Menu Feb 14-15 with a guest blogger: Valentine's Dinner

In honor of her awesome dinner on feb 14, I (Eric) asked Jaime to be my guest menu blogger for a day:

I (Jaime, the guest blogger who originally started this blog) thought the restaurants would be too crowded on Valentine's Day, so I decided to make something delicious. I get regular e-mails from delish.com (which I am pretty sure is put out by Martha Stewart), and there was a recipe for a Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce that looked perfect for a special day. I also made some Lemon Roasted Broccoli, cucumber salad, and I tried to make rice pudding. Unfortunately, Eric did not get any pictures, but this meal tasted so much better than it looked anyway.

Alfredo sauce and I have never gotten along. It always turns out watery or the cheese sticks together in a lump. That being said, I found a remedy: Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce. This was not only perhaps the best creamy pasta sauce I have had (and pasta is my favorite food), but it was super simple. The pumpkin does the thickening, so all you have to do is:

Mix cream, 1/2 can of pumpkin, chopped sage, a small handful of finely grated Parmesan cheese (but, I used Pecarino which is a mix between Parmesan and Manchego cheese), sea salt and pepper in a sauce pan. Stir until it is heated through, remove from heat, and add a tablespoon of butter. Serve over nice linguine.

To make the Roasted Lemon Broccoli which, in the words of Eric, "Tastes like candy," all you do is: toss together Broccoli florets, thinly sliced garlic, walnut oil, olive oil, sea salt, pepper. Roast at 425°F for ~20 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes, adding sliced almonds in the last 3. Take it out. Put it all in a serving bowl. Squirt with lemon juice. Top with cheese (I used the pecorino).

Those two dishes were so delicious, I may just make them again with my leftover cream and pumpkin and put a picture up here.

The cucumber salad came from a packet that Eric and I got at a German store. It was all in German, so I had to e-mail Eric for the translation. It was a mix of tasty nostalgia for Eric.

Happy Valentine's day to me.

Last night we went to a restaurant called Tom's Kitchen at Somerset House (Check out that link...fancy). It is located right on the river, and we sat in a big fancy booth and ordered too much good food that we get to have for leftovers today. Today I also get to walk off all that good food we had last night that was drenched in cheese and butter.

Here's a picture Eric took of his Macaroni Cheese and truffle chips (fries), with my cheesy cauliflower to the left.