Valentine's Day Dinner

I'm a huge fan of anything that gives me an excuse to decorate and cook, so holidays like Valentine's Day are right up my alley. The hubs and I aren't really into exchanging gifts in general. I think we've only bought Christmas present for each other 2-3 times in the 10 Christmases we've spent together.

First, I must tell you how crafty I was, decoration-wise. I took a little glitter and sprinkled it into a wine glass, covered the top with the palm of my hand and shook it around. As expected, the glitter clung to the sides and looked totally cool. I am not terribly crafty so I was so excited that this worked just as I had imagined it. Then I plunked a candle in and, voila, instant center piece for about $1.00. I made two of them! Unfortunately, you can't really see the glitter too well in the picture. However, as the candle burned down and pooled in the bottom of the glass, it looked even better!

On to the food!

So yesterday I asked Chris what he wanted for dinner tonight and he responded, "Something with steak?" So I paired some of my favorites (pasta) with some of his.

I made the following: grilled romaine salad with chive buttermilk dressing, steak pazzaiola with pesto pasta, and whoopie pies for dessert:

I recently had an excellent grilled romaine salad at a restaurant so I thought I'd give it a try on a grill pan on the stove top because I really wasn't interested in starting up the grill.

I bought a smaller head (?) of romaine and cut it down the middle lengthwise. Then I drizzled olive oil, sprinkled a little salt and pepper and threw it on a hot grill pan. I probably left it on 2-3 minutes on each side, just long enough for the end to wilt and the lettuce to show some grill marks. I also tossed a couple sliced tomatoes on the grill pan and tossed those on the lettuce (when it was finished) as well. I topped it with some fresh Parmesan strips,

diced shallots, and croutons.

The Chive-Buttermilk dressing was really good and really simple:

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup real mayo

1/4 cup chopped green onions (green and white parts)

1 garlic

clove, minced

salt and freshly ground pepper

(I originally found something similar online, but I altered it a bit and then couldn't find my original source again!)

Steak Pizzaioli

This was so simple, but tasted like I slaved over it for hours (my favorite kind of dish!). I stared with a recipe from Food and Wine and went from there. Here's my version:

The Sauce:

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 shallot, minced

1/4 cup red wine

1-28 oz can whole tomatoes

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chopped, fresh mushrooms

1. Heat olive oil in pan. When oil is heated, add garlic and shallots and saute until softened.

2. Add red wine and bring to a gentle boil. Keep heat up 2-3 minutes to cook off the alcohol.

3. Add tomatoes, breaking them up in your hands before adding them to the pot.

4. Add parsley and heat on med-hi heat until sauce heats through and begins to bubble.

5. Add mushrooms. Heat through another 3-5 minutes and keep warm until steaks are done.

The dish:

I used two thick cut New York Strip steaks and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I did cook them on the stove top (using my grill pan), but obviously grilling them for real would be even better!

Remove steaks when they are medium-rare (cooking time varies due to thickness). Let steaks rest for 5 minutes or so before slicing. Slice steaks and lay out on platter. Top with tomato sauce.

I served this with pesto pasta which required, quite simply, cooking the pasta then tossing it with some pesto while still hot. I used Buitoni brand. I prefer homemade, but I'm out of the stuff I made last summer and, well, it's February so I opted for store-bought.

I served it family-style because it made so much:

For dessert I made this recipe from Gourmet magazine for whoopie pies. When it comes to baking, or any kind of dessert, I always follow the recipe. I do not really enjoy baking or preparing desserts and I prepare them with far less love than any dish the includes, garlic, onions, peppers, etc!

Anyway, the whoopie pies were amazing, but SO, SO sweet. They tasted great with a fresh cup of coffee (which is, by they way, but the hubster brought me for V-day: a bag from my favorite place, Water Street Coffee)