Valentine’s Day Recipes for Your Dinner Party! 3 HessaHumood

Recipes by: Hessa Humood

AKA @curiouslyhungry

Photo Credit: Mashael Al Absi (@themish)

Mission: Create a Valentine’s menu that would wow your significant other, or even your friends for a lovely Valentine’s dinner party.

Star Ingredient: Raspberries

Why raspberries? Well, I personally happen to love them, but also raspberries have that mysterious allure to them. They’re quite an interesting fruit if you really look at the details; little pockets of juice so miraculously stacked on top of one another, perfectly blush-coloured, and exquisitely flavoured by nature. They’re indigenous to Asia Minor, or what we know as modern-day Turkey, and were gathered in the foothills of Mt. Ida by the people of Troy. The Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), is just a marvel of natural selection, and a wonderfully tart and sweet ingredient that’s perfect for an indulgent dinner.

The Mocktail

Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

 250 ml lemonade (either homemade or storebought)

 7-8 raspberries

 1 bottle of sparkling grape juice (non-alcoholic) or sparkling water

Preparation:

1 In a small bowl, muddle some raspberries.

2 Add the lemonade.

3 Sprinkle some raspberries in your ice cube tray, and slowly pour the raspberry lemonade mixture over them. Freeze. Reserve the rest of the liquid for the mocktails.

4 When ready to serve, add the ice cubes to your glass, pour some of the raspberry lemonade mix, and top with the sparkling grape juice. Serve.

The Main Course

Pan Fried Salmon with Raspberry Citrus Salsa, Lemon Cream and Dill Oil

Serves 2

Total Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes (not counting the dill oil)

Ingredients for the Lemon Cream Sauce:

 2 cups chicken stock

 2 garlic cloves, minced

 1 1/2 lemons, juice of (about 5-6 tbsp, adjust to taste)

 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Preparation:

1 In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the chicken stock, minced garlic, lemon juice and heavy cream. Stir well and bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

2 Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce until it thickens to your desired consistency. This may take 20-30 minutes when using stock because there is more liquid that needs to evaporate.

3 After you are satisfied with the consistency of the creamy lemon-infused sauce (it should coat the back of the spoon and you draw a line through it), taste it and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Ingredients for the Raspberry Salsa:

 1/2 cup frozen, partially thawed or fresh red raspberries

 2 limes, juiced

 1 green onions (green part only), sliced

 1/2 red onion, diced small

 1/2 small chili pepper, finely diced

 ¼ cup chopped cilantro

 Pinch: sea salt, cumin, and black pepper

Preparation:

1 Place raspberries in a small mixing bowl and mash slightly.

2 Stir in lime juice, green onions and chopped red onion, chilli pepper, cilantro, sea salt, cumin and black pepper.

Ingredients for the Dill Oil:

 2 bunches fresh dill

 75 ml olive oil

 Water

 Ice

Preparation:

1 In a saucepan, add some water and bring to boil. Prepare a bowl filled with ice and water on the side.

2 Blanch the dill in the boiling water for no more than 60 seconds. Remove immediately and place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

3 Squeeze all the water out and place it on a sheet lined with kitchen napkins to absorb the excess water. Leave to dry for 6 hours or overnight.

4 When the dill is dry place them in the food processor with olive oil and blend.

5 Strain the liquid and place it in a plastic bottle to serve with the salmon and keep it in the fridge to use for salads later.

Ingredients for the Salmon:

 2 Salmon filets (85g each), with skin on

 Salt

 Ground pepper

 Oranges, sliced into segments

 Olive oil

Preparation:

1 Thoroughly wash salmon and remove scales and bones if any.

2 In a shallow frying pan, add some olive oil and turn on the heat to med-high.

3 Season the salmon filets with salt and pepper.

4 When the oil is hot enough, add the salmon skin side down. Cook for 2-3 mins or until achieved desired crispness on the skin.

5 Turn filets over and cook for another 2 mins or desired doneness (I like them medium pink in the centre).

6 Take off the heat and prepare to serve.

7 For presentation, add the lemon cream on the bottom of the plate, top with salmon and raspberry salsa and the orange segments, and drop some dill oil around the lemon cream. Add a sprig of dill for aesthetics. And dig in!

The Dessert

Chocolate Fondant

Serves: 4

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

 25g unsalted butter, (at room temperature), plus extra for greasing

 200g quality dark chocolate (70%)

 75g caster sugar

 2 large free-range eggs

 35g plain flour

 25ml espresso, cooled

 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

 1 tsp icing sugar for decoration

 Raspberries for garnish

Preparation:

1 Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Place a baking sheet in the oven to heat up, and grease 4 x 160ml ramekins or moulds

2 Break up the chocolate and let melt in Bain Marie, then remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

3 Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

4 Stir in the flour until just combined, then gently mix in the melted chocolate – the mixture should thicken quite a bit.

5 Add the vanilla and a pinch of sea salt.

6 Divide between the moulds and bake on the preheated baking sheet for 7 minutes.

7 Serve immediately to ensure that the centre is still gooey. Decorate with raspberries and icing sugar. Enjoy!