Valentine's Day Dinner

On the day when all the couples go out for a romantic dinner, I decided to cook dinner for Turk and myself.  I have to admit, after finding out that almost EVERYONE I know went out, I kind of regret cooking dinner (I cooked for 2 hours!), but Turk loved it.  And, I kind of loved it too...I love cooking and it was really fun planning the menu and making my little apartment romantic with some jazz music (check out Esperanza Spalding) and wine.  So, what was on the menu?  Lemon chicken, Roasted winter vegetables, Sweet pea risotto and, for dessert, brownie pudding with Haagen-Daaz Five Vanilla ice cream and strawberries.  I even made a special stop at The West Side Market in Cleveland for the ingredients.  And I picked up a dozen red roses for the table.  I have a funny story for that, but first, here's the final table:

The table is all set

Anyway, the chicken was a roast chicken from Whitaker's at West Side Market.  I also got 5 lemons from the market that were so amazing and juicy.  The recipe is one from Ina Garten.  So easy and absolutely delicious.  I have to rave about Whitaker's too because the chicken was so fresh and tender, not to mention that they had already cleaned out the insides for me and put all the giblets in a little plastic bag in case I wanted to use them.  Because of the food safety precautions necessary for chicken, I really appreciated how clean and professional Whitaker's was.  I added some butter to the recipe, but I would definitely leave it out for a healthier meal...hehehe.  It was a holiday though!

Yummy chicken all ready to go into the oven

The Roasted winter vegetables were also an Ina Garten recipe.  Also a very simple recipe, I bought carrots, parsnips, butternut squash and sweet potatoes from the West Side Market and just sliced them and tossed them lightly with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  They were baked in the over at 425 degrees for about an hour and were absolutely delicious!  I love root vegetables!

Prior to being cooked

The Sweet pea risotto is a recipe I've made before but I changed it a little bit.  The original recipe is from Tyler Florence and is a Sweet Pea and Scallop Risotto recipe.  I didn't add scallops and cut back on the sweet peas.  I also used brandy instead of white wine.  The risotto, honestly, wasn't my favorite.  I've made and have had better but Turk really liked it.



Sweet Pea Risotto next to Roasted Winter Vegetables



Dessert was AMAZING.  Turk said it was probably his favorite dessert that I've ever made...and that's saying a lot.  Brownie pudding from Ina Garten.  If you couldn't tell,  I just love her!  Absolutely delicious.  It had a nice crunchy brownie crust but the inside was ooey and gooey.  We ate it hot from the oven with some fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream.  The brownie pudding almost seemed undercooked, but it was perfect!



Fresh out of the oven



With strawberries and ice cream -- aka ready to be eaten!



It was a really nice meal.  Turk was definitely surprised when he came over.  I guess he was just expecting to eat on the couches in the living room with a movie on the tv.  Hehe. 

Anyway, about the roses...I went to the floral section just to check out the options and found gorgeous red roses.  I wanted them, so I figured I would just buy them.  As I was walking away with a dozen red roses, a lady asks "Would you like those wrapped so they look nice for your friend?"  After an awkward silence, I just responded, "Well, actually, I'm buying them for myself."  Hahaha, I'm not good at lying and was really taken aback so I just told the truth.  There is nothing wrong with buying flowers for yourself!  Hope you had a wonderful and lovely Valentine's day!