couldn't wait
Roasted Rack of Lamb –courtesy of allrecipes.com
Yields 2 servings
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (7 bone) rack of lamb, trimmed and frenched
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), with the oven rack in the center position.
In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs, garlic, rosemary, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. When adding the dried rosemary, just rub it between your hands to break up the rosemary. Toss in 2 tablespoons olive oil to moisten mixture, all you need is a fork to mix these ingredients together. Set aside.
I like to use food safe gloves when working with meat, but you don't have to. Drizzle a little olive oil over the lamb rack and rub into the surface of the meat. Season the rack all over with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, get a large heavy oven proof skillet going over high heat. Once your pan is hot, just hold your hand above the pan, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan. This is so you get that nice sear on the outside of your lamb rack. Don't forget to turn on your exhaust hood!
Sear rack of lamb for 1 to 2 minutes on all sides. Set aside for a few minutes. Brush rack of lamb with the mustard. The original recipe called for rolling in the bread crumb mixture, but patting it down onto the lamb rack worked fine for us. Make sure it's evenly coated. Cover the ends of the bones with foil to prevent charring.
Arrange the rack bone side down in the skillet. Roast the lamb in preheated oven for 12 to 18 minutes, depending on the degree of doneness you want. With a meat thermometer, take a reading in the center of the meat after 10 to 12 minutes and remove the meat, or let it cook longer, to your taste. Let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes, loosely covered, before carving between the ribs.
- We left ours in the oven a little longer, until 160 deg for medium
The original plan when I was planning this dinner was to finish the night with a pot de creme, but we were exhausted after all the cooking (we made multiple recipes in one day). So we finished the dinner with chocolate covered strawberries
- Freshly dipped strawberries
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
12 oz chocolate (we prefer using Nestle's chocolate chips, not only because it comes in bulk at Costco, but also because it melts very easily)
1 box of already washed and dried strawberries (preferably the long stemmed kind, which is easier for dipping)
Parchment lined baking pan
Instructions
To melt the chocolate, we'll use the double boiler method. I'm not going to be specific about the amount of water used because every household carries different sized pots and bowls. Find two pots roughly around the same size, or a bowl that will fit nicely over a pot.
Fill the pot which you will be using on the bottom, about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way with water and get it to a boil before lowering the heat to simmer.
Make sure that the bowl or pot which you are using on top to melt the chocolate is absolutely dry. You don't want any water in the bowl/pot or else your chocolate will seize. One way is to heat the bowl over the simmering water so it will dry out inside before getting the chocolate in there.
The steam from the water will melt your chocolate. You want to use strawberries which are nice and dry because once again, you don't want water getting into the chocolate. Coat all sides of the strawberry, and transfer to the parchment lined baking pan. When you set the strawberry down, just slide it slightly forward. This will give it that little foot you often see on chocolate strawberries in the store, and smooth out any cone shapes down at the tip.
* These strawberries will not keep, but they shouldn't since they're meant to be devoured all at once.
Bon Appetit!
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