I have to confess that this dessert is way too chocolatey for me; however, it seems incredibly romantic.  Homemade truffles served with champagne sauce, the name alone screams romance.  For anyone who has a valentine that adores chocolate, this is the recipe for you to master.

Balsamic Truffles with Strawberry Champagne Sauce

Jonathan & Nate of Camden Drive

Balsamic Ganache
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
5 oz. high–quality chocolate chips (60% cocoa), such as Ghiradelli, divided
2 Tb. good balsamic vinegar

Chocolate coating
4 oz. high–quality chocolate chips (60% cocoa)
good, unsweetened cocoa powder for rolling

Strawberry Champagne sauce
1 cup drinkable champagne
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
1/4 cup granulated sugar (adjust to desired sweetness)

For the balsamic ganache:
Gently warm the whipping cream in a heavy small saucepan until scalded. Remove from heat; let cool until lukewarm.

Meanwhile, stir 3 ounces of chocolate in the top of double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat. Add the remaining ounce of chocolate; stir until smooth. Stir in cream. Let cool slightly and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet until firm, about 1 hour.

Line a second rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Quickly roll 1 tablespoon of ganache into a ball, being mindful not to allow your hands to warm the ganache too much (you also may want to use disposable gloves to avoid messy hands). Transfer to prepared sheet. Repeat with the rest of the ganache; chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

For chocolate coating:
Line another rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler until just melted. Remove from heat. Cool slightly.

Using a fork as you would a spoon, place 1 chilled truffle in warm (not hot) melted chocolate, coat and remove quickly. Let any excess chocolate drip back into the pan before transferring to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining truffles, rewarming chocolate if necessary. Roll in cocoa powder after chocolate has been allowed to set slightly.

These steps can be done 1 week ahead of time if stored in an airtight container and kept chilled. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

For Strawberry Champagne sauce:
Whisk together ingredients in a small, heavy sauce pan. Bring to a simmer and let reduce by half.  Let cool to room temperature before serving.

To Serve:
Drizzle sauce on serving plate as desired and arrange truffles. Garnish with fresh strawberries.

Yield:

Makes approximately 12 truffles.

As a parent, I have made only version two for my children, which actually is their favorite type of macaroni and cheese.  Of course, they also eat the stuff that comes in the blue box, but that is a make-it-themselves sort of lunch.  If they ask for mac and cheese for dinner, they always are requesting my homemade dish.

I have made a couple changes to my mom’s recipe.  Her recipes specifies “nucoa” as the fat in the recipe.  I use unsalted butter as a tastier substitute.  I also have eliminated the colby and replaced it with more sharp cheddar.  Everyone seems to prefer the stronger bite of flavor it provides.  Of course, you could try your own combination of cheeses.  We have been known to add mozzarella for more gooey-ness and blue cheese for additional depth of flavor.

Mom’s Mac & Cheese, Version 2

3 Tb. unsalted butter
3 Tb. flour
2 cups milk
8 oz. sharp cheddar, shredded
1/2 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter in a medium-sized pot over medium heat.  Add flour and stir until golden, about 3 minutes.  Slowly add milk, whisking constantly until it begins to boil.  Add cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

Lightly grease a 1-1/2 quart baking dish.  Combine macaroni and cheese sauce in dish.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

This week’s dessert idea is a wonderful combination of wine, pears, almonds, and mascarpone.  Not only is it a delicious dessert, but it also has a beautiful presentation.  Although it looks intricate, it really is quite easy to prepare.   Your valentine is sure to be amazed by your culinary talents.

Red Wine Poached Pear with Candied Almonds and Mascarpone

Chef John Van House of Murray’s, courtesy of usapears.org.

Poached Pears
6 Bosc USA Pears
1 750 ml bottle red table wine
2 cups granulated sugar
2 Tb. Chinese Five Spice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
Mascarpone Filling
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup candied sliced almonds, such as Almond Accents® Honey Roasted Sliced Almonds

Peel pear and core from the bottom to extract core and seeds.

In a saucepan, combine wine, granulated sugar, five spice, cinnamon and cloves. Add pears and just enough wine to cover pears. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until pears are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove pears and cool to room temperature. Cover and chill.

Simmer wine mixture until reduced to a syrupy consistency.

Whip mascarpone, cream, powdered sugar and almond extract on high speed until mixture forms firm peaks.

To serve: Spoon 2 tablespoons mascarpone filling into center of each pear. Place on dessert plates. Spoon 2 tablespoons mascarpone around bottom of pears. Drizzle 2 tablespoons slightly warm wine syrup over each pear. Garnish with candied almonds and serve immediately.

Makes 6

The tricky times are when there are only three of us dining.  It feels more cumbersome to make two different entrées for a party that small.  Our of deference to our vegetarian, I make a meal that is vegetarian and (hopefully) will please all of us.  Depending on which person makes the third in the party determines what route I will take.

We had a dinner for three the other week, and being a cold, windy day, I decided to make soup.  In my opinion, soup lends itself to vegetarianism quite nicely, as it can be made hearty with the addition of legumes, root vegetables, or pasta.  For this soup I chose lentils.  Not only are they filling, but they need less prep time than most dried beans.

This soup was a great way to warm us all with little effort.

Lentil Soup

1 cup lentils
water
1 Tb. olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/2 cup red wine
6 oz. tomato paste
2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 Tb. dried basil

Place lentils in a medium-sized stockpot, cover with water, and allow to sit for one hour.  Drain and set lentils aside.

Heat olive oil in same pot over medium heat.  Add onion and cook for 5 minutes or until translucent.  Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add stock, 2 cups water, wine, tomato paste, carrots, celery, basil, and lentils.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 1 hour.

This recipe is sure to appeal to those who prefer vanilla.  The use of soy milk should be helpful to those who avoid dairy products due to allergies.  Plus, as Chef English notes, “Soy milk has never tasted as good as it does in this version of Panna Cotta.  The creamy texture of the soy milk is complimented by the bright, clean flavor of the blackberries.”

Soy Milk Panna Cotta with Crushed Blackberries

Chef Todd English, author of Cooking in Everyday English: The ABCs of Great Flavor at Home

1 vanilla bean, split
1 Tb. unflavored gelatin
2 cups unsweetened soy milk
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
2 cups plain soy yogurt
1 pint fresh blackberries
2 Tbsp.  sugar

Garnish: crushed amaretti cookies

Scrape seeds from vanilla bean.  Stir together gelatin and ¼ cup water in a small bowl.  Bring milk, ½ cup sugar, ¾ tsp. salt, and vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium.  Whisk in gelatin mixture until well blended.  Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and cook 1 minute.  Remove from heat, and discard vanilla bean.  Stir in yogurt until blended.  Pour mixture through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl; discard solids.  Divide mixture among 6 (6 oz.) ramekins.  Cover and chill 3 hours or until set.

Stir together blackberries, 2 Tbsp. sugar, and remaining ¼ tsp. salt in a bowl.  Gently crush blackberries against sides of bowl until berries release their juices, using a fork.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Cook berry mixture in a small skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes or until liquid begins to thicken.  Let cool 5 minutes.

Hold each ramekin in warm water 5 seconds; invert onto serving plates.  Top with blackberry sauce.  Garnish, if desired.  6 servings.

Yes, chips would have been the quick answer, but I was hoping for something healthier.  I also knew that our fruit bin was filled with apples.  I haven’t consumed many servings of Waldorf Salad; the combination of mayonnaise and apples never seemed that appealing to me.  However, it is a classic recipe that is familiar to me and provided me with the basic idea for this salad.  I switched the mayonnaise for yogurt and added a few splashes of flavor, and we had a salad that pleased all of us.

Waldorf Salad Revisited

3 apples, cored & chopped
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 celery stalks, chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 Tb. maple syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon

Toss apple with lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add celery and walnut, and toss to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, maple syrup, and cinnamon.  Pour dressing on apple mixture and stir.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

This week’s recipe comes to us courtesy of Chef Greg DeMichiel, who has been featured on WE TV’s My Fair Wedding and VH1′s Famous Food.  With his recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cake you will be able to impress your valentine with a dessert that is delicious and beautiful but also simple to make.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze

Chef Greg DeMichiel

1 lb. bittersweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 lb. unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
12 eggs
2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
Caramel Sauce, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Spray the paper with cooking spray, too, then set the pan aside.

Place chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Stirring often, melt chocolate with butter until completely blended. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. (Alternatively, you may use your microwave to melt the butter with the chocolate, if desired). In a separate bowl, add the eggs, brown and granulated sugar and sifted cocoa powder and incorporate well. Slowly add the melted chocolate and butter mixture to the egg sugar and cocoa bowl, fold in well.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake has risen and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, removing sides of springform pan. Remove and discard parchment paper and set cake aside to cool completely.

When cake has cooled, drizzle glaze onto the cake, cut, and serve. Garnish with rose petals*.

Salted Caramel Glaze
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
fresh lemon juice
sea salt to taste

Place sugar, lemon juice, and water in a sauce pan over low-medium heat, when the color starts turning amber, turn the heat off and add the sea salt.

*Make sure that the roses are pesticide and chemical free.

Obviously, visiting this farmer’s market was quite a treat for us.  Not only did we get to make some great purchases and sample some yummy tidbits, but we also found sources for illusive items, such as homemade sausage and hot dogs.

One of the farms had a broad assortment of goat and lamb.  I love that lamb has such a tender texture and a savory taste.  Goat is a meat that I have had only twice, and unfortunately was poorly prepared on one of those occasions.  As we would be making homemade sausage patties the next day, goat seemed like a good choice.  It would give me an opportunity to try it again, this time with spices, which might be helpful.

If goat doesn’t seem appealing or is too difficult to find, the meat can be replaced with something comparable, such as lamb.  If you prefer something less exotic, then it can be made with pork or chicken.  However, using goat (or lamb) does add a unique flavor, which is worth trying.

Goat Sausage

1 lb. ground goat
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
1 tsp. fresh sage, minced

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Coat bottom of frying pan with olive oil and place over medium heat.  While pan is heating, form goat mixture into small patties (about slider size).  Place into frying pan, and cook for 4 minutes, or until browned.  Flip and cook for an additional 4 minutes, again until browned.

Check the center of the patties for doneness.  If still uncooked, transfer patties to a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes in a 300 oven.

Fast forward four months to a cold winter day.  I had been considering making two different soups, one vegetarian and one not, when it occurred to me that a seafood or fish-based soup would work for all of us.  Thankfully I also remembered that I had a large container of lobster stock in the basement.  Now all I needed were some veggies and seafood items to make it complete.

I used shrimp and langoustine tails in this soup.  However, I could imagine using scallops, clams, or a firm fish.  It really can be made with whatever seafood item is appealing to you.

Seafood Soup

10 cups lobster stock
1 qt. canned tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 pepper, diced
1 Tb. Old Bay seasoning
ground pepper
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 lb. shrimp, cooked
1/2 lb. langoustine tails, cooked

In a large stock pot, combine lobster stock, tomatoes and their juice, onion, pepper, and Old Bay over medium heat.  Simmer for 30 minutes, then add ground pepper and additional Old Bay to taste.   Add corn and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

While soup is simmering, peel, devein, and chop shrimp.  Chop langoustine tails.  Divide seafood among six serving bowls.  Ladle soup into bowls.  Eat immediately.

Yes, this does sound amazingly similar to our regular Tapas Mondays, so in order to make this dinner special there are a couple tweaks.  First, we purchase an exceptional bottle of wine, a splurge that we wouldn’t buy for a weekly dinner.  Second, we plan a dessert to end the meal.

Valentine’s Day may be more than a month away, but it is never too early to start contemplating what dessert to make for your loved ones.  Over the next five weeks I will be sharing some fabulous recipes for dessert from a group of talented chefs.  This week we will begin the series with a recipe for Chocolate Godiva Cake.  For chocolate lovers, I am certain the name alone is delicious!

Chocolate Godiva Cake

Chef John Carver of Eddie V’s Prime Seafood

1 cup Dark Godiva Chocolate
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
6 oz. sugar
3 oz. butter
1 tsp. Godiva Liqueur

Preheat oven to 375.

Melt chocolate and butter.  Whisk eggs and sugar; add vanilla.  Add eggs to chocolate slowly.  Divide batter into 4 lightly buttered and floured, 8 ounce ramekins.  Bake for approximately 18 minutes.  Turn-out into a soup bowl, serve with vanilla bean ice cream.