Who need's fine dining for a romantic dinner?!

The Table - all set and ready for the first course

I've never been a huge Valentine's Day fan, usually Josh and I just go out and grab something inexpensive (read: Red Lobster or the like) and fast if we do anything at all for the Hallmark holiday. This year however, I decided to try my hand at cooking an elaborate meal. No stranger to homecooking (although usually not as ethnic as previous posts may lead you to believe), I don't usually make appetizers and desserts when I cook a normal dinner. I will admit to the meal being inspired by Gordon Ramsey's cookalong live that aired back in December. I DVR'd it and thought the Steak Diane looked pretty fabulous. So did the appetizer. Not a fan of shrimp though, I decided to alter the angel hair pasta recipe to include spicy Italian sausage and portobello mushrooms. Let me tell you, it worked.

Knowing that I wanted to be able to eat with my husband, I took some time and planned through how/when I would prep things and when to cook them all. Making the dessert ahead of time was obviously a time saver. I decided to make Chocolate Lava Cakes, so I could make them in advance and refrigerate them until baking. I started by melting the chocolate and butter over a pot of simmering water.

Ingredients for Dessert!

Melting the chocolate and butter, yum!

Once the chocolate had melted, I mixed into the egg yolks, vanilla and sugar I had mixed. Then I went to work on the egg whites (this is where a stand mixer would come in handy - someday!). Once stiffened, I folded them into the Chocolate mixture and poured into ramekins that I'd buttered and dusted with sugar. Then I covered them with saran wrap and stuck them in the fridge until I was ready to bake them.

The Chocolate Mixture

Folding in the Egg Whites

Filled and ready to be baked

Once dessert was taken care of, I set the table and relaxed until it was time to start dinner. I began by prepping everything before-hand (this included the dinner ingredients as well). Talk about a time saver. Cooking goes so much faster when you can just throw things in instead of having to chop stuff up as you're going. Since I had decided to alter the recipe to include a spicy sausage, I wanted to white wine that would pair well with it. Kim Crawford's Sauvignon Blanc was a good match.

The raw Ingredients

All prepped and ready for the skillet

I use my Wok for just about everything!

The finished product

It turned out great! Josh even ate the scallions and tomato (for those of you that know him, you know that's a big deal!). The spicy sausage and red chili were balanced by the minerality of the wine, earthiness of the mushrooms and sweetness of the fresh basil. I'll definitely be adding this to the rotation. It was quick and easy to cook, and tasted great!

Everything for Dinner...

The main course consisted of Steak Diane, Herb Roasted Potatoes, Sauteed Asparagus and Sourdough Bread with Cabernet Sauvignon to drink. Once we'd finished eating our pasta, I got started on dinner. The potatoes were the easiest. I just tossed them with Herbs, Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil and placed them in the oven to bake while I was cooking the rest.

Herbs and Potatoes, soon to be roasted

The next thing I did was prep my steaks. I chose four small fillet mignon hoping for some left-overs! I sprinkled them with salt and pepper and rolled them out with a rolling pin to tenderize them. Then I browned them on either side, removed them from the skillet and started on the sauce.

The steak!

Shallots, garlic and mushrooms

The sauce consists of sauteed shallots, garlic and mushrooms in butter. Next you add worcestershire sauce and some Dijon mustard. Then you pour in Brandy and Flambe to burn off the alcohol. I made Josh stand by in case I burned the apartment down, but it was way less dramatic than I thought it would be. After that, a full cup of heavy cream, how can it not taste wonderful? I was also sauteing the asparagus while all this was going on, and heating up a loaf of bread I picked up from the grocery store (someday I'll tackle bread baking).

FLAMBE!!

Steaks, simmering in the Diane sauce.

Finally we could sit down to our meal. Although in all honesty it didn't take that long, and since we'd had the pasta, waiting for the main course wasn't an issue at all. For wine we opened up a bottle of Columbia Crest's Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon. We are HUGE fans of their 2007 Merlot and decided to give the Cab a shot. While we enjoyed it with dinner, it isn't as fabulous as the Merlot. Still, we were pleased with the meal and the wine.

Dinner!

And Wine!!

All that was left, was the dessert. I popped the already prepped cakes into the oven for about 8-10 minutes and they were done! I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and served them with fresh strawberries. Now, who needs to go out to dinner?!? Not us!!!