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Whether youre wooing a new lover or cherishing an old one, you need a naughty but nice menu for Valentines Day. Glamorous new chef Jo Pratt shares some tempting treats from her new book, In the Mood For Love.
Jos recipes, which feature easy to get ingredients and techniques which mean youre certainly not chained to the stove are designed to suit our different moods - whether youre striving to be healthy, indulging in laziness or needing comfort food.
But for romance shes devised two special dishes which should appeal to the taste buds and the eye.
Seduce your beloved by serving up the suggestively named Surprise Between The Sheets, which has poached eggs and strips of smoked salmon placed between sheets of lasagne with a blanket of light hollandaise sauce.
For the next course, feed each other the pretty pink and white Panna Cotta With Rose Syrup. If you really want it to be romantic, scatter the plate with a few pink rose petals, Jo suggests.
These two dishes should be perfect, and I believe will prove that the old saying the way to a mans heart is through his stomach is totally true.
SURPRISE BETWEEN THE SHEETS
(Serves two)
For the lasagne:
4 sheets of fresh or dried lasagne
2-4 very fresh large eggs
4tbsp white wine, vinegar or malt vinegar
4-6 slices of smoked salmon
For the hollandaise:
1 large egg, separated
2tsp lemon juice
50g butter
sea salt
cayenne pepper
1tbsp chopped chives
(PS: For a richer sauce, stir two to three tablespoons of whipped double cream into the hollandaise instead of whisked egg white.)
First of all make the hollandaise and keep warm. Place the egg yolk and lemon juice in a screw-top jar or small bottle and shake really well for about 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, gently melt the butter either in the microwave or in a small pan. Leave it to sit briefly, and then pour half into the jar. Shake for a further 30 seconds before adding the remaining butter, trying to leave any of the white, milky residue behind. Shake again until the sauce has thickened to a creamy consistency. You can also make the hollandaise by blending in a blender or small food processor, but for these small quantities, using a jar is easier.
Keep the jar close to the hob to retain some warmth.
Cook the lasagne sheets in boiling salted water until al dente.
To poach the eggs, bring a medium-size saucepan of water to a simmer with the vinegar. Break in the eggs and, when the water has returned to a simmer, poach for three minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon and sit on kitchen paper to remove the excess water.
To finish the hollandaise, whisk the egg white until it forms soft peaks, and then pour in the butter mixture, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cayenne pepper and the chopped chives. Fold together until you have a light sauce.
To serve up, sit a sheet of pasta on two plates and top with the poached
eggs, sliced smoked salmon and a spoon of hollandaise. Lay the second
sheet of pasta over the top and finish with more hollandaise.
Serve straight away and just watch the look of amazement appear on the
face of your other half!
PANNA COTTA WITH ROSE SYRUP
(Serves two)
1/2 tsp powdered gelatine or 1 leaf of gelatine
125ml single cream
25g icing sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
125ml natural set yoghurt
2tbsp rose syrup (from supermarkets or Italian delis)
1tbsp shelled and skinned pistachios, halved
Sprinkle the powdered gelatine over one tablespoon of water and leave to absorb the water for five minutes. Alternatively, if you are using leaf gelatine, soak in a flat dish of cold water for five minutes.
Place the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla seeds. Gently bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatine until it has dissolved (if you are using the leaf, squeeze out the excess water first). Stir in the yoghurt and strain into a jug.
Using vegetable oil, very lightly grease into two moulds, such as ramekins, tea cups, metal or plastic pudding moulds or even heart-shaped moulds, if you like. Pour in the panna cotta mixture.
Set in the fridge for about two hours or overnight (if you can), before turning the set panna cottas out on to two plates. If they wont come very easily, then slide a sharp knife down the side to break the air seal or very briefly dip the moulds into hot water.
Pour over the rose syrup and scatter around the pistachios to serve.
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