I cooked on Valentine’s Day. It was what I wanted to do. Or what I thought I wanted to do (in the euphoria of planning). There were tense moments where I felt hot and overworked and cranky, and happy moments where I thought I might have made major culinary breakthroughs. There was even a long, long stretch of moments where I almost cried in the soup (figuratively speaking: I made sauces that day, not soup) because I was so sure I’d ruined everything. In the end though, it was all delicious, and dinner was a happy, festive celebration.
For dinner, I sauteed shrimp in butter, olive oil, and garlic. Fresh garlic—lots of it. I pulled the shrimp out of the pan and kept them hot in the oven while I made a sauce for the pasta with the juices left over. More fresh garlic, a little more butter, and cream (hey, it was Valentine’s Day. Not a day for freaking out about fat). I stirred and stirred it, hoping it would thicken by reduction so I wouldn’t have to use flour or cornstarch. It thickened. Then I added a little bit of grated…hmm…what kind of cheese was that? Something Irish. Added it over low heat, and stirred and stirred. It turned glossy, which seemed significant to me, so I said, Hey girls, notice how this sauce is turning glossy? After a few moments, Maurya said, So? what does it mean? And I said, I have absolutely no idea. Whereupon the sauce immediately separated into ugly stringy globs of cheese and oil. This was where I wanted to cry in the soup.
Meanwhile, I had water boiling for pasta—perciatelli instead of penne. In typing this, I had to go down to the kitchen three times (with distractions in between) to remember “perciatelli”. It sounds fancy, but really, it is just extra thick spaghetti. Enough to look cool and different on the plate, and to feel different (in a good way) when you bite into it. Maurya chopped some fresh basil and tomatos to serve over our pasta, Michaelyn cut radishes and green onions for the salad (almost forgot the salad! Green beans, fried with chopped pecans fast in olive oil, with the vinaigrette made from a reduction of balsamic vinegar and apricot jam and garlic and olive oil in the frying pan, all poured over fresh greens and radishes and green onions… so good!).
When I mixed my weird, stringy sauce into the pasta, the lumps magically disappeared. Sprinkled shrimp and basil and tomatos over all; it was divine, and I was saved (miraculously) from a Valentine’s flop.
I made cherry tarts for dessert. My pie crust was about 3/4c. of butter plus 1/4-1/3 c. of cream cheese to about 1 1/2+ c. of flour and a scant teaspoon of Kosher salt. And enough water to make it into a pastry…I think 1/4 c. The crust was the best, the BEST, I’ve ever made in my life. I hope I remembered proportions accurately. I did chill it before I rolled it out. Wonder if that made a difference….
The cherry filling came from cherries we bought from a farmer in Willard. He keeps a freezer full of cartons of pitted and sugared pie cherries in his garage, and since he doesn’t always man his little shop, he expects his customers to use the honor system, and drop their cash in the box he has there. It is a nice, old fashioned way of doing business I think. I added a lot of fresh lemon juice to the cherries, a lot of sugar, a little nutmeg, a little flour, and the tiniest bit of almond to the sauce. You can see how I finished the tart in the picture. It was delicious.
The last picture of the trio below shows some white chili I made this week (I wanted to mention it, without an entire entry of its own). Only I didn’t have white (navy) beans, so I used pinto. It is prettier with white beans. I always make this from scratch, enough for leftovers, all the way from dried beans. Dried beans, cooked forever in water, with (eventually, once the beans soften) onions, lots of fresh garlic, cumin, lots of canned green chilis, lemon pepper, chopped chicken, good salt. Served with a squeeze of fresh lime, a handful of fresh chopped cilantro, a handful of chopped tomatos and avacado, a spoonful of sour cream, and either corn chips, or a soft corn tortilla, steamed, with olive oil.
