Valentine's Day Dinner

I've been away for the last week for a conference in Santa Fe, NM, so I didn't get a chance to post our Valentine's Day Feast before leaving.

For Valentine's Day, I brought home a bouquet of mango calla lilies I had the flower shop around the corner order for me. We had these flowers in our wedding, so I thought they would conjure some great memories. I have nothing against roses, but I find a lot of other flowers more interesting...


We started with a prawn cocktail recipe Melissa found online -- it's one of Gordon Ramsay's and it was really tasty. That sauce is made up of Japanese (Kewpie) mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and cayenne pepper, among other things. Served with sliced avocado -- perfectly ripe since my allergy didn't pop up -- and shredded lettuce.

With that prawn cocktail starter we made some blood orange mimosas. We ran into this variation at an After Hours event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum here in Boston. These are great events where you get to wander around the incredible courtyard and gardens in this very unusual art museum with a glass of wine and listen to special short lectures on particular pieces. We have gone to quite a few of them, and it's right around the corner from Harvard Medical School, so it's a very convenient after-work destination.

The main course was a spectacular lamb shank dish with a spicy tomato sauce. As usual, Melissa cooked the shanks to perfection. They need to braise for a good 3-4 hours, but if you take the time to do it right, the meat just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. The spicy sauce was a new experiment that came off really well. Mexican chili powder, ground cumin and smoked chipotle peppers gave the lamb a deep, smoky flavor and a nice kick. Melissa topped it with fresh chopped cilantro and served it with cilantro rice. We initially thought we would pair the lamb with a pinot noir, but with the extra spice in the dish we decided on a California Zinfandel for something a little heftier. This 2005 Oriel Hugo old-vine zinfandel (Russian River Valley, CA) fit the bill just perfectly. The deep, rich black cherry and spice with a slightly sweet finish made this one of the best zinfandels we've tried, and probably the best food pairing we've made in a long time. Price-wise, it was in the mid-range of the better zins at about $25.

Dessert was a strawberry souffle with strawberry-rhubarb compote and raspberry white chocolate truffle ice cream (Haagen-Dazs). Melissa got this recipe from Cuisine Magazine online, and although rhubarb was not particularly easy to find in the middle of winter, Whole Foods came through for me. Melissa served the dish with a brandy-rhubarb concoction on the side (shot glass). What a sweet finish.

Melissa's recipe for the braised lamb shank dish can be found at the end of the post.

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Lamb Shanks

3/4 green bell pepper

1/2 onion

(sautee until soft)

1 tbsp of peppercorns

1 tsp of coriander seeds

(grind and add to bell peppers and onion)

2 small lamb shanks

(toss in pan with onions etc and brown)

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of mexican chilli powder

1 tbsp of ground cumin

1 Can of whole tomatoes

2 tbsp of canned chipotle pepper

1 cup of water

(puree and pour over onions and lamb shanks in cassarole dish - braise at300-350oF for 3 to 4 hours, turning shanks every hour and a half)

Chopped cilantro

Steam rice in salted water with 2 tbsp of chopped cilantro.To serve shanks remove from cassarole dish. Stir in fresh chopped cilantro andtop shanks with sauce. Serve with cilantro scented rice.