| View Blog
|
|
| Sexy, romantic Valentine's menus : Italian
|
|
|
Here's a few ideas for romantic meals for Valentine's Day, based on an Italian theme.
I'm currently on day 4 of a diet and doing this is stopping me raiding the fridge!
Antipasto:
Try parma ham with figs or pears and buffalo mozzarella drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.
You could try sundried (or sunblush - yum!) tomatoes, olives, salami (if you eat meat) and soft salt crystal -topped focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a dip.
For a veggie alternative you can buy corgette (zucchini) flowers stuffed with ricotta - usually frozen as they're not in season at present.
Primo Piatto:
Traditionally in Italy pasta is a primo piatti, kind of like a second starter not a huge bowlful.
I'd suggest real spaghetti cabonara (pancetta and really golden eggyolk).
If you've got truffles (or truffle oil), plain pasta with olive oil, parmesan and truffle is veryy very sexy indeed, and also vegetarian!
If you don't mind standing stirring a pan in the kitchen for 20 minutes minimum, try making risotto with pan-fried scallops. A basic risotto bianco is good (with white wine or for the really decadent, prosecco)
Secondo Piatto:
usually meat or fish (in my experience Italian food doesn't go a bundle on vegetarianism), and again small portions - there's a lot of courses here...
I'd suggest duck stuffed with pears, or roasted duck with italian roast potatoes (cut up small with olive oil, garlic and rosemary),
If you can get wild boar (easy in continental Europe, really quite hard to find in the UK) then almost anything you do to it will be fabulous.
A fabulous rare steak rubbed in olive oil and seasoned generously is fab too if you're both carnivores.
White fish with lemony lentils is good too, and score very few weightwatchers points.
For veggies, roasted vegetables probably need to feature. Chili oil on butternut squash, roasted with rocket, chilies, grated cheese and raisins could work too.
Traditionally you would have a small primo and a small secondo piatto - for speed or calories or cost, one would probably do!
Contorto:
vegetable side dish. Broccoli or green beans with flaked almonds are good, asparagus tips with paremesan shavings is better (even better if you bake the shavings into parmesan crisps). Green vegetables are good for you, you know.
Dessert:
zabaglione, tiramisu... nice but time consuming and you may not be wanting to hang around at the table too long on Valentine's day after all.
A good alternative would be fresh strawberries with a little balsamic vinegar are amazing, but if the sweet/sour thing is not your thing, strawberries with fresh whipped cream and basil leaves.
A sofly melting cheese might be good: boccacino is gorgeous with honey tones, or strong parmesan with pears.
I think the trick really is, whatever dessert you choose, to feed it to each other.
Alternatively, skip it: have an espresso to keep you up and a really good quality dark chocolate on the side.
Drinks:
I'm going with an Italian theme here:
You could start and finish with prosecco.
If you must drink white, a crisp pinot grigio or an unoaked chardonnay are probably the best of the bunch.
For red, I love barolo (a really dark red that smells a bit like truffles and raspberry) but montalcino and montepulciano are delicious too.
If spirits are your thing, amaretto: thick, almondy, over ice for preference.
Mmmm. Buon apetito e bon amore!
|
|
Posted by rose22 on 2008-02-13 13:54:59 | Rating: | Views: 193
|
|
|
Email This to a Friend 
