A Decadent Date

Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that I know is coming, but always seems to surprise me when it's actually here. I spent the better part of yesterday trying to decide if I should go about buying roses and chocolates and teddy bears, but opted for the homemade card. I think after this long Shannon has grown to accept me for being the penniless and cheap boyfriend that I am and can at least appreciate the thought that goes into the creation of a good card.

What I mean to say is that I blew all of my money on dinner and wine. When either of us thinks of decadence the first dish that comes to mind is roasted red peppers stuffed with goat cheese. I think for most people it'd probably be chocolate cake or something similar (and we've got that covered, too.) Tonight's dinner was a Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce. There's nothing richer or more satisfying than creamy goat cheese. The pictures with the sauce did not turn out (thanks to romantic ambient lighting and my unsteady hand) but rest assured that this dinner is sure to woo anyone with taste buds.

Strawberries have been making their presence known in the supermarkets lately and they're actually pretty sweet. As a salad we had Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Poppyseed Dressing that had a nice fruity tartness to it that went quite well with the roasted red pepper. It also went well with our wine, which was a 2005 Rosemount Estate Riesling from Southeast Australia. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about wine whatsoever. In fact, I was surprised to find that this wine was sweet and sparkling when I expected it to be dry and fruity. At least it was white when I thought it was, in fact, white.

Our other side dish was Asparagus Tips and Crimini Mushrooms. Apparently asparagus is an aphrodisiac and it is still abundant and inexpensive, so I figured we'd make use. I like the more wild taste of crimini mushrooms and they go quite well with asparagus. I cooked them in a simple lemon butter and topped them with some fresh parmesan reggiano; simple and delicious.

For dessert we had Chocolate Torte with Raspberry Coulis. I must admit I was a bit disappointed in this recipe. I've had many tortes, but there is one in particular I really enjoy. There isn't a single hint of sweetness to it and it's extremely dense and rich and probably my favorite dessert of all time. I looked for several hours to find a picture accompanying a recipe that resembled it, found one, made this and it was not the same at all. It was more like a crispy, dense chocolate cake. Of course, there's nothing wrong with crispy, dense chocolate cake whatsoever and it was easily devoured, but it just was not what I was trying to accomplish.

Anyhow, happy Valentine's Day! I hope it went well for you. I've heard that you're not supposed to eat onions and garlic on a date, but as long as both of you are eating them and there's a bottle of wine involved, it hardly interferes with the kissing!