Day 26: Valentine's Day Dinner for Two

Our romantic post-child-bedtime-dinner includes: Cheese & Crackers Appetizers, Homemade New England Clam Chowder & Salad, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Asparagus Risotto, Individual Red Velvet Cakes

Drink Pairings: Sauvignon Blanc (for the girl), Zinfindel (for the guy), Decaf Coffee, Brandy "Night-Caps" 

Forgot Corduroy

Putting kids to bed...

Homemade New England Clam Chowder (Devon Fredericks & Susan Costner via Ina Garten)
It's hard to find fresh shucked clams around here, so I bought frozen.  I wasn't really up for shucking clams myself with everything else going on!

12 TB butter, divided
1-2 onions, chopped
2-4 stalk celery, chopped
4-6 carrots, sliced
8 potatoes, chopped
1-2 tsp thyme leaves
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 qt clam juice
1/2 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 cups clams (fresh or frozen--not canned)

In a large stockpot, melt 4 TB butter and add the onion to cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.  Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, thyme, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 more minutes.  Add the clam juice, bring to a boil and simmer uncovered until the vegetables are tender. (20 minutes)
In a small pot, melt the remaining 8 TB butter and whisk in the flour, cook on low for 3 minutes.  Whisk in a cup of the hot broth from the soup and and then pour the whole mixture back into the soup pot.  Simmer until the broth thickens (a few minutes).  Add the milk and clams and cook a couple minutes until the clams are cooked.  Add more salt and pepper if desired.

Chicken Cordon Bleu (for 2) (Tyler Florence)
2 chicken breasts
2 slices prosciutto
1/4 lb Gruyere cheese, grated
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme
1 small clove of garlic
1-2 TB melted butter
1 egg
extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350*.  Pound out the chicken breasts between wax paper until about 1/4 inch thick.  Layer with prosciutto and cheese, and roll up like a jellyroll.  In one bowl, season the flour with salt and pepper.  In another bowl, beat the egg and season with salt and pepper.  In a third bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper and add the melted butter.  Dip the rolled chicken in the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.  Lightly coat a baking pan with olive oil and bake the chicken for 20-25 minutes until browned and cooked through.  Cut into pinwheels.

Asparagus Risotto
I love making risotto.  It may seem like a challenge, and too fancy of a dish to have at home, but really, it's all about the technique.  Yes, there are fancy "risotto" rice grains out there, but really, you cam make risotto with regular long-grain white or brown rice if you want.  When you make a pot of regular rice, you start with water and boil it and then add the rice and cook down.  With risotto, it's the opposite.  You simply start with the rice in the pan with some butter and oil.  Have chicken stock warming in a pan nearby.  Slowly add the stock a ladle at a time.  Add 1-2 ladles, then stir the rice vigorously for about 30 seconds to a minute, releasing the starches.  Then when the liquid has all been absorbed, add more stock and repeat the process.  Adding the liquid slowly and stirring the rice will release starches that make it so creamy.  For added flavor, incorporate onion, garlic, white wine, and of course, parmesan

cheese at the end.  Once you have the basics for a good risotto, you can easily add squash, asparagus, or a different type of vegetable for a new twist.  Here's my recipe:
1 cup arborio rice
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped and blanched
(*To blanch asparagus, chop it first.  Prepare a pot of boiling water, and a bowl filled with ice water.  Boil the asparagus 2 minutes or until just tender.  Immediately pull out of the boiling pot and place in the ice water.  This will stop the cooking and preserve the bright green color of the vegetable.)
Drizzle some olive oil in a large saucepan and add about 1 TB butter over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and saute until translucent.  Stir in the rice.  Add the white wine and reduce the heat to low.  When the wine is just about cooked off, start adding the chicken stock which should be warming in a small pan nearby.  Add 2 ladles and stir vigorously.
After about a minute, leave the rice alone to absorb the liquid.  Check back in a few minutes.  If the liquid of mostly absorbed, add another ladle of stock and stir again.  Then leave it alone.  Repeat this process until all of the stock is used, or the rice is cooked through and is no longer crunchy.  Then add the parmesan cheese and asparagus and mix together.

Individual Red Velvet Cakes (Emeril Lagasse)
This recipe is for one large cake, but I filled 4 ramekins to make 4 small cakes, and used the rest of the batter for mini-cupcakes for Abby's friends at daycare.
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsps cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 oz red food coloring
1 tsp distilled white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 lb confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 350*.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs.  Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk while mixing on low.  To finish, add the food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.  Mix together.  Bake 20-30 minutes.  (In the individual ramekins, I baked the cakes for 25 minutes.)
Cream together the butter and cream cheese.  Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix together until fluffy.  You can add the pecans to the frosting or use as a topping.
I split the individual ramekin cakes in half to make little layered cakes and topped with pecans.

We had to share one because we were so full at the end of the meal!

 Happy Valentine's Day!