Valentines Day
One of the nicest things about Valentines Day is the flowers. Since this card has pansies instead of the usual red roses, isn't it beautiful? I liked it because, as many of you know, the pansy is one of my favorite flowers.
Valentines Dinner for Two
Rather than go out for dinner, dine in this year. Our dinner includes onion soup, pork with pears, and berries and cream. And of course champagne. The port recipe is my adaptation of a "low country" dish Randall had at Magnolia's in Charleston, SC. This one is slightly different, but is just as good.
Decorations
If you have a fireplace, set up a card table in from of it. If not, set up a table somewhere unusual like in the corner of the living room, in the sun room or somewhere to make it special. Use all of your best linens, china etc. Be sure to have some candles on the table. We suggest that you use unscented candles on the table so as to not interfere with the scents of the food.
A simple centerpiece for your small table might be some baby's breath, a few white daisies and a couple of red roses in a round rose bowl. Surround the bowl with 2x2.5 inch candles placed on small saucers or holders. This will keep the centerpiece low on your small table and not interfere with you're ability to talk to each other but will still add a romantic glow. Remember everyone looks better in candlelight.
Drape tulle over the back of your chairs and secure it with wide white velvet or satin ribbon. Scrunch up some tulle and place it on the table in areas between the place setting and centerpiece. Use strings of pearls to anchor it down. Add a sprinkling of rose petals reserved from your centerpiece around the table. You can purchase tulle from any fabric store. It is used for bridal veils. Strings of pearls may be purchased by the yard at a fabric or craft store.
Use rose or heart shaped butter molds for your butter for the table. These will be placed on each of the bread plates at dinner.
Champagne
This is definitely a night for champagne. Buy the best you can afford. If you don't have beautiful flutes, now is the time to purchase two of them. I have a very old white wine/champagne bucket which has its own stand.
I love to add strawberries to the glass and then fill it up. Pour slowly if you do this. Not only does it enhance the taste of the champagne, at the end of the evening the strawberry tastes wonderful.
The Dinner
Most of our dinner may be prepared ahead of time. If you have some of our do-ahead rolls in the freezer use these for your bread. See the Fall issue for the recipe.
| Time table | |
| February 12th | Shop for the dinner ingredients. Put champagne in the refrigerator to chill. Soften butter. Add it to the butter molds and place in the freezer. Add the vanilla bean and honey to the cream and place it well covered in the refrigerator. |
| February 13th | Make the onion soup. Make the pear sauce. Wash the berries. Remove stems, if any. Snap the beans and place them in a bag. Toast the French bread slices for croutons forth onion soup. Grate the cheese for the Soup. Refrigerate everything. |
| February 14th - 1-2 hours prior to dinner. | Set the table. Starting about 1 hour before dinner: Cut up the berries and place them into the serving dishes you will be using. Put the berries, dishes and all into the refrigerator. Reheat the soup. Let it simmer very lightly on warm. Reheat the pear sauce on a warm burner. Finish the pork recipe. Place it into the warm oven. Put the croutons and cheese on the broiler and broil until golden. Place it into the soup bowls. Put the green beans into steamer with a small amount of water and steam them for 5-10 minutes. |
| February 14th - Dinner | When you are ready, pour the hot soup over the croutons. To serve the pork remove it from the oven. Pour the wine sauce from the pan over the pork and garnish with the pear sauce. Serve with the green beans. When you are ready for dessert, take the berries from the refrigerator, pour the cream over them and serve. |
Onion Soup
| 2 Onions, sliced | 3 Cups Beef Stock |
| 1 Tbsp. Butter | 2 Thick Slices French Bread |
| 1/2 Cup Mozzarella or other white cheese | 1 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese |
| Cook onions in butter until soft. (You may want to cook them in a small amount of water or broth instead to cut down on the fat.) Add the beef stock and simmer until it is reduced to two cups. Place the bread into a 200 degree oven for about 10 minutes until it is dry, but not brown. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the bread. Broil it until the cheese just begins to brown. Place it into two large bowls. Pour the soup over the bread and cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 the Parmesan over each. Makes 2 servings. | |
Pork with Pear Sauce
| 2 Thick Pork Chops | 2 Pears |
| 1/2 White Wine | 1/4 Cup White Sugar |
| 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock | 1/2 Finely Chopped Onion |
| 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar | 1 Tbsp. Butter |
| Brown the pork chops in a very hot iron skillet for about 2-3 minutes per side. They will not be done at this point. Remove the chops from the pan and lower the heat. Add the chicken stock, wine and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the stock until it is about 1/2 cup. Place the chops on top of the sauce and place the pan in a warm oven, about 200 degrees. Saute the onion in the butter until it is transparent, but not brown in a saucepan. Peal, core and slice the pears and add them the sugar and onion mixture. Cook over low heat for about 30-40 minutes or until the pears are breaking apart and most of the liquid from the pears has evaporated. Remove the chops from the over and place one on each of two plates. Drizzle the wine/stock mixture over the chops and serve with the pear sauce on the side. | |
Berries and Cream
| 1 Pint Berries | 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream |
| 1/2 Vanilla Bean | 1-2 Tbsp. Fine Sugar, or to taste |
| Place the cream into a glass container. Add the vanilla bean and sugar. Cover tightly and place into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. The longer you refrigerate, the stronger the vanilla flavor will be. Remove any stems and/or leaves from the berries. Place them in individual serving dishes and cover with cream. Makes 4 servings. | |
Gardening
If you haven't ordered your seeds yet, you may need to purchase them from your local nursery. Now is the time that you will have the best selection. I love going through my seed packets and figuring out what I am going to plant. It helps cheer up the dark and dreary days this month.
If your ground warms up by late March or early April, now is a good time to start seedlings indoors. You can give them a good six week jump start on the season. I like to start some of my annuals three to four weeks apart so I have early and then later blooms on those which only flower for a few weeks, like sweet peas.
Kandi's Chicken and Dumplings
This also a time of year to sit by the fire covered with a afghan. Stews, chowders and dumplings are the bill of fare. Here's my chicken and dumplings recipe. You may be surprised by the dumplings - I've tried making them from scratch using many recipes and found this to be the best. It is a variation of the recipe that comes on most biscuit mix boxes.
This is also great if you replace the dumplings with homemade noodles from our December issue. Just add them to the broth once the vegetables are done. Cook them for 4-5 minutes.
| 1 Stewing Chicken | 1 Cup frozen or fresh green beans |
| 4 quarts water | 1 tsp. dried rosemary |
| 2-3 Potatoes | Salt and Pepper to taste. |
| 1-2 Carrots | 2 Cups Biscuit Mix (like Bisquick) |
| 2-3 Stocks Celery | 2/3 Cup Milk |
| 2 Onions | 1 Tbsp. dried dill weed. |
| Place a large Dutch oven or stock pot on high heat and sear the chicken on all sides. Usually there is enough fat in the skin to keep it from sticking, especially if you use an iron Dutch oven, but you may need to add a small amount of olive oil. Remove the chicken. Chop one onion and add it to the pot along with 1/4 cup of water. Cook the onion down until the water is evaporated. Let the onion slightly brown and then add another 1/4 cup of water. and let it cook down again. The onion will be very transparent and will blend in with the broth when it is cooked. Add the rest of the water, the rosemary and the leafy tops of the celery. Cook for 2-3 hours or until the chicken is falling off the bone. Place the soup into a large bowl and put it into the refrigerator overnight. The second day, skim the fat from the top of the broth. Remove all the bones from the meat. You may need to heat the broth up slightly. Break apart any pieces of chicken which are too large. Bring the broth with the chicken to a simmer. Add the second onion, and the celery chopped into large pieces to the broth. Cook for about 10 minutes. Chop the carrots into bites chunks and add them to the broth. Peel and chop the potatoes into large pieces and add them to the pot. While the vegetable cook, in a bowl mix the biscuit mix, the dill and the milk. The dough should be stiff for heavy bread-type dumplings (the kind I prefer) or you may add more milk for a lighter dumpling. Bring the broth to a lightly rolling boil. Add the green beans. Then drop the dumplings into the broth in about 2 tbsp. balls. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to simmer. cover the pot and cook for 10 more minutes. Serves 4-6. | |