Concluding the Valentine's Day Dinner Menu series today - day 40 of 100 food stories.

Today brings my final Valentine's Day dinner menu and it's packed full of tempting dishes you may wish to return to again and again - guaranteed to keep the love going all year round!

                         
Starter
Prawns & Chorizo Toasts with Avocado Cream.

Main Course
Crispy Chicken Supremes, balsamic tomatoes & onions, roast garlic mash & smashed herb oil.

Desert
Brown Sugar Kisses with Champagne Poached Pears.

Starter - Prawns & Chorizo Toasts with Avocado Cream.

​Starter

Prawns & Chorizo Toasts with Avocado Cream.

Ingredients:
2 circles of toasted sourdough.
25 grms chopped chorizo.
1 tablespoon oil.
1 avocado.
bunch of coriander.
Juice of 1/2 lime.
Seasoning.
Dash cream.
1/2 red chilli, chopped.
8 large prawns.
2 tablespoons creme fraiche.
1 teaspoon smoked paprika.

Method: 
Served cold.

1. Blitz the avocado with the lime juice, coriander, seasoning & cream & set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan & gently fry off the chorizo. Drain on kitchen paper & set aside.
3. Do not clean out the pan, return to the heat & cook the prawns, 2 minutes on each side.
4. Mix the creme fraiche & the smoked paprika together & spread on the toasts.
5. Put the prawns on the top with a touch of creme fraiche & put the chorizo on .
6. Put the avocado mousse down the centre & finish with sliced chilli.

Main Course

Crispy Chicken Supremes, balsamic tomatoes & onions, roast garlic mash & smashed herb oil.
​
Ingredients: 
2 chicken supremes ( chicken breast with the wing bone attached, ask your butcher) with the skin on.
1 tablespoon oil. 
8 big cherry tomatoes.
1/2 red onion, peeled & cut into 4.
3 tablespoons cider or white wine.
Bunch of basil.
Juice of 1/2 lemon.
2 tablespoons olive oil.
2 large roosters, peeled.
Knob of butter & a splash of cream.
1 whole bulb of garlic.
2 teaspoon sugar.
1 tablespoon balsamic.
Seasoning.

Method:
Preheat oven @ 190.

1. Roughly chop the basil & put in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, olive oil & season. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan & put the chicken skin side down for 5 minutes. Turn over & cook for another 5 mins. Throw in the cider. Remove & place on a baking sheet.
3. Tuck the tomatoes  & onion around it. Season the chicken & then sprinkle the balsamic & sugar on the tomatoes.
4. Pour the pan juices over the chicken & pop the tray into the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Cut the top off the garlic bulb, wrap in tin foil & pop into the oven for 20 minutes, remove & set aside.
6. Meanwhile crack on with the potatoes, treat them as you would normal mashed potatoes. When cooked, mash, add cream, butter & squeeze the garlic into the mash.

To serve:

1. Remove the chicken tray from the oven.
2. Put the garlic mash on a plate.
3. Position the chicken beside it & surround with the tomatoes & onions.
4. Drizzle the herb oil all over.

Brown Sugar Kisses with Champagne Poached Pears.

​Desert

Brown Sugar Kisses with Champagne Poached Pears.

Ingredients:
300 mls of champagne.
25 grms of sugar
Juice of 1 lemon.
Vanilla pod.
2 peeled pears, centre core removed, cut in half.
Meringue.
2 egg whites.
100 grms dark brown sugar.
75 grms chopped hazelnuts.
1 teaspoon balsamic.
Whipped cream to serve.

Method:

1. Put the pears on a baking sheet & pour over the champagne mix. Pop into oven @190 for 1 hour. Remove, cool & set aside. Pop the liquid in a bowl & microwave until it thickens. Glaze the pears with the reduced champagne syrup.
2. Oven @ 120 cen. Pop the eggs, brown sugar & balsamic into the mixer. Turn on & beat for 5 minutes until stiff.
3. Fold in the chopped hazelnuts & place blobs of meringue on a lined baking sheet. Pop into the oven for 60 mins. ​

To serve:
Place 2 glazed pear halves on each plate. Put some blobs of cream around & place the sugar kisses on top.😂