When it comes to food, Valentines Day really is a chance to get creative. I remember a Valentines Day party my sister and I threw in my tiny studio apartment many eons ago. We were young and poor and had only basic cooking knowledge. We decided to serve all pink food and to fill the space with pink balloons and crepe paper. I’m pretty sure we cut out some hearts and used a lot of paper-lace doyleys. I remember listening to rock band Kiss and realizing that I only had one chair much too late. But we had a lot of fun with about 20 of us standing around eating pink food and drinking pink “champagne”. I can’t really remember the food except my mom’s macaroni salad that was spiked with that pink season salt to which we added some little pink shrimp. But hey, it was considered a smashing success.

These days, when I am lucky enough to have the time to prepare a meal for someone special, I go out of my way to make sure that I cook something that I am comfortable with, a menu or dish that I’ve perfected over time, something special and delicious yes, but also familiar.  There is a reason for this and its not because I’m afraid to experiment or that I’m not adventurous. I cook off the cuff most of the time. I buy whatever’s in season and reasonably priced and pair that with my usually well stocked pantry and just cook. But on those special occasions when I get to spend time with someone I haven’t seen in a while or for a special occasion, I want to put the focus on the time….the quality of the time. The rareness of spending a long evening with a friend over a great meal and some wine with out running back and fourth from the kitchen or stressing myself out so much that I’m an exhausted wreck when my guest arrives.

Valentines Day Recipes

For these special occasions I keep a small arsenal of my tried and true recipes handy. I have listed a few here for you to try but you know what you are good at and what turns out perfectly every time. I have a recipe here for slow cooked beef which is great when you want to make something ahead of time and a dish for a quick sauté that is perfect for cooking while your guest is in the kitchen. You just prepare the raw items before hand and sauté while you enjoy a glass of wine…and your guest.

Slow Roasted Beef with Red Wine and Winter Vegetables

Preheat oven to 375.

3 lbss rump roast with fat and marbling (serves 2 w/ leftovers) at room temp
¼ cup olive oil
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Winter root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, turnips in chunks
Large onion and a half head of garlic (yes, head not clove)
canned crushed tomatoes (in the winter) 1 ½ cups diced fresh peeled in summer
1½ cups red wine or port
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons corn starch

-Heat oil over a medium high, almost smoking, heat and sear your roast on all sides. Remove from pan and pour off most of the oil leaving just enough to sauté.

-Add onions and garlic and sauté until soft.

-Add wine or port and deglaze scraping all of the bits from the bottom and bring to a boil to remove alcohol. Add brown sugar, tomatoes and root vegetables and stir.

-Return roast to the pan and cover with foil loosely. Cook 1 ½ hours, turn roast and cook an additional 1 ½ hours.

-When cooked, remove roast covered in foil to a cutting board.

-Mix cornstarch with water and add to the pan to thicken sauce.

Note: This dish is hearty and warming. Try serving it with a nice salad of winter greens tossed with quinoa or berlotti beans and tossed with crisp vinaigrette.

Spinach Linguine and Savoy Cabbage with Roasted Fennel Cream

1 Ib of spinach linguine
1/4 cup olive oil
One large head of savoy Cabbage
1 head of fennel with stalks and fronds
1 head garlic
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 freshly grated Parmesan or local hard cheese
zest of one lemon

-Shred the savoy cabbage to approximately the size of the pasta you are using.

-Cook the pasta according to the package directions. During the last 4 minutes of cooking add the cabbage to the pasta. Drain and run under cold water to stop cooking.

-Slice fennel very thinly reserving fronds. Chop garlic. Zest lemon.

(up to this point everything can be ahead of time)

-In a large sauté pan sauté the garlic and fennel over a medium heat until soft and sweet. Approximately 10 minutes. Do not let garlic brown.  Salt to taste.

-Add the heavy cream reserving ¼ cup in case you need it later. Reduce cream to about one half or until it thickens. Add the pasta and cabbage mixture and warm in the cream.

-Finish with Parmesan, (reserving enough for a dusting on the tope of the finished dish) which will further thicken the sauce and grate fresh nutmeg over the top then mix. If needed, add the reserved cream. Season to taste. Finish with reserved cheese, lemon zest and nutmeg.

Note: This is a rich dish. I love a bit of steamed broccolini to accompany. You can use the pasta water to gently cook the vegetable then finish with a nob of butter and some lemon.

As I prepare to cook my first Thanksgiving meal in England, I am planning to abandon a few traditional dishes in favour of some new favourites using ingredients found in an English Sunday roast dinner. I hope that they will please both my very English guests and my husband Vincent who is educated in England and who has spent a lot of time between the USA and the UK.

I’m going to start with mashed potatoes. I am the official potato masher in my family and even my Aunt Mary who makes the absolute best has allowed me to perform this job for many years. Seriously, what is not good about mashed potatoes? Nothing right? But hear me out, there is more than one reason why I am in love with proper English roasted potatoes especially for a Thanksgiving dinner. One reason is that I have always hated to waste the lovely fat that is rendered when a goose or a duck is properly cooked and I am planning to cook a goose this Thanksgiving. The other is that gravy is by far the all around star of the meal and for some reason roasted potatoes are the perfect gravy canvas (and I’m saving the cream for the leeks…see below).

Recipe for a Thanksgiving Dinner Incorporating British Techniques

The technique is simple, granted, but you do need to keep and eye on the potatoes to make them perfect. To begin peel and quarter potatoes and put into cold salted water. Bring to a boil until just fork tender (5-6 minutes) they will finish cooking in the fat. Drain in a colander and let dry a bit. Meanwhile heat oven to 400 and melt rendered fat or vegetable oil. Add potatoes and coat well in the fat. Cook for about 30-45 minutes basting occasionally with fat and turning twice or so during the cooking process. The result? Fluffy in the middle crisp and golden on the outside perfect roast potatoes.

Now for that butter and cream we’ve rescued from the potatoes… they will perfectly adorn some local leeks that will turn into melted, lovely sweet goodies. First, wash the leeks. Leeks can be very sandy so slice off the tips and rough dark green ends then cut in half long ways. You can then slice the leeks into 1-2 inch pieces. Soak in cold water agitating a bit to release the sand. Let the sand sink to the bottom and then remove leeks to a sautee pan with melted butter being careful not to disturb the settled sand.  Sautee and season with salt for 7-10 minutes then remove to a baking dish. Pour a bit of cream just shy of covering leeks and let bake approximately 30 min at about 400.

Next dish is another simple but really good side dish. Roasted parsnips. Pick firm, white veggies. Peel and remove ends Slice in half long way then quarter trying to preserve the natural shape of the vegetable. Remove to a baking dish and toss with melted butter, honey, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and salt. Roast in an oven between 350 and 400 checking often for tenderness. Enjoy!

I don’t think that Spartan is the way to go. We all know that denying ourselves the pleasures of our favourite winter comfort foods leads to those late night binges and the “throw in the towel mentality.”  So how do we nurture the winter tummy and eat healthy during the Winter months? My first instinct is soups and stews. They can cook all day or be thrown together fast. They can be chunky and hearty or velvety smooth. They are affordable as a main course with meat or root vegetables paired with a lovely dark green winter salad of warm kale and some good multi-grain bread. Try this very simple souprecipe  that is both elegant and satisfying.

Hearty Winter Soup Recipe

First begin as all soups begin with your base.

• Chopped carrots, celery and onion never dissapoint. Sautee this trio in a good bit of olive oil until soft but don’t brown.

• Add some parsnip and potato dices cut so that they cook at about the same time.

• Add stock to just cover (if you have some on hand but most of us don’t so add a very good store-bought stock) and bring to a bare boil until your root vegetables are soft but not mush.

• Cool a bit and put in a blender and blend until smooth adding stock as needed.

• Finish with a good dollop of cream and season with herbs or a drizzle of while truffle oil. Perfect.  And this recipe can be used with any root veggie. Carrot, swede,or  celery root.

For a lovely winter salad on its own or with your soups quickly sautee some onion and garlic in olive oil. Add shredded kale leaves and drizzle with a good vinegar and some fresh Clementine juice and Clementine segments. Finish with salt, pepper and another drizzle of olive oil to finish. Add a slice of good bread and you are set for a lovely and healthy winter feast. But don’t forget dessert. I love a good cheese and some fruit in winter. It pairs well with the rest of the meal and gives you an excuse to linger around the warm glow of the dinner table a bit longer.

In my experience my clients were very aware of how I could shop and prepare delicious and healthful dinners that even a kid could love. They were also pleased when they realized how cost effective it was to have light lunches and whole grain breakfasts prepared for them as opposed to eating take away. What they didn’t realize was that I was also a secret weapon when it came to entertaining.

How many people do you know who have designed and installed amazing kitchens that were completely decked out but not fully utilized? I have seen many. It has been my absolute pleasure to break some of these dream kitchens in. It was at one of these clients’ homes during a meal planning session when we discussed hosting a very important dinner party. They had discussed restaurants…but that had been done and this dinner was for a group of hard core foodies. I asked my clients if any of their guests had ever been to their home. They did, after all, have a kitchen any foodie would envy. No, they said. We usually entertain away from home. After all, they liked to cook but both had high pressure Washington DC jobs that didn’t allow the time for shopping much less cooking. They wanted to do something different. Something that would initiate conversation, something that would put everyone at ease.

Hosting the Perfect Dinner Party

“That’s it! Let’s host a dinner party in your home! We can begin the evening in the kitchen. It is, after all the most comfortable room in the house”. We decided to set up a simple but sophisticated cocktail bar. A very good scotch, vodka, gin and whiskey. Dry and sweet vermouth, some imported olives, homemade simple syrup, fresh lemon and lime juice, tonic, sparkling and still waters. We also added a fresh ginger lime punch. We then moved to the cocktail hour. I decided to do a few very exciting small plates that utilized some interesting techniques. All of the ingredients for cocktail hour and dinner were displayed in baskets as if from a farmers market or on crushed ice platters. Veggies were trimmed and washed and perfectly appetizing.

My assistant had already set up a lovely dinner table with crimp linens and clean burning candles, so as the guests arrived and made cocktails we were ready to begin the food preparation and cooking. You could see the faces of the guests go from apprehensive to delight when they arrived and were taken to the kitchen where others were gathered around the island and food was being prepared. Some of them talked amongst themselves, many wanted step by step of what we were preparing. As a small plate was completed it was plated and passed to each guest. The dinner was also being simultaneously prepared and was the dessert.

Nothing in the world brings people together like food. I could see that the hosts were so at ease as were the guests and I know that the evening was an absolute success. We printed recipe cards for guests that were served with dessert, thanked them all and received a great round of applause. It was a satisfying experience for all of us. The hosts were able to show off their beautiful home, the guests were at ease and comfortable, and we got to showcase our talents. When my assistant and I left that evening the kitchen was back to its beautiful state, the table was cleared and the candles had been moved to the garden where the guests were still discussing dinner. Sigh… a perfect night.

We all know what to do right? Cut down on red meat and fatty poultry. When we do occasionally eat these items they should be organic, antibiotic and grown hormone free. Instead of meats add beans to your diet and try soy products. Oily fish is suggested but avoid farm raised and embrace wild caught. Add tons more fruit and veggies and cut out sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Use only cold pressed olive oil or canola oil. Avoid all margarine no matter what they claim. Fried food…forget it. Add nuts, avocados and healthy fats. Dark chocolate’s an acceptable indulgence once in a while. Avoid all processed foods and most all wheat products. Do add whole grains in moderation. Eat local and organic whenever possible. Raw fruit instead of juices. Eat raw veggies whenever possible. Drink lots of filtered water. Ok, there is it. One paragraph. Simple right? Then why aren’t we doing it?

To me, when you break it down, the answer seems rather simple. We don’t eat at home! We don’t cook. We don’t buy whole foods. We buy pre-made convenience meals and eat fast food. We eat in restaurants where the ingredients don’t matter as much as how it looks on a plate. Our kids think food comes in a box or a plastic container you put into a microwave. Our spouses eat more meals outside the home than in it! How can you control what you eat when your life is out of control? Ok, I’ve said it a thousand times and I will say it once again. If you can’t control your health and your well being is any of the rest of it worth it?

I hope I haven’t made any of this sound daunting or like a scold. It’s not meant to be. I’m a chef and trust me we are the worst when it comes to cooking at home and eating healthy. We have the skills but like you we are constantly running around trying to make ends meet. We don’t have time to cook much less shop. Ask the pizza delivery guy how many pies he delivers to the back doors of very good restaurants. We are all in the same boat. If you’ve read my earlier blogs, you know that I am a huge proponent of private chefs and the life changing services they provide. Here is another solution.. try cooking. I know it sounds drastic but try it. Here is a basic plan to help you.

Planning Your Meals and Making the Time

Plan two cooking days per week with one shopping day. One of these days can be roasting day.

Roast a tray of veggies from the local or farmers market. Just drizzle with a little olive oil and salt or herbs. These are a cold salad for lunch one or two days, a stew with beans on another and a side dish on yet another. Roast a couple of organic chickens too. Worry about seasoning later. Just a little lemon and olive oil with salt a pepper will do. Cold chicken legs for lunch, maybe some cold chicken salad. Some chicken thighs with a spicy rub and a salad for a quick dinner. While the ovens on made some homemade granola. Yes, granola. You can do it! It can be sweet and sticky to appease even kids. Gather some organic oats, dried fruits, canola oil, honey or molasses, nuts? Just toss and put in the oven until a little browned. You will be a hero. Bake some sweet potatoes while the ovens on. Use a few in that stew. Make a great soup in the blender with your cooked sweet potatoes, some organic cream and some store bought veggie stock, just heat it and add herbs. Serve with some whole grain bread for a light dinner.  You can microwave one for lunch with a salad. Cut up a few toss with some oil and make oven fries for your kids. They will forever after love roasting day. As a matter of fact, bring them into the kitchen as well. While you are preparing the weeks meals have them follow a simple recipe for a healthy recipe. Maybe a dessert. After all the ovens on!

On another day you can cut up fresh veggies and put in zip locks.  Cook some rice noodles and have them cold. When you combine some raw veggies with rice noodles and some fresh ginger, a bit of honey and soy you have a really easy interpretation of a Vietnamese salad. Add toasted nuts and coconut for more crunch.  Also take a few minutes to prepare some items for the crock pot. Yes, we are going to break out the crock pot! If you are lucky enough to find free-range beef anywhere near you, the crock pot is a great partner. Grass fed beef actually has omega 3’s! But it can a bit tougher than most of our palates are accustomed to but put in a crock pot all day on low with some veggies and wine and you have an amazing splurge meal! Another crock pot favorite in the summer is to use fresh tomatoes from your garden cooked down all day with garlic, onion, olive oil and herbs. Just cook a little spelt pasta when you get some.

I know we haven’t covered the entire spectrum but it’s a start. Use this time in your kitchen as down time. Time to nurture yourself  and your family. Time to use your hands. To get creative. Use your shopping time to take your partner on a little date. Stop and have a coffee and cruise the farmers markets. Drive out of town and explore what’s at your local farms. This is living like it counts!