Valentine’s Day is Thursday, and if you’re planning to share a meal with your loved one but haven’t figured what to serve, I’m here to assist. Today, I have a three-course menu of recipes that aren’t difficult to prepare, but are easy to enjoy.
I started things out with a light and almost refreshing salad with a few rich elements. The base is tender butter lettuce, which is often sold in plastic containers and is available at many supermarkets. Because one head is too much for two, in the recipe I instruct you to save the outer leaves for another use, and use the prime middle ones for your salad.
For a Valentine-red colour, I topped the salad with sweet and tangy dried cranberries and a modest but pleasing amount of pecans and cubed Brie cheese. Just before it’s served, the salad is drizzled with a simple dressing also flavoured with cranberry.
You could plate the salad and make the dressing about 30 minutes before sitting down to eat. Keep both refrigerated until you’re ready to dress and serve the salad.
Moving on to the main course, I again kept things fairly light, rolling and baking delicate fresh sole fillets and succulent small shrimp with flavourings that included olive oil, lemon, garlic, herbs and red bell pepper.
This dish does not take long to prepare or cook. Serve with boiled mini potatoes or steamed rice, and a green vegetable, such as asparagus or green beans, and you’ll create a lovely entrée for two. If desired, you could get the sole oven-ready in the pan an hour or so before needed. Keep refrigerated until ready to bake.
The reason I kept the salad and main course on the light side was because my dessert choice, Bananas Foster, is pretty rich, not to mention blissful.
Bananas Foster was created in 1951 at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans. Its namesake, Richard Foster, was a friend of the owner, a frequent customer and, to have a dessert named in his honour, obviously a preferred customer.
To make it, peeled and cut bananas are heated in a cinnamon-spiced, caramel-like mix of melted butter and brown sugar spiked with booze, including rum and banana liqueur. The hot bananas are then served over ice cream, creating a divine dessert many have swooned over.
Before cooking the bananas, I like to scoop the ice cream into my serving dishes and place them in the freezer, ready to pull out and top with the hot, saucy bananas.
Valentine’s Menu for Two
• Butter Lettuce with Cranberries, Pecans and Brie
• Baked Sole with Shrimp, Lemon and Bell Pepper
• Bananas Foster
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Butter Lettuce with Cranberries, Pecans and Brie
In this salad, tender lettuce for two is strewn with Valentine-red cranberries, rich nuts, creamy cheese and a tangy dressing.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: 2 servings
1 1/2 Tbsp cranberry juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp liquid honey
3 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 head butter lettuce (see Note)
2 to 3 Tbsp dried cranberries
12 pecan halves (see Note)
50 to 60 grams (a thin wedge) Brie cheese, cut into small cubes (see Note)
Combine the juice, mustard and honey in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil; season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate dressing until needed.
To finish salad, trim the bottom off the lettuce. Because you won’t need an entire head for two people, remove 6 or so of the large outer leaves. Refrigerate and reserve those outer leaves for another use, such as adding to a sandwich.
Now separate the remaining lettuce into single leaves and divide and mound them on each of 2 plates. Divide and top the lettuce with cranberries, pecans and cheese. Drizzle the salad with the dressing and serve.
Note: Butter lettuce is most often sold in plastic containers and is available at many supermarkets. If you can’t find it, you could substitute 4 cups of baby mixed salad greens in this recipe.
Note: For richer tasting pecans, if desired and if time allows, warm them a few minutes over medium heat in a non-stick skillet, until lightly toasted and aromatic.
If you don’t care for Brie cheese or would like to try another type, other cheeses that would work on this salad include soft goat cheese and blue cheese, both of which you could pull into small nuggets and set on the salad.
Baked Sole with Shrimp, Lemon and Bell Pepper
Quick-cooking fish deliciously accented with shrimp and tasty flavourings.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 12 to 15 minutes
Makes: 2 servings
100 grams cooked salad shrimp, patted dry
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp white wine or chicken or fish stock
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or dill, or pinch or two of either dried
1/8 tsp paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
4 medium fresh sole fillets, each about 70 to 80 grams (see Note)
• salt and white pepper to taste
4 (1/2) lemon slices for garnish
Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine the first 9 ingredients in a small bowl. Roll each sole fillet into a loose cylinder and place in single layer in a shallow baking dish. Spoon the shrimp mixture on and around the sole; season all with salt and pepper.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the sole is just cooked through. Divide the sole between 2 plates, spooning the shrimp and juices in the pan over top. Garnish with lemon slices and serve.
Note: If you can’t find fresh sole fillets, you could try two pieces of another type of thicker fish fillet in this recipe, such as halibut, and serve one piece of fish per person. Cooking time will remain the same.
Bananas Foster
This is my version of a dessert invented in 1951 at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans. Served over ice cream, the hot and saucy bananas will provide a grand way to end a meal.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: About 5 minutes
Makes: 2 servings
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 Tbsp banana liqueur (see Note)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large bananas, peeled and quartered, lengthwise
1 1/2 Tbsp amber or dark rum
4 to 6 scoops vanilla ice cream
2 mint sprigs, for garnish (optional)
Place the butter, sugar, banana liqueur and cinnamon in a 10-inch skillet and set over medium to medium-high heat. Stir and cook until the butter and sugar melt together.
Add the bananas, turn to coat, and heat through 1 minute. Add the rum, tilt the pan slightly away from you, and very, very carefully ignite with a long match. Cook, shaking the pan, until the flames die out, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Serve the bananas warm in decorative glasses or bowls filled with ice cream. Garnish each serving, if desired, with a mint sprig.
Note: Banana-flavoured liqueur, such as Bols Creme de Bananes, is available at most liquors stores. If you can’t find it or don’t think you'll use it very often, you could replace it in this recipe with another alcohol, such as orange liqueur, or with juice, such orange or lime.
Eric Akis is the author of the just-published, hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
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