The Way to a Foodie's Heart

Close your eyes and imagine. If love and romance were to come in food-form what would it look like? If you're anything like me, it does not come in the form of chalky candy hearts and drugstore chocolate dressed in skanky plastic tulle. You all know what I'm talking about. That stuff is neither seductive nor sexy, it's cheap and tacky. If you're going to be plying your loved ones with food, you can't be wishy-washy or namby-pamby about it. That's right, I said namby-pamby. With thoughts of food and romance on my mind, I asked the girls to submit recipes they might recommend for a Valentine's Day dinner.

Priya's recommendation is her white-chocolate creme brulee. Made for her first Valentine's day as a newlywed, she also recently served it at a dinnerparty she threw in honor of her husband Mike. I was lucky enough to be in attendance, and if creamy, crackly creme brulee doesn't say love, I don't know what does.

Jody recommends an oatmeal scotchie Christmas cookie that she made with Josh when they first started dating. As this was before his conversion to super-cookdom, Josh insists that all he did was stir. Just this Christmas, he got down on one knee with ring in hand and told Jody he wanted to keep stirring.

For me, I stopped going out for Valentine's day dinner a long time ago. It's not that I'm unromantic. I've just gotten to the point where I prefer an intimate dinner at home to hanging out with hordes of schmoopy couples. The other reason, is that Thomas always makes a traditional Valentine's Day dinner of glazed duck with a sweet chili glaze and roast sweet potatoes. And, although we have been together for more than a decade, I always imagine that this is the dinner he would make for me if we were still single and he were cooking dinner to impress me. This is the only time of year that I get to eat this meal, so I always look forward to it.

If after all this, you're still looking for some chocolate, I have a recommendation for you that doesn't come with a silly stuffed bear holding a heart. I am enamored of this Haut Chocolat bar from Vosges. The Goji Bar is branded as an exotic chocolate bar and is a deep milk chocolate speckled with little Goji berries and pink Himalayan salt. The bright red berries often show up in the chicken soup of my po-po (Grandma in Chinese). My po-po swears they are good for your eyes. Perhaps this sounds like it shouldn't be good in chocolate. Believe me, the combination of chewy goji berries and the delicate salt with the chocolate is amazing. Swoonworthy even.

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White-chocolate creme brulee
5 large Egg yolks
1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups Whipping cream
3 ounces White imported chocolate -- finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 300F. Whisk egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in medium bowl. Bring cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar to simmer in heavy medium saucepan.

Reduce heat to low. Gradually add chopped chocolate to cream mixture and whisk until smooth.

Gradually whisk hot chocolate mixture into yolk mixture. Mix in vanilla. Ladle custard into four 10-ounce custard cups (or creme brulee cups). Place cups in large baking pan. Add enough hot water to pan to come halfway up sides of cups.

Bake until custards are set in center, about 1 hour. Remove custards from water and cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat broiler. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon sugar over each custard. Broil until sugar caramelizes, watching carefully, about 2 minutes. Serve hot, or refrigerate up to 1 hour and serve cold.

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Priya's notes: (valentine's day 2006)

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Oatmeal Scotchies
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1-2/3 cups Nestlé Toll House Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies, 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Pan Cookie Variation
Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Yields: Approximately 4 dozen bars.

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Glazed Duck Breasts
2 duck breast fillets, about 6 oz. each
1 pink skinned sweet potato, about 14 oz.
2 Tbsp red currant jelly
1 tsp hot chili sauce
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
4 Tbsp butter, melted
coarse sea salt and ground black pepper
green salad, to serve

Serves 2

1. Slash the duck breast skin diagonally at 1-inch intervals and rub salt and pepper into the skin and cuts. Preheat the broiler with the shelf placed so that the meat will be 3-4 inches from the heat.

2. Scrub the sweet potato and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices, discarding the rounded ends.

3. Broil the meat, skin side up first, for 5 minutes, then flesh side up for 8-10 minutes, according to how pink you like your duck.

4. Meanwhile to make the glaze, warm the red currant jelly, hot chili sauce and sherry vinegar together in a heat proof bowl set in a pan of hot water, stirring to mix them as the jelly melts.

5. Remove the broiler pan from the heat, turn the duck breasts skin side up and paint with the glaze. Return to the broiler and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the glaze caramelizes. Transfer the duck breasts to a serving plate and keep warm.

6. Brush the sweet potato slices with melted butter and arrnage in the broiler pan. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and place one level higher under the broiler than the duck breasts were.

7. Cook the sweet potatoes for 4-5 minutes on each side until soft, brushing with more butter and sprinkling with sea salt and black pepper when you turn them.

8. Slice the glazed duck breast fillets and serve with the broiled sweet potatoes and a fresh green salad on the side.

Classic Cajun, Hot and Spicy Louisiana cooking