Happy Valentine's Day

Bob and I have a Valentine's tradition of not eating out. Instead, we take turns making a nice dinner for each other. It's a chance to try out dishes we might not otherwise make as we try to impress each other.

This year was my turn. We started out with a strawberry chop salad with a strawberry vinagrette dressing. You can find the recipe here. It was not only beautiful (which is not fully reflected in the photo), but even Bob, the non-strawberry eater in our family, gave it a big thumbs up.

Valentine's Salad

The main course was chicken in a basil cream sauce, which was one of our favorite culinary discoveries this year. Here's the recipe. And the photo showing Bob's very own hand!

Valentine's dinner featuring chicken with a basil cream sauce

Sides included a mushroom rice pilaf with red peppers instead of green (it's Valentine's Day!) and roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar (our new favorite way to roast asparagus).

One of the highlights of the meal was the heart-shaped chocolate cake:

Heart-shaped Valentine's Cake

The cake was fairly simple, but won the title of Coolest Thing Ever from our teenage daughters (they also thought it tasted really good when we ate it later). I remember making this cake when I was 14 or 15 with a church group. But I think the advisor who helped us make them must have had miniature cake pans, because this cake turned out to be enormous. Seriously, the only thing we had that it would fit on was a cookie sheet (aka a jelly roll pan), and then it barely fit.

I used a chocolate cake mix and put half of the mix in a 9-inch square pan, and half in a 9-inch round pan. After it was baked and thoroughly cooled, I cut the round cake in half and placed each half along the side of the square cake (turned it diagonally) so that it formed a gigantic heart.

I debated whether to make the lattice on the cake out of whipped cream or frosting. I opted for frosting; we (we being the girls and I) also debated whether to make the frosting pink, cream-colored, or light chocolate. You cans see that plain cream won out, and I think it was a good choice given the visual intensity of the cake. I used this frosting recipe, doubled it, and barely had enough. The frosting turned out to be a good choice, as we didn't even come close to finishing the cake in one sitting, and the frosting will hold up much better than whipped cream would.

I've already reminded Bob that it's his turn next year. Good luck, Honey!

Rice Pilaf

We arrived home from a vacation at the beach late Saturday night. I went through most of the day Sunday believing that we had ten pounds of russet potatoes in our pantry that would make a perfect baked potato complement to our roast chicken dinner (no, not even our family goes through an entire 10 pounds at one sitting). When I came to the realization that we in fact lacked potatoes, I made a double batch of this rice pilaf. We've used this recipe for the past several  years. It's a family favorite, and goes well with chicken, fish, or almost any other kind of meat. It dresses up the rice just enough to make it a standalone side dish.

I think the original recipe calls for either orzo pasta or spaghetti broken into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch lengths. Someday I will use orzo; it's prettier than broken spaghetti, but we never have it on hand. We always have spaghetti, and Jenny and Anna are well trained in the art of breaking it into tiny pieces.

Rice Pilaf

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

1/4 cup orzo pasta or spaghetti broken into small pieces

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup long grain rice

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan. Add the onion and saute until it is clear. Add the pasta and cook with the onions and butter on medium heat until the pasta is evenly browned. Stir in the rice and continue cooking until the grains look clear. Add the chicken broth, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting and continue cooking, covered, for 30 minutes or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed. Place two paper towels beneath the lid and let the rice cook on low heat for another 15 minutes.

Basmati Rice

Basmati rice is generally served with Indian food. It's has a longer grain than most other rice; it also has an incredible, nutty aroma while it's cooking. You can, of course, simply cook the rice according to package directions and it's lovely. We like to dress ours up just a little bit when we serve it with a nice curry or other Indian dish.

The peas, by the way, are optional.

Basmati Rice

1 ½ cups basmati rice
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 small onion, cut into thin slices
1/2  teaspoon garam masala
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas

Wash the rice in several changes of water and drain. Cover generously in water and soak for 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Heat the oil in a small, heavy pot over medium high heat. When hot, add the onion and stir until it is brown. Add the rice and garam masala. Stir for a minute. Now put in the broth and bring to a boil (or transfer rice to rice cooker and add broth and stir). Cover tightly, turn heat to very low, and cook 20 minutes. Add the peas. Cover tightly again and cook another 5 to 7 minutes. Stir gently before serving.

Brown Rice Pilaf

A few months ago we decided to buy some brown rice for the sake of our health. Not long after that, we realized that we had no idea how to cook brown rice. This started us on the search for brown rice recipes. We tried it simply boiled; while this was certainly bearable, it wasn't something that called out to anyone. We discovered this brown rice pilaf recipe and, voila-- everyone likes brown rice.

We've eaten this as a side dish with many different entrees, but perhaps our favorite combination is this recipe with chicken stir fry. This recipe serves 4 to 6 people; I usually make one and a half times the amount here.

Brown Rice Pilaf
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup long grain brown rice (not instant)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

In a medium-size sauce pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring until onion is golden, about five minutes. Add rice and saute for 1  minute.

Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 50 to 60 minutes. Uncover rice and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Cilantro Lime Rice

A year or so ago the host of our dinner group planned to serve fish tacos. She asked us to try to find an alternative to traditional Mexican rice to bring as a side dish, preferably a sweet or lime rice. We tried four or five different sweet rice recipes, all of which were miserable failures.

A few months ago my friend Amanda sent this recipe, which I've modified slightly and continue to make with never a bad batch. Tonight when I made it to go with Tacos de Machaca, the kids thought it was unusually good. This is a knock off of the rice recipes served at local fresh Mex restaurants like Cafe Rio.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 ½ cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

Melt butter or margarine in a large saucepan. Saute onion until translucent; add garlic for the last couple of minutes. Add rice and lime zest. Saute rice until it turns opaque. Add the chicken broth mixed with lime juice and bring to a boil. Cover and cook 25-30 minutes on the lowest heat setting until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro. Place a double layer of paper towel under the lid. Let it sit for five to ten minutes.