Tres por uno

 

Dining out does not matter.
But the pins do!
2017 Valentine Day from the Archives

We established a tradition decades ago of preparing Valentine's Day dinner together rather than eating out at a crowded restaurant. In fact, this is probably the reason we have several ribald cookbook titles on our shelves. While we have had some good meals in restaurants on the lovers' holiday, we more often spent our time struggling to find a table, perhaps finding one after a long wait ... and/or much driving around ... and getting a meal barely as good as something we could make at home. Or giving up all together and making something subpar late in the evening. Since we are apparently never going to get the hang of reservations, we just opt for treating each other to a nice meal at home.

Good thing too since a global pandemic made an in-home celebration a necessity this year. We selected three recipes, one from each of three different cookbooks: main dish, side dish, and dessert. Pam was in charge of dessert. James took on the other two. (Applies to the preparation and to the authorship of the next few paragraphs.)

A tomato dish accompanied by ... a tomato dish!

When we met, I was the tomato eater. I grew up eating tomatoes all summer. On hot days, we lived on sugary iced tea and sandwiches made of white bread, Real mayo, black pepper, and huge slabs of Mr. Foster's tomatoes. My brother and I would walk to the end of Owl's Nest Road and then up his long driveway. On his porch were baskets of tomatoes, stacks of paper bags, a scale and a money box. I dod not even remember what he looked like -- he was in the field, and the money box took care of itself. Prices early in the summer were 2 pounds/dollar, steadily decreasing. The highest number I remember was 13 pounds/dollar, after which people were encouraged just to take as much as they were willing. My mother canned a lot of these for use all year. But eating them fresh was best.

Again, when Pam and I met, I was the tomato eater and it was serious. I hardly think of the fruit at all (it is a fruit, just like coffee) without thinking of how central it was in our northern Virginia summers. Pam, however, was not a fan. Ketchup, pizza sauce, sure. But fresh tomatoes? No way.

Over the years, I maintained my prior level of interest in Solanum lycopersicum (though I learned the Latin name only about 8 seconds ago), while Pamela evolved from resistant to tolerant to obsessed over the course of a couple decades. She not only likes tomatoes: she now has a ranked-order list of tomato varietals she prefers ... and we cook with them often.

All of which I am including not only as a rebuff to those who foolishly wish for brief posts on food blogs but also as an explanation for including two fairly simple tomato-based recipes in a Valentine dinner and having the nerve to call them special.

The main course was rosemary-scented lamb over pasta from Intercourses (see what I mean about titles?). Except that I cannot bring myself to cook lamb, and so used locally raised chicken breast instead. I am certain this resulted in a huge departure from the original intent of this recipe, but we liked the result very much. The preparation probably took less time that it took me to write what you've read so far (if you are still reading). I sautéed minced garlic with strips of chicken and bell pepper. I then deglazed the pan over high heat with white wine and added crushed tomatoes and a sprig of rosemary. Once heated through, I reduced the heat and stirred in salt, pepper, and two tablespoons of heavy cream. I tossed all of this with warm, freshly cooked rigatoni and garnished with Parmesan and freshly chopped rosemary, sage, and oregano. Yum!

Meanwhile, I somehow managed to prepare roasted Parmesan tomatoes from A Taste for Love. I heated the broiler, applied Pam (the cooking spray) to a shallow baking dish, and filled it with 1-inch thick slices of tomato. Given the small tomatoes on hand, this amounted to tomato halves. In a small bowl, I mixed chopped shallots, fresh oregano, and shredded Parmesan. I sprinkled this mixture on each tomato slice, drizzled olive oil over all of them, and placed it in the boiler (not to close) for several minutes, checking frequently. When the cheese was just browned, they were perfect.

Dessert: Three-Quarter-Pound Orange Cake

We have a favorite dessert from Molly Katzen's The Moosewood Cookbook: our award-winning variation of the Mocha Swirl Coffee Cake  and while we considered replaying this recipe for Valentines Day we opted instead to try something different. I read out loud to James the Table of Contents for Katzen's dessert section and after considering a few options chose Orange Cake (I added the "three quarter pound" designation to the heading since it used three sticks of butter rather than four).

I made a list of everything we would need for the recipe and dutifully added them to our grocery list. And, we actually remembered to pack them all up when getting ready to go to our beach house for the three-day Valentines weekend. What we forgot, however, was the bundt cake pan. We normally wouldn't run out to the store for one forgotten item so we made a short list of other things so we could justify the trip out. James successfully returned with not only the necessary cake pan, but some elusive frozen hash brown patties as well. 

I started by buttering the pan and then mixing three softened sticks of butter, and 1+1/3 cup sugar (the recipe calls for 1+3/4 but that seemed excessive). Once the butter and sugar were well mixed I added four eggs (beating after each one). Next I added 1 tsp orange rind and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a separate bowl I sifted together 3 c flour and 1 T baking soda, and 1 t salt. And in yet another bowl I wisked together 1 c. plain yogurt, 1/2 c. orange juice. Each of these mixtures were added to the butter and sugar mix by alternating dry with wet, stirring after each addition, until everything was well mixed. 

Once everything was mixed together it went into the Bundt pan and baked for an hour at 350.

The cake was left to cool while I mixed and cooked the glaze of 1/2 c orange juice, 1 T sugar, 1 T lemon juice, and 2 T Triple Sec. I put all ingredients into a saucepan, brought to a boil and then simmered for 3 minutes. When the cake was cool I turned it onto a plate and poured on the glaze. 

This made a lot of dishes and a lot of cake. We will be enjoying this for a while still.

Bundt Cake GIF from Bundt GIFs

Lagniappe

About those pins in the photo above. We found them very early in our marriage, at a pharmacy near our home in Oxford, Ohio. Being on graduate stipends at the time, they probably set us back half a day's pay at the time. We have cherished them ever since. We wear them occasionally throughout the year, but especially on two days: Valentine's Day and our anniversary. We love the compliments we get about them throughout those days. This year we forgot to bring them to our weekend house and then realized not much was lost -- as nobody else would see us to comment! Hence the file photo.