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February 16, 2007
The easiest Valentine's Day dinner
First, get your hands on a small round soft cheese called Vacherin Mont d'Or. It is a seasonal French or Swiss cheese, which means that you can only have this kind of meal between mid-September and March - like asparagus, it makes it all the nicer as a result.
Preheat your oven to 200°C and take the cheese out of its little wooden box. Remove any waxed paper and sit it snugly back into the box. Tear off a sheet of tinfoil and scrunch the tinfoil around the box to make a nice nest so that nothing can flow out in the oven. Prick the top rind of the cheese with a fork and then, using a spoon, scoop enough of the rind sideways enough so that you can push a small bunch of thyme and a couple of cloves of garlic into the heart of the cheese.
Open a bottle of decent white wine - you'll be drinking this with your dinner later on (New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a good option) - and pour a generous splash of it over the rind. Land the cheese into the oven for 25 minutes.
You can use this time to lay the table with two plates, a selection of apples from your garden (if the winter stores haven't already been used or gone rotten), some pears, a dish of walnuts that you bought in a Berlin market, the rest of the wine, crusty bread and a good green salad. A simple bowl of floppy butterhead leaves, dressed with a mustardy balsamic dressing will be perfect. When your cheese is warmed through and happily bubbling, serve it up and eat by candlelight, dipping your bread into the cheese and alternating with the nuts, fruit and salad. The molten, creamy unctuous cheese is like fondue in a box - with none of the hassle.
It's a very filling meal so you can get away with making no desert although, if the mood should take you, you could stretch to a few squares of ultra-luxurious Valrhona chocolate or, even closer to home, some of Cocoa Bean's exquisitely-flavoured dark chocolate bars - star anise and ginger or orange zest would both be particularly good contrasts to the richness of the cheese.
Posted by Caroline at February 16, 2007 7:34 AM
Comments
Delicious Caroline! I'm a huge fan of Vacherin d'Or too, we picked one up from Iago in the market last week, and you've reminded me that the season is almost up - must head in for more today!
Our Valentine's dinner is the one meal in the year to which I have no input. Pierce made us a feast of steak which he had marinated overnight and pommes dauphinoise together with some tomatoes and guacamole!!! Even though I only eat steak just once a year (when he cooks it for V-day, he knows me so well :) ) and there was quite a taste explosion going on all across the plate, it was the nicest meal I've had in months! He even managed to snaffle a Faustino Gran Reserva I to wash it all down, just a shame that it all went to my head and I conked out in front of the Luc Besson movie he had rented for the occasion!
Posted by: Jenny@wheresthesalt at February 17, 2007 11:49 AM
That's where I got my cheese too - I do love hovering around Iago's display, waiting to be served and spotting lots of other things that I just can't resist buying!
Sounds like Pierce knows his stuff in the kitchen. Steak and pommes dauphinoise - a match made in heaven (even if you didn't stick around too long afterwards!).
Posted by: Caroline at February 19, 2007 12:16 PM
Sounds wonderful! A romantic valentines meal also.
Posted by: Duane at February 19, 2007 6:35 PM
It certainly is, Duane and, I can't stress it too much - incredibly easy!
Posted by: Caroline at February 20, 2007 10:09 AM
