Valentine's Day recipes
Food is always a way to woo, so we’ve come up with a few special things you can whip up on Valentine’s Day to really make your loved one swoon.
Caerphilly Fondue
Balsamic Thyme Minute Steaks, Chunky Chips with Sea Salt, Rocket and Roasted Tomatoes
Midnight Espresso Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake
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This is a decant dish and Valentine's day is the perfect day to indulge in it. Serve it with bite-sized nuggets of crisp apples and pears, celery sticks, raw or lightly steamed cauliflower and broccoli florets, cherry tomatoes and slices of a good rustic bread (like Long Crichel's Long Fermenation Bread) lightly toasted and cubed. To make it more substantial and to give it a true Swiss-style meal a chalet feel by serving with a wooden platter laden down with cured meats.
Serves 2 as a main, halve the quantities if you fancy having it as a starter
- 30g unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 ½ tbsp plain flour
- 500ml Aspall organic cyder
- 225g Caerphilly, grated or finely crumbled
- 50ml cream
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/4 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg
Melt butter over a low heat in a small pot. Add flour; whisk well. Slowly wisk in the cider. Then, slowly stir in the cheese, whisking until melted and smooth. Finish with cream, honey and nutmeg. Ensure it's nice and warm and just about bubbling. Then, transfer to a warm ceramic dish or fondue pan and serve. Mmm... It's lovely served with champagne!
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A very elegant take on the classic steak and chips! To make the assembly as quick and easy as possible, we've provided a timeline below! Serves 2
Assembly timeline:
- 1st step: Cut, rinse and parboil chips.
- 2nd step: Cool chips. Then, refrigerate.
- 3rd step: Marinate steak.
-NOTE: all these steps can be done the night or morning before!-
- 4th step: Cook the chips, which are oven roasted
- 5th step: Roast the tomatoes, 10 minutes after you've popped the chips in the oven
- 6th step: Cook the steaks
- 7th step: Dress the rocket and plate up!
For the chips:
- 350g Pink Fir Apple potatoes (select the longest potatoes out of the 700g bag)
- 250ml rapeseed oil
- Cornish sea salt
Thoroughly wash the potatoes and scrub clean. Use a small, thin paring knife to quarter each potato lengthwise – first halving it, then halving each half. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cook until just tender (you don’t want them to be too soft or they’ll snap in half!), about 15 minutes.
Drain, cool and refrigerate until ready to use (this can be done up to 24 hours in advance – or just 30 minutes before you want to crisp the chips, which will be done in the oven. The idea here is to get the chips at least a bit cold so they crisp up nicely once they hit the heat – and, the parboiling ensures a soft interior and means the chips need less time cooking in the oil, thus making them a tiny bit better for you!).
An hour before you plan to serve your meal (or just over an hour before dinner time), heat the oven to 200C. Once the oven temp it up (about 10 minutes after turning it on), place the oil in a roasting tin, pop into the oven to heat, once hot, carefully place your potatoes in the oil and coat in the oil. Roast in the oven on a shelf/rack toward the top half of the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, checking and tossing in the pan frequently. They may crisp up and turn golden sooner than 45 minutes, until golden and crisp.
Give the chips a generous sprinkling of sea salt while they're still hot. Serve when your steaks are ready – the chips can be reheated if you want to have them fully ready before you pop your steaks in the pan to cook.
For the roasted tomatoes:
- 250g cherry tomatoes
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme sprigs
Preheat the oven to 200C (the same temp you need for the potatoes). Place the tomatoes in a shallow oven-proof dish. Nestle the thyme springs in amongst the tomatoes. Pop into the oven on a low shelf (below the potatoes if roasting at the same time) and roast for 30-40 minutes, or until the tomatoes have a touch of brownish black on tops and side – they should have collapsed a bit and have a sticky glaze to them (this glaze is the tomatoes uses that have caramelised!).
For the steaks:
- 2 minute-steaks
- 2 tsp fresh thyme, leaves only
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
- 4 tbsp red wine (if you plan to drink red wine with the steak, use that wine here – if you don’t want to use wine, substitute with balsamic vinegar)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- Cornish sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Rub garlic and thyme into the steaks. Place in a dish with a cover or a plastic bag and add the wine and olive oil. Marinate for at least 15 minutes - but you can do this overnight if you're super-organised! Once ready to cook, melt butter in a pan, turn heat up and pan fry steak for 2 minutes on each side for medium rare - longer or less for well-done or rare, respectively! Remove from pan.
Pour marinade into the pan and reduce down by half. Top steaks with the roasted tomatoes and then pour over the pan/reduced marinade juices. Serve with chips and a handful of fresh rocket leaves, lightly dressed in balsamic vinegar or your favourite dressing.
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- 200g dark chocolate
- 1 tsp instant coffee
- 500ml Berkeley Farm luxury pouring cream
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder, to finish
Break the chocolate into small pieces and place it and the instant coffee in a basin over a pan of just-simmering water. Make sure the basin does not actually touch the water. Leave until the chocolate is completely melted and the instant coffee fully dissolved, stirring once or twice. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, use a bit of kitchen paper dipped in a little vegetable oil to grease a loose-bottomed, 20cm-diameter cake tin, which must be at least 5cm deep. Line the oiled tin with clingfilm.
Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. (It's important that the cream is at room temperature before you begin, in order to obtain the correct, smooth texture to the finished dish.) Stir a large spoonful of the whipped cream into the warm, melted chocolate. Mix it in completely, ensuring there are no white streaks remaining. Then, carefully but thoroughly, fold this chocolate and cream mixture into the remaining whipped cream. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top so it is completely level. Chill the mixture for at least 2 hours.
To serve the truffle slice, turn the tin upside down on to a plate, let the cake slip out, then remove the cling film. Dust the cake with sieved cocoa powder, then cut into slices with a sharp, warm knife.
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