Valentines Day Part 1

Tonight, I made the first of two Valentine's Day dinners.  I had planned my menu this morning but a lot depended on what they had at the grocery store.  Last year I showed up at 5pm on Valentine's Day and went to two grocery stores and no one had lobster or filets. But this year I was in luck!  Here are the recipes!

Thai Style Mussels
Ingredients:

5 pounds mussels (cleaned and debearded- Dave did this step)
2 tablespoons of lime juice
1/2 Container of Thai Coconut Curry Broth from College Inn
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 Large Tomato, Diced
1 cups Arugula
Instructions:

Scrub mussels well and remove beards. In a large pot, boil lime juice, broth, wine, curry paste, garlic, sweet and sour sauce, over high heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Add mussels, tossing to combine. Cook mussels, covered, stirring occasionally, until opened, about 5 to 8 minutes. (Discard any unopened mussels.) Add arugula on top of the mussels.

At this point I started boiling a gallon of water for our lobsters.  Then I got working on my Potato Risotto inspired by Bon Appetit.

 Potato "Risotto"  

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup finely chopped onion 

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices, then 1/8-inch cubes 

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

Coarse kosher salt 

1 1/2 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth 

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream 

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese 

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh green onions

Instructions: 

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cover and cook until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. Add potato cubes and cayenne pepper; sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Add 1 1/2 cups chicken broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are almost tender, adding more chicken broth by tablespoonfuls if dry (mixture should be creamy with some sauce, not dry), about 8 minutes. Add cream and simmer until potatoes are tender but still hold their shape, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Stir in cheese and green onions.

I've made real risotto a couple times and always messed it up, but this was simple and delicious! Really thick and hearty like risotto only no rice.  Definitely a special occasion dish. Next up, we steamed the lobsters (after playing with them for a little bit...our lobsters were not into racing, I think they were barely hanging on...)

 See ya later little guy!

All you do is boil a ton of salted water then add your lobsters face first for 10-14 minutes.

Right before we sat down to eat, I threw the Creme Brulee in the oven.  

Vanilla Creme Brulee with Fruit

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons strawberry jam
Handful of fresh mixed berries (or frozen if fresh don't look so good)
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
3/4 cup whipping cream
12 teaspoons (packed) golden brown sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread 1.5 tablespoon jam over bottom of each of 2  3/4-cup soufflé dishes or custard cups. Press 7 berries, placed on their sides, into jam in each dish. Reserve remaining berries for garnish. Whisk yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl to blend.  Add in vanilla. Gradually whisk in cream. Divide mixture among dishes. Arrange dishes in 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of dishes. Bake custards until set in center, about 40 minutes. Place pan on work surface. Cool custards in water 30 minutes. Remove from water; chill overnight.  (I did not do this... mine cooled in freezer for about an hour and then I followed the next step... if you have the time and read instructions ahead of time, chill overnight... but oops- this is my dessert for tonite not tomorrow!) Preheat broiler. Put 2 teaspoons brown sugar atop each custard. Place dishes on small baking sheet. Broil until sugar just starts to caramelize, rotating sheet for even browning, about 2 minutes. Chill until topping hardens, about 2 hours. Garnish with reserved berries.

This dinner was sooo good!  It totally reminded me of the summer and our amazing Cape Cod vacation. We went to a restaurant called Roo Bar and had the best thai mussels ever!! I tried hard to recreate those and mine were good and spicy but not quite as amazing as the mussels there.  I think next time I will add some coconut milk because I remember wanting to drink the sauce it was sooo good, and mine was a little watery.  But we still soaked it up with the crusty bread!  The potato "risotto" was good and a nice alternative to mash potatoes.  Really rich though.  Then the lobster was sooo amazing!!!  The funny thing is that right when we sat down we realized that we didn't have lobster crackers so we improvised and Dave grabbed pliers from his tool kit.  hahah.  

(Nice action photo that I'm sure Dave will appreciate)

We are watching the All-Star festivities (Go Paul Piece, good try Rondo) and the Olympics and waiting to try out the Creme Brulee!!! It's cooling currently. Stay tuned for tomorrow's dinner for Valentine's Day Dinner Part II.  It will follow my 12-15 mile run with my brother.  Goodnight and Happy Valentine's Day!!!